How a Tiny California Company Is Using 3D Printing To Build the Pentagon’s Next Generation of Cruise Missiles

Doug Denneny had a vision. The former US Navy F-14 backseater who spent 3,300 hours in the air before going on to work on Capitol Hill and for Boeing wanted to turn a small mom and pop company into a missile manufacturer.Denneny founded the company CoAspire in 2013. It began life as a services company and consulting firm working with the Department of Commerce and Boeing, growing steadily and debt free. Today, CoAspire has just under 140 employees, but no board of directors and no stock exchange listing.And its plant in California is revving up production to make 100 cruise missiles per month, producing at speed thanks to the minor miracle of 3-D printing.The same technology that’s used to manufacture everything from children’s toys, fasteners, Styrofoam containers and even homes is now building the next-generation arsenal for the US military, churning out the fuselages of missiles that can fly hundreds of miles and deliver a 100-pound warhead to their target thanks to GPS guidance. And with the war in Iran depleting missile stockpiles by the month, it could not come at a better time for the U.S. military. The Pentagon announced earlier this month that CoAspire is just one of three companies that will be used to produce an entire family of low-cost, air-launched cruise missiles over the next five years.“We’re still small, I guarantee you we are punching above our weight class right now,” said CoAspire’s Executive Vice President Greg Harris, a retired Navy rear admiral.The majority of CoAspire’s efforts are focused on the Rapidly Adaptable Affordable Cruise Missile, RACCM — pronounced “Rack-‘Em” like the call of a billiards shark summoning a new game.In its current iteration, the RACCM is meant to be launched from an aircraft at a target that can be hundreds of miles away – either on land or at sea. An extended-range variant of the missile can be launched both via aircraft and from the ground, with the potential to be sea-launched in the future.The RACCM missile is built in different segments that can be quickly assembled. Several 3-D printers work at once, using lasers to heat an aluminum powder mix whose exact content is a proprietary technology. The largest portion that’s 3-D printed is the fuselage. The 3-D printing not only allows a fuselage that has more room for fuel and therefore a longer range, but allows modifications depending on what the military might need.“We can very quickly innovate and adjust the way our missile looks, acts and feels,” Harris said.The 100-pound warhead is also 3-D printed, and it’s installed by a vendor based in McAlister, Oklahoma.Harris spent a career in the Navy piloting F-18 Hornets and Super Hornets before commanding the USS Nimitz Carrier Strike Group in 2017 and 2018. His low-key demeanor and measured tone contrast with his former high rank and a career spent in high-stress situations.“It’s hard to go much faster than we’re going right now,” he said via zoom from the UK, where he was attending the Farnborough International Air Show to display CoAspire’s products. “The beautiful part is that our missile was designed in four months and flew in four months, successfully in five.”More than 1,000 Tomahawk cruise missiles have been expended so far in operations against Iran, according to a report for the Center for Strategic and International Studies. With barely 200 replacements set to be delivered by this fall, the Center estimates it could take until early 2031 for military stockpiles of Tomahawks to get back to the level they were before the Iran conflict.The development of RACCM began well in advance of the Iran war, and the RACCM is not designed to replace the Tomahawks. Both missiles have different attributes and uses, Harris said.Tomahawk is terrain-following versus RACCM’s GPS guidance system. Harris describes RACCM as a “bull in a china shop” that brings “brute force” to the fight.“This just allows the government to do a little more of flooding the zone with a lot of different vehicles,” Harris said. “In some cases you have hundreds of targets you need to hit and you want to be able to do that as effectively and efficiently as you can.”CoAspire was founded in 2013 and began work as a services company. It’s worked with the federal Department of Commerce, with Boeing and Lockheed Martin.The marching orders for an affordable mass missile began with officials in the Biden administration, Harris said. And the Family of Affordable Mass Missiles (FAMM) program began with a nickname that was as musical as it was controversial.“It had a different name – it was called ‘Franklin’ for a little while,” Harris said.Not Benjamin, Aretha.“And the idea was Aretha Franklin because you had to respect the number of missiles that were out there, but the Aretha Franklin people said, ‘maybe there’s a little conflict there,’” Harris said.“The government is changing the way they do acquisition,” Harris said. “That’s clear, it’s been even before this administration that this was a change they wanted to make to find ways to get the acquisition process to happen faster.”“The Arsenal of Freedom of the 21st Century requires doing business differently,” Under Secretary of War for Acquisition and Sustainment Michael P. Duffey said in a statement announcing the contract award to CoAspire. “Today’s announcement showcases the Acquisition Transformation Strategy in action, expanding the defense industrial base, fielding capabilities faster, and attracting private investment to fund innovation and increase manufacturing output.”The RACCM missile could be in the field potentially striking targets in a month, Harris said.“Our competitors were out there ahead of us and we’ve not quite yet, but almost completely caught up,” he said.

How a Tiny California Company Is Using 3D Printing To Build the Pentagon’s Next Generation of Cruise Missiles

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