SpaceWERX TACFI award advances Orbital’s path toward AI-driven factories for extreme environment materials — targeting the critical U.S. capacity gap in components that underpin missile defense, hypersonics, space vehicles, and nuclear energy
CAMPBELL, Calif., June 25, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Orbital Composites, Inc. (“Orbital”), a Campbell, CA-based advanced manufacturing company, today announced a $1.9 million Tactical Funding Increase (TACFI) contract award from SpaceWERX, the innovation arm of the U.S. Space Force. The contract funds continued development of Orbital’s robotic additive manufacturing (AM) platform for extreme environment materials — components engineered to survive conditions that destroy conventional parts: temperatures exceeding 3,000°C, high-velocity combustion gases, and repeated thermal shock cycles.
The award reflects growing recognition across defense, space, and energy sectors that the United States faces a structural shortfall in its ability to manufacture the advanced materials that underpin next-generation systems. Extreme environment materials — used in rocket nozzles, heat shields, hypersonic vehicle structures, jet engine hot sections, and nuclear reactors — have historically been constrained by prohibitive cost, 12- to 18-month production cycle times, and limited domestic capacity. Orbital combines robotics, advanced materials, and physical AI to streamline manufacturing of extreme environment materials.
“This work addresses a critical barrier to the rapid scaling of manufacturing for high-temperature rocket nozzles to serve the U.S. warfighter. Our initial goal is to eliminate the supply constraints on solid rocket motors that have long limited what the warfighter can field — and this award is a concrete step toward that objective. This is also about restoring U.S. manufacturing dominance in materials that are foundational to our national security and economic competitiveness. We are grateful to our SpaceWERX, AFWERX, and AFRL partners for their leadership in making that possible.”
— Amolak Badesha, Chief Executive Officer, Orbital Composites.
Extreme environment materials sit at the intersection of some of the most urgent national security and strategic industrial priorities. Solid rocket motors, hypersonic vehicles, low-cost missile defense interceptors, nuclear microreactors, and space vehicles all depend on components that can be produced faster, cheaper, and in greater volume than current methods allow. Orbital’s technology is designed to serve these markets from a single scalable manufacturing platform.
“Extreme environment materials are the bottleneck in some of the most critical systems the U.S. fields, and today’s manufacturing methods are too slow, too costly, and too capacity-constrained to meet what the moment demands. We are building toward a future where that constraint no longer exists — where AI-driven factories take in a design file and produce a mission-ready part, at operationally relevant cycle times and cost.”
— Cole Nielsen-Cole, Founder and Chief Technology Officer, Orbital Composites.
Orbital is working with defense prime contractors, U.S. government program offices, and commercial space and energy providers to scale qualification and production. The company is investing in manufacturing capacity, program qualification, and the physical AI systems that underpin its autonomous production vision.
The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Department of the Air Force, the Department of War, or the U.S. government.
About SpaceWERX
SpaceWERX, the innovation arm of the U.S. Space Force and a division of AFWERX, partners with startups, small businesses and nontraditional vendors to accelerate commercial space technologies for Guardians. Headquartered in Los Angeles, SpaceWERX connects industry innovation with defense needs to deliver capabilities faster. In partnership with Space Systems Command’s Commercial Space Office, SpaceWERX bridges innovation and acquisition to accelerate capability adoption. In fiscal year 2025, SpaceWERX awarded more than 300 contracts totaling $510 million. For more information, visit spacewerx.us.
About AFWERX
AFWERX, the innovation arm of the Department of the Air Force and a division within the Air Force Research Laboratory, partners with small businesses, startups and nontraditional vendors to address challenges facing Airmen and Guardians. Headquartered at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, AFWERX strengthens the defense industrial base by expanding access to innovators, building partnerships and accelerating the transition of critical technologies to operational capability. In fiscal year 2025, AFWERX awarded more than 1,000 contracts totaling $1.37 billion and achieved 438 Phase III transitions valued at $8.1 billion. For more information, visit afwerx.com.
About Orbital Composites, Inc.
Orbital Composites is building AI-driven factories for extreme environment materials. Physical AI is at its core — intelligence that runs the full loop from design to production, uniting autonomous robotics with mastery of the most advanced materials to turn mission requirements into mission-ready parts. Its robotic AM platform produces high-performance components — including nozzles and heat shields — at an order of magnitude faster cycle time and lower cost than conventional methods. Founded in 2015 and headquartered in Campbell, CA, Orbital works with the U.S. Space Force, Air Force Research Laboratory, and defense prime contractors to transition next-generation materials manufacturing from advanced development into operational capability. For more information, visit orbitalcomposites.com.
Media Contact
Irma Moran
Orbital Composites, Inc.
408-910-8217
417642@email4pr.com
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SOURCE Orbital Composites
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