In July 2023, L3Harris officially acquired Aerojet Rocketdyne. The purchase agreement, which was formally announced in December 2022, has not been without controversy.
Aerojet Rocketdyne is the post boost propulsion supplier for all current U.S. nuclear weapons systems, and currently produces propulsion systems for the Trident II D5 missile. Aerojet Rocketdyne is also a subcontractor for the LGM-35A Sentinel, the new U.S. Ground Based Strategic Deterrent.
In January, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren warned that the deal would reduce competition in an already shrinking defense industry and asked the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to oppose the deal. Together with other lawmakers, Senator Warren also expressed concerns about the role of the Department of Defense in the review process and called for greater transparency around future mergers. “Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, and Boeing are all dependent on products that only Aerojet is able to produce, and their operations could be hamstrung by its acquisition,” they wrote.
Lockheed Martin also raised concerns over the acquisition, saying it had received no guarantees from L3Harris of ensured access to Aerojet Rocketdyne’s products. Lockheed Martin had previously attempted to buy Aerojet Rocketdyne but abandoned the deal after the FTC sued to block it in January 2022 over concerns that it “would give Lockheed the ability to cut off other defense contractors from the critical components they need to build competing missiles”.
Nevertheless, after months of scrutiny, the FTC did allow for the L3Harris-Aerojet Rocketdyne deal to move forward.
L3Harris describes the acquisition as diversifying its portfolio, ‘’adding considerable long-cycle backlog and broad expertise that enables opportunities in missile defense systems, hypersonics and advanced rocket engines”.