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Chromatic opens US rocket propellant testing facility. US defense firm Chromatic 3D Materials has established a rocket propellant testing facility in Minnesota to accelerate the development of next-generation propulsion systems for military applications. The new facility combines an on-site propellant printing laboratory with live-fire testing infrastructure, allowing engineers to move directly from manufacturing to propulsion testing in one location. The facility is located at Camp Ripley, a Minnesota National Guard training site near Little Falls. Under a five-year lease, Chromatic will maintain a long-term testing presence at the installation. "Our presence at Camp Ripley allows us to rapidly demonstrate performance, validate manufacturing approaches and reduce the time required to deliver advanced propulsion solutions to rocket manufacturers," Chromatic CEO Cora Leibig said. The expansion was made possible through collaboration with Defense Innovation OnRamp Hub, Minnesota and the Minnesota National Security Ecosystem, as well as with Minnesota-based expeditionary power company LEMA. US boosts propulsion production. Chromatic's investment comes as the US government and defense industry continue expanding domestic rocket propulsion manufacturing capacity. In July 2026, L3Harris Technologies signed a seven-year framework agreement with Pentagon and Lockheed Martin to quadruple production of propulsion systems for the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense missile. Earlier, in March, PBS Aerospace signed a subcontract worth several tens of millions of dollars with drone developer Zone 5 Technologies to support US defense propulsion programs. The multi-year agreement will expand domestic production of military-grade turbojet engines using propulsion technology developed by PBS Group, the company's Czech-based parent.

Everything to know about Paso's 'tech corridor' expansion so far. By Edited by Libbey Hanson. Story produced with AI assistance. July 19, 2026 10:00 AM Gift Article Paso Robles is pushing to transform its Airport Road area into a major technology and aerospace hub, with recent update stories tracking spaceport licensing, aerospace expansion and an $800 million development. Here's a digest of the latest reporting on the effort: * Spaceport licensing process: Paso Robles has been pursuing a spaceport license since 2022 and opened an RFP in June to hire a consulting firm for the final application push, which would make it the 15th spaceport in the country and the second horizontal launch facility on the Central Coast. * Old boys school redevelopment: Majestic Realty plans to demolish the 42-building former boys school and build The Landing, a 135-acre mixed-use community with hotels, retail, offices and warehouses, at an estimated cost of $800 million with the project set to be presented to the City Council this summer. * Ambitious jobs plan: Paso Robles is developing its Airport Road technology corridor to create thousands of well-paying jobs and keep Cal Poly graduates local, with engineering positions at Zone 5 paying between $122,000 and $199,000. * Aerospace company expansion: Zone 5 Technologies is expanding its manufacturing operations to Paso Robles Municipal Airport this summer, planning to hire 200 people for a 40,000-square-foot space, with recruitment starting in mid-June and production ramping up in August. * Traffic infrastructure challenge: The city faces an $80 million to $120 million bill to fix the Airport Road and Highway 46 intersection as the corridor prepares for up to 7,000 new jobs, with Majestic Realty agreeing to fund a temporary traffic signal as part of The Landing project approval. The summary points above were compiled with the help of AI tools and edited by journalists. The source reporting referenced above was written and edited entirely by journalists.

Zone 5 wins $12M to scale up Rusty Dagger missile production. Jun 24, 2026 Modified date: Jun 24, 2026 Key Points * The Air Force Research Laboratory awarded Zone 5 Technologies a $12 million contract on June 18, 2026, for Rusty Dagger manufacturing technology development, completing by September 2027. * The Small Business Innovation Research Phase III contract obligated $7.5 million immediately, covering work in Miamisburg, Ohio, focused on production-scale manufacturing capability. The U.S. Air Force has awarded a $12 million contract to Zone 5 Technologies to advance manufacturing technology for the Rusty Dagger program, a fast-moving effort to produce affordable, mass-scale long-range strike missiles that has moved from program launch to potential combat employment in roughly two years. The contract, awarded June 18, 2026, by the Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio, covers research and development focused specifically on manufacturing technology for the Rusty Dagger Franchise, with work to be performed in Miamisburg, Ohio, and an expected completion date of September 2027. Of the $12 million total, $7.5 million was obligated immediately using fiscal year 2026 research, development, test and evaluation funds. That manufacturing focus is the core of what makes this contract significant. Building a cruise missile that works is difficult. Building one that can be produced by the thousands at a fraction of the cost of conventional precision weapons is a fundamentally different engineering challenge, and it is the challenge the Rusty Dagger program exists to solve. The Air Force launched the Extended Range Attack Munition program in early 2024 with an explicit and publicly stated primary purpose: to provide Ukraine with affordable, mass-producible long-range strike weapons faster than existing programs could deliver them. That directness about the program's operational rationale was unusual in American defense procurement, where weapons development programs typically speak in abstract warfighting requirements rather than naming specific recipients or conflicts. - ADVERTISEMENT - CONTINUE READING BELOW - Discover more Weapon technology updates Defense news analysis Military equipment sales The AGM-188A Rusty Dagger addresses both problems simultaneously through a design concept that is straightforward in principle and difficult in execution. Zone 5 Technologies, a small defense company headquartered in San Luis Obispo, California, built the missile as a turbojet-powered, air-launched, precision-guided standoff munition that fits within the size and weight envelope of a standard Mk 82 unguided bomb, the 500-pound (227 kg) general-purpose bomb that has equipped Western and allied air forces for decades. The physical compatibility with the Mk 82 footprint is the design's central strategic advantage: any aircraft currently equipped to carry that bomb, which encompasses virtually every fixed-wing combat aircraft in Ukraine's inventory as well as those of dozens of NATO allies, can potentially carry the Rusty Dagger without significant modification to the weapon station or the aircraft itself. The barrier to fielding shrinks dramatically when the receiving platform requires no new integration work. Zone 5 Technologies occupies an atypical position in the American defense industrial base, operating as a small business in a domain historically controlled by large prime contractors including Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, and Boeing. The Small Business Innovation Research program that funded the Rusty Dagger's development channels defense dollars specifically toward smaller, more agile companies capable of moving faster than the major contractors on targeted technical problems. The Rusty Dagger's trajectory reflects that speed advantage in a way that stands out even by the compressed timelines the Ukraine conflict has forced on Western arms developers: from program launch in early 2024 to a Phase III manufacturing contract in June 2026 represents a pace that conventional defense acquisition programs rarely sustain across the full arc from concept to production readiness. The Phase III designation carries specific meaning in the Small Business Innovation Research framework. Phase I covers feasibility research. Phase II covers prototype development and demonstration. Phase III is where a technology transitions from promising prototype to something a manufacturer can actually build in quantity, and it is typically funded not through the innovation research program itself but through regular defense procurement or other government contracts, reflecting a judgment that the technology has proven itself sufficiently to justify production investment. The Air Force's decision to fund a dedicated manufacturing technology development effort at this stage signals confidence that the Rusty Dagger design is sound and that the remaining work is industrial rather than scientific. The Miamisburg, Ohio work location adds a production geography dimension to the program. Ohio has a substantial defense manufacturing presence, and situating the manufacturing technology development work there rather than at Zone 5's California headquarters suggests the program is building toward a production arrangement with facilities capable of the throughput a mass-employment strike weapon requires. The September 2027 completion date for the current contract gives the program roughly 15 months to resolve the manufacturing challenges that stand between the current design and factory-floor production at meaningful scale. What that scale might look like remains one of the program's most consequential open questions. The entire logic of the Rusty Dagger, a low-cost missile that fits on existing aircraft without modification, only delivers its strategic value if it can be produced in numbers large enough to change the calculus of a sustained air campaign. A weapon that costs a fraction of a Storm Shadow per unit but can only be manufactured in dozens per month offers limited operational advantage. The manufacturing technology contract is the program's attempt to answer that question before it becomes an operational constraint. Adding context to the program's trajectory, a Russian military-affiliated Telegram channel has claimed that Ukraine used AGM-188 Rusty Dagger missiles to strike the Sborka semiconductor plant in Voronezh, a Russian city approximately 470 km (292 miles) from the Ukrainian border and a facility previously identified as part of Russia's missile production supply chain. The claim originated with the channel "Voevoda Broadcasts," cited by the open-source intelligence account Status-6, and has not been independently verified or confirmed by either the Ukrainian or American governments at time of publication. If accurate, it would represent the weapon's first documented combat use, at a target deep enough inside Russian territory to require genuine standoff range and precise enough to suggest the guidance system performed as designed. Readers who wish to follow its weekly coverage can subscribe to the Weekly Defense Roundup. If you wish to report a grammatical or factual error in this article, please let Defence Blog know by using the online form. Executive Editor Support The Defence Blog