Avio USA Breaks Ground on 900,000-Square-Foot Solid Rocket Motor Plant in Virginia

Avio USA has broken ground on its first U.S. solid rocket motor facility in Hurt, Virginia, a 900,000-square-foot plant designed to produce thousands of motors annually for American tactical missile programs. Production is targeted to begin in early 2029, marking a new large-scale domestic entrant into a tightly concentrated part of the defense supply chain.

Solid rocket motors are a chronic supply chain chokepoint for both missiles and space launch, an area dominated by a small number of producers. A new large-scale domestic plant from an Italian-owned entrant directly targets that bottleneck.

The facility will span 900,000 square feet in Hurt, Virginia, with a stated capacity of thousands of motors per year. Avio USA is building the plant, which is intended to serve U.S. tactical missile programs. The groundbreaking was reported on September 30.

The company has set early 2029 as its production start date, meaning the new capacity is several years out from delivering finished motors.

The plant addresses a supply constraint that affects both missile and space launch production, an area concentrated among a handful of manufacturers.

The facility will not contribute production until 2029, so the shortage it is intended to relieve remains acute in the meantime. The next milestone named is the start of production in early 2029.