WASHINGTON — L3Harris Technologies’ move today to sell a majority stake in its civilian space propulsion unit to private equity firm AE Industrial Partners, represents yet another move by the company to pivot its focus to the military space market.
“L3Harris is strongly committed to the Department of War’s (DoW) vision for a faster, more agile defense industrial base while remaining laser-focused on driving value for our shareholders and customers,” said Chairman and CEO Christopher Kubasik in today’s statement. “This transaction further aligns the L3Harris portfolio with DoW core mission priorities.”
The firm is selling a 60 percent stake, worth $845 million, and maintaining about a 40 percent share of the space propulsion business unit, which focuses on technologies related to NASA and civil space activities. For example, its products include nuclear power systems for future missions to the moon and Mars, and the RL10 engine that powers the upper stage for United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan heavy lifter.
That said, the RS-25 rocket engine business is excluded from the sale; the engine is the primary propulsion system on NASA’s Space Launch System being designed to send crews to the moon under the Artemis mission.
AE Industrial ― which previously has invested in commercial space companies including York Space Systems, Redwire and Firefly — said in an announcement today that the new entity will be named Rocketdyne “in recognition of its heritage and longstanding innovation within space propulsion technology.” (L3Harris in 2023 bought Aerojet Rocketdyne, the great grandchild of the original Rocketdyne business founded in 1955 as a subsidiary of North American Aviation.)
“Rocketdyne is more than just a company, it is the birthplace of U.S. rocket propulsion,” said Kirk Konert, AE Industrial managing partner. “This transaction will not only modernize and give new life to a pioneer of space and national defense technology, but it will also create a new hybrid model of agile collaboration, combining the stability and power of a national defense prime with the innovation of a specialized investor.”
In particular, Konert said, the new entity intends to modernize production of the RL10 by “applying modern manufacturing discipline.”