Kratos celebrates 25 years of Oriole rocket motor as it achieves flawless record across 80 missions

Designed with high ballistic and thermo-structural margins, the Oriole has demonstrated exceptional versatility, serving as both a second and third stage for nine launch vehicle configurations on more than 60 flights. Manufactured by Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation at the Alleghany Ballistics Laboratory in West Virginia, production has surpassed 100 units, with additional motors currently in progress.

In 2005, the Oriole became the principal stage for the U.S. Navy’s Aegis Readiness Assessment Vehicle Type B ballistic missile target, successfully completing over 40 missions involving Standard Missile 3 and Standard Missile 6 interceptors. The rocket has also played a central role in NASA’s sounding rocket programme, advancing numerous scientific initiatives.

Kratos enhanced the Oriole’s precision capabilities in 2012 with the development of a complementary Thrust Vector Control system, which has since completed four successful missions delivering ballistic missile defence targets with high accuracy. The motor’s compatibility with global launch sites has been proven through operations in locations including Hawaii, Alaska, Scotland, Norway, and France.

The Oriole’s reliability has positioned it at the forefront of hypersonic flight testing, particularly when paired with Terrier MK-70 stages, enabling research missions reaching speeds up to Mach 9. To date, it has supported ten hypersonic experiments, contributing to Kratos’ total of more than 140 successful suborbital missions.

The success of Oriole has also driven the creation of Kratos’ next-generation Zeus rocket motors, aimed at meeting growing demand for ballistic missile defence and hypersonic test systems. Kratos recently secured a contract for 60 additional Oriole motors, with deliveries expected over the next three years.

Eric DeMarco, President and CEO of Kratos, said, “Kratos’ Oriole SRM is a gold standard in reliable, affordable, relevant national security related launch systems for the United States and its allies. Kratos rapidly delivers actual, relevant products to our customers, not pictures, renditions, never ending tests, and PowerPoints, with Oriole’s 25 years of mission success representative of the technology leading systems Kratos delivers. Kratos’ rocket and hypersonic system team is a true national treasure, and I expect that Kratos’ rocket systems and hypersonics business will be a future-year multi-billion-dollar franchise for Kratos.”