Ursa Major Demonstrates Rapid Reflight of Draper Engine in AFRL Missile Program

New updates have been reported about Ursa Major.

Ursa Major has deepened its role in U.S. defense propulsion with a second successful flight of the Air Force Research Laboratory’s Affordable Rapid Missile Demonstrator just 45 days after the prior mission, again using its Draper liquid rocket engine and expanding the test flight envelope in key phases of the trajectory. The program, which moved from development to initial flight in only eight months, is intended to validate low-cost, mass-producible liquid propulsion for high-speed weapons and to prove that critical hardware can be turned around and reflown on operationally relevant timelines.

Under its contract with AFRL, Ursa Major is advancing in-flight characterization of the Draper engine, with AFRL leadership highlighting the effort as a path to “revolutionary capabilities” and Ursa Major’s CEO framing ARMD as a model of agile public‑private partnership that can rapidly design, integrate, and field rocket-powered systems. For Ursa Major, the successful follow-on flight underscores the maturity of its additive-manufactured propulsion technology, reinforces its positioning in hypersonics and tactical missile markets, and supports its broader strategy to supply flexible propulsion architectures across land, air, sea, and space applications for U.S. and allied defense customers.