Firestorm
Firestorm XCell
Firestorm Labs, a San Diego-based manufacturer of Unmanned Aerial Systems, has announced it has received 12.5 million USD in seed investment by Lockheed Martin Ventures and prominent defence investors.
The company has now secured investment from Lockheed Martin, Decisive Point, Silent Ventures, 645 Ventures, Overmatch VC, BVVC, Marquee Ventures, Cubit Capital, IronGate, Backswing Ventures, The Veteran Fund, Feld Ventures, Beyond Capital, and RedCat to support its proprietary 3D printed airframe component technology. This latest investment is said to enable Firestorm to scale its team and production to meet growing demand.
"Firestorm is excited to announce this latest round of funding that will propel the company forward to shape the rapidly evolving needs of a UAS-dominated battlefield and a defense industrial base ripe for revolutionary manufacturing models," said CEO Dan Magy. "Our investors understand the pressing need for delivering technologies quickly and with the interoperability that today's warfighters demand, and we are thrilled to welcome Lockheed Martin Ventures partnership in this mission.”
The defence start-up, which is deploying additive manufacturing to build what it describes as ‘radically affordable, mission-adaptable’ drones, says it aims to ‘fundamentally change the nature of warfare for the United States, its partners, and its allies.’ Firestorm has already been awarded a range of U.S. Department of Defense contracts both for its modular UAS and the xCell manufacturing product line. The xCell is a semi-automated manufacturing cell, which takes the form of 20ft or 40ft shipping container encompassing a full 3D printing production workflow, which can be deployed remotely for on-demand manufacturing of UAS and spare parts. Last year, the company announced a partnership with with electric propulsion specialist Greenjets to develop a ‘first of its kind’ 100% 3D printed UAV airframe and engine drone solution.
"We are a new approach to an emerging global challenge," said Chad McCoy, Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer. "There is a clear need within the defense technology sector to build faster and less costly systems, and simply throwing money at the issue won't change the outcome. We found that coalescing a deep operational understanding of warfighter needs, combined with aerospace pragmatism, and a new rapid manufacturing model, allows us to stand out in a very crowded market. The goal is to create a completely new category that shakes up legacy timelines and cost.”
The rising demand for additive manufacturing solutions in defence was highlighted at the 2024 Additive Manufacturing for Aerospace, Defence and Space (AMADS) Conference last month where the technology was identified as a potential solution to the supply chain challenges the industry faces. Evidence of this can already be seen with machine manufacturers like SPEE3D building ruggedised 3D printing cells which can be readily deployed for in-field manufacturing and are already being adopted by government organisations like the US Navy and more recently by the Australian Government to support the ongoing war in Ukraine.
