The defense industry is witnessing a surge of innovation, particularly in the realm of hypersonic weapons. Ravyn Technology Corp., a Washington-based company founded in 2019, is at the forefront of this revolution, developing low-cost missiles propelled by solid rocket motors. Their Mobile Mass Missile System aims to reduce missile costs by a factor of ten.
“The sector needs to be disrupted to create more competition in the market,” says Ravyn founder Saad Mirza to SpaceNews. Their missiles are designed for a 1,600-kilometer range, achieving speeds of Mach 10 or higher before gliding reentry. This isn’t a unique vision; Castelion secured $100 million in Series A funding, while X-Bow Systems received $70 million in Series B funding for similar endeavors. Anduril Industries also entered the market in 2023 via its Adranos acquisition.
The Department of Defense’s interest in fostering such competition is evident. Retired U.S. Army Brigadier General and Ravyn advisor Alfred Abramson III states via email that the DoD has “expressed interest to allow the more ‘non-traditional defense industry partners’ to become part of the Defense Industrial Base.” Startups, he adds, increase competition and boost domestic manufacturing.
Ravyn's cost-cutting strategy relies on design simplification, economies of scale, and vertical integration. Loginn Kapitan, Ravyn's vice president of engineering, and a former Leidos vice president, explains via email, “Legacy manufacturers, while providing world-class systems, have created intricate designs which have proven very expensive to manufacture. This has resulted in a high-cost low-volume missile environment for the United States Department of Defense. Ravyn seeks to turn that reality on its head by creating uncomplicated design solutions which facilitate high-volume production at a much lower cost to the taxpayer.”
Kapitan, initially a Ravyn advisor, joined full-time, citing Mirza’s “vision, impressive skill set, business acumen, dogged determination and capacity to handle a myriad of details.” Mirza’s background includes leading a Princeton University aerospace engineering team that launched a rocket to 84 kilometers, demonstrating his capabilities even before founding Ravyn. The company has already designed a 2.75-inch air-to-air missile and conducted a static-fire test of a similar rocket motor in Mojave, California.