An explosion destroys Anduril’s rocket engine test site in Mississippi

A rocket motor exploded during a test at Anduril’s facility in Mississippi last Friday, marking another setback startup It hopes to become a major supplier of missile propulsion systems to the defense industry. Anduril publicly confirmed the incident after an inquiry from WIRED.

Matt Grimm, the company’s chief operating officer, said in a statement that no one was injured in the explosion that damaged the Anduril test platform. Social media sharing on Tuesday, hours after WIRED contacted the company about the incident.

Three people familiar with Anduril’s operations, who were granted anonymity to discuss a sensitive situation, told WIRED they couldn’t recall another time a similar test led to an explosion in the past few years, and they were unaware of what might have caused last week’s mishap. The accident halted a key step in revenue-generating prototype testing work for Anduril’s rocket motor unit, and rebuilding the setup could take up to two months, one of the people says.

Anduril expects to resume testing within weeks, Grimm wrote in his post, which included photos of the flaming equipment. “Anduril continues to build and test rocket engines weekly, and the production facility remains on schedule,” he said. “Disciplined iteration leads to steady progress, and we are already putting our test pieces together for the next test.”

Shannon Pryor, an Anduril spokeswoman, did not respond to a request for comment for this story other than to note Grimm’s involvement.

Anduril had planned to begin mass production of the rocket motors on July 1, 2025, but a year later, it has yet to do so, four people familiar with the matter say, casting doubt on Grimm’s claim that the effort is on schedule. A former Pentagon official, who helped award a multimillion-dollar grant to Andoril, previously told WIRED that he expected years of delays despite the company’s promises to deliver the complex technology on time. Solid rocket motor production in the United States is largely controlled by just two companies, creating a shortage that the Pentagon is trying to overcome by supporting startups.

Anduril is valued at US$61 billion by investors and has completed multi-billion dollar government contracts worldwide through its development. DronesAnd submarines Surveillance equipmentBut its rocket engine unit, based in McHenry, Mississippi, has faced repeated challenges. In March, WIRED reported on a series of Safety and technology issues at the McHenry facility, including an employee accidentally burning his hand with an igniter and purchasing expensive equipment that failed to perform as intended.

on Social mediaAnduril’s founder, Palmer Luckey, framed some of the incidents described in previous WIRED reporting as “whining about… trivial things.” Company President, Trey Stevens, books In a separate post, Anduril stated that he is “scaling faster than anyone else in the industry” and “fixing problems when we find them.”

Before it could begin mass producing rocket engines at McHenry, Anduril generated revenue by designing, building, and testing prototype engines for customers such as the U.S. Navy. The business generated tens of millions of dollars in revenue for the company last year, according to a person familiar with the figure. Even critics of the unit say the testing work has been good. After building prototypes, Anduril measures how well the designs perform, including the amount of time the propellant burns. Customers get data to inform their plans. This work may now be postponed.