WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. and DALLAS, Oct. 29, 2026 — Rochefort Asset Management (Rochefort), a U.S. national security-focused firm licensed under the U.S. Department of War’s Office of Strategic Capital (OSC) and the Small Business Administration (SBA), today announced that it has co-led, alongside Advent International, the more than $150 million Series D financing of Firehawk Defense (Firehawk), a vertically integrated propulsion and energetics manufacturer serving the U.S. defense industrial base. The investment builds on the senior secured loan Rochefort provided to Firehawk in April 2026.
Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, Firehawk produces solid rocket motor propellant and Hydra-70 rocket motors and is developing 155mm artillery base bleed motors, all using a continuous thermoplastic process that forms propellant in hours rather than weeks. The Series D proceeds will fund the continued build-out of Firehawk’s propulsion manufacturing, including its production facility in Lawton, Oklahoma, and its missile integration facility in Crawford, Mississippi, and will accelerate production of artillery motors, solid rocket motors, energetics, and propellant for U.S. and allied customers.
Meeting Allied Demand for Long-Range Fires
Sustained munitions expenditure in Ukraine and the Middle East has depleted U.S. and allied stockpiles of artillery and rocket propulsion, and replenishment demand now extends across Europe, the Middle East, and the Indo-Pacific. Base bleed units, which extend the range of standard 155mm artillery projectiles, face supply chain constraints that have limited production. Through a teaming arrangement with General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems, Firehawk is positioned to supply base bleed motors to meet growing international demand for extended-range artillery, with a parallel path to U.S. qualification.
Production Capacity and Partnerships in Place
Firehawk’s Crawford facility is operational and integrating Hydra-70 rockets today. Its Great Plains Arsenal propellant plant in Lawton, Oklahoma, is expected to commission in early 2027 and to produce 740,000 pounds of thermoplastic propellant per year, with installed capacity scalable to more than 3.1 million pounds. The company also holds a U.S. Air Force solid rocket motor development contract and, in August 2026, completed a six-for-six Hydra-70 live-fire test following a U.S. Army Other Transaction Authority award.
“Firehawk has the technology, facilities, and partnerships in place to supply the propulsion the United States and its allies urgently need,” said Jody LaNasa, Co-Founder of Rochefort Asset Management. “Rochefort first backed Firehawk with senior secured debt, and co-leading the Series D reflects conviction in a team positioned to deliver artillery and rocket propulsion to American and allied forces at a speed and cost legacy suppliers cannot match.”
“Allied militaries are competing for the same constrained supply of artillery and rocket propulsion,” said Alex Lemond, Co-Founder of Rochefort Asset Management. “Firehawk’s partnership with General Dynamics opens international markets for its base bleed technology, and its continuous manufacturing process provides the cost and speed advantage needed to win them.”
“This financing marks Firehawk’s transition from proving our technology to producing it at scale,” said Will Edwards, Chief Executive Officer of Firehawk Defense. “With the continued support of Rochefort, Firehawk will expand capacity at Crawford and Lawton and deliver propulsion solutions to the United States and its allies at the pace current demand requires.”
For more information, please contact:
Steele Schottenheimer – Rochefort Asset Management [email protected] | 214-347-8045
Shane Karp – Firehawk Defense [email protected] | [email protected]
About Firehawk Defense
Firehawk Defense is the propulsion company built for the age of volume. Our mission is to make American strength inexhaustible, ensuring that production, replenishment, and capacity never become the reason America and its allies have to compromise the mission.
We engineer past the material and manufacturing limits of legacy propulsion, replacing traditional cast-and-cure processes with a continuous thermoplastic manufacturing platform, then scale that advantage from propellant to motors to complete rounds. The company is headquartered in Dallas, Texas with a 320-acre propellant and motor production facility in Lawton, Oklahoma, and a DCMA-rated rocket system integration facility in Mississippi. Firehawk conducts R&D, static fire and flight testing at two West Texas sites, including a 30-square-mile launch range.
For more information, visit www.firehawkdefense.com.
About Rochefort Asset Management
Rochefort is a U.S.-based national security-focused firm co-founded by Kyle Bass, Jody LaNasa, and Alex Lemond. The firm operates as a licensed manager under the U.S. Department of War’s Office of Strategic Capital (OSC) and the Small Business Administration (SBA). Rochefort invests in companies driving innovation across defense and the American industrial base, with a focus on transformative and disruptive technologies critical to U.S. national security.
For more information visit: www.rochefort.us
SOURCE Rochefort Asset Management
