WASHINGTON — The Army has awarded Other Transaction Authority (OTA) prototype agreements to four companies in a bid to increase production for the service’s Hydra-70 rockets, which are commonly fired from helicopters like the AH-64 Apache.
The four companies, which will specifically supply the M151 high-explosive fragmentation warheads for the rockets, are Firehawk, iRocket, Nammo Perry and Albers, according to a release published by the Program Acquisition Executive Fires on Wednesday. The prototype OTAs are aimed at increasing competitive pricing and surging industrial capacity, according to the service.
“This acquisition strategy secures vital industrial base surge capacity, ensuring the Army can swiftly meet emergent mission requirements and maintain uninterrupted readiness for Army lethality,” the release read.
The awards also give the vendors the opportunity to “improve the government owned Hydra-70 Technical Data Package (TDP),” per the release. A TDP consists of the technical design and manufacturing info, often including blueprints and other plans, that are used to produce or manufacture the platform.
Hydra-70 rockets are air-to-ground, 2.75-inch (70mm) munitions typically fired from tube launchers that can be mounted on most rotary- and fixed-wing aircraft. They can also be launched from the ground.
With the new OTAs, each vendor will provide 24 prototype warheads for the Hydra-70 rockets and a “modernized TDP” within 18 months, per the release. As it stands, General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems (GD-OTS) is the current supplier for the Army’s Hydra-70 program, including its warheads.
The Army did not respond to a request for comment regarding when the awards were finalized, the dollar amount of the awards or what GD-OTS’s role will be in the Hydra-70 program moving forward. GD-OTS also did not respond to a request for comment by the time of publication.
Networked for the fight: Army aviation’s next advantage
As operating environments grow more complex, Link 16 provides instantaneous, mission-wide connectivity to ensure no aircraft flies alone.
Wednesday’s announcement comes after the Army has urged nontraditional vendors to become more involved in munitions production, namely as the US potentially faces dwindling stockpiles amid its war with Iran.
Firehawk told Breaking Defense in a statement that its recent award comes after the company stood up a 636-acre rocket production campus in Crawford, Mississippi, “designed to rapidly scale rocket production.”
“Our goal is to deliver the Hydra-70 rockets faster and at scale using modern manufacturing approaches that can help strengthen America’s munitions supply chain,” the company’s CEO, Will Edwards, said in the statement. Further, Elizabeth Eastman, the president and general manager of Nammo Perry, told Breaking Defense in a statement that the award “reflects [the company’s] continued commitment to supporting the Army’s modernization priorities.” She added that the company “remains focused on delivering high-quality solutions while expanding the capacity and responsiveness of the U.S. Defense Industrial Base.”
The two other companies selected for OTA agreements did not respond to Breaking Defense by the time of publication.
According to the Army’s announcement, if the selected vendors are successful in their demonstrations, follow-on agreements may be made to broaden the effort to other variants in the Hydra-70 family of rockets beyond the M151 warheads. Other warheads include the M156, M229 and more.
UPDATED 8/6/26 at 4:40 p.m. ET to include a statement from Nammo Perry.
Orijinal Haberi Görüntüle
