The Huntsville based robotic solutions and metrology company Aerobotix reached a significant landmark in its service to the missile manufacturing industry. On May 18, the company installed its 40th robotic system for the United States Defense Department.

Over the course of recent months, Aerobotix has delivered robotic systems to support surge production at several missile manufacturing sites for various defense contractors. These robotic systems are supporting interceptor, cruise, air-to-air and hypersonic missile production on multiple levels.

“Automation is often the smartest strategy when defense contractors really need to increase production,” said Ricky Schwartz, Principal Engineer at Aerobotix. “Contractors are realizing it’s time to ‘tech up.’ That’s why we’ve now installed 40 robotic systems for U.S. missile manufacturing and are already on our way to No. 50.”

His prediction to reach their 50th instillation could come sooner than expected given the increase in federal spending towards missile defense. The Missile Defense Agency (MDA) is seeking $9.6 billion in 2023 to expand defenses against increasingly complex missile threats.

The MDA requested $8.9 billion in 2022, but received an additional $1.5 billion from Congress for a total of $10.4 billion. Congress has now increased funding for the MDA for two years in a row, arguing that the agency hasn’t requested sufficient funds for it to meet the requirements of the National Defense Strategy.

Industrial-grade robots integrated by Aerobotix are capable of providing more than 10 years of operation, or 60,000 hours, before major failure. This level of durability ensures contractors a strong return on investment and gives investors confidence that they can answer the call for more product. Aerobotix robots also remove human workers from dangerous or difficult manufacturing environments, making the work environments safer.

Aerobotix is actively working with these defense contractors to identify missile manufacturing processes that are best suited to the automation their installations provide.

“Recent demand has focused around the automation of testing, scanning and quality operations,” explained Schwartz. “We’re able to transform these manual – and sometimes even subjective – inspections into fully-automated processes that just crank out products. Our robots can perform a perfect inspection every time and record the data so that the customer then has a digital twin of the missile.”