Case Study: Northrop Grumman achieves rapid rocket‑motor development — cuts tooling lead time from one year to six weeks with Stratasys FDM

How Northrop Grumman changed the tooling paradigm to cut rocket motor development time

Northrop Grumman, a long-standing developer of solid rocket motors, was hampered by excessive lead times for traditional metal tooling—sometimes over a year—driven by supply‑chain disruptions. To accelerate its SMART Demo rocket motor program, Northrop Grumman adopted Stratasys FDM additive manufacturing (using F900 printers and Antero PEKK‑based material) to evaluate polymer-for-metal tooling as an alternative.

Using Stratasys FDM, Northrop Grumman 3D‑printed the ~10‑foot motor core in four large sections on Stratasys F900 machines with Antero 840CN03, producing solvent‑resistant, ESD‑safe polymer tooling that cut fabrication time from about a year to six weeks, enabled a new motor to be cast and test‑fired within a year, reduced tool weight with custom infill, and improved schedule, cost and business outcomes.

Northrop Grumman

Chase Smaellie

Tooling Engineer