Aerojet Rocketdyne completes AR1 rocket engine, won’t fire until ‘late 2022’

Aerojet Rocketdyne finished building the first in its next-generation AR1 engine series, despite lacking both a customer and plans to test fire it for about two years.

The AR1 rocket engine is located at the company’s facility at NASA’s Stennis Space Center in Mississippi – and its completion comes as an additional piece that Lockheed Martin would get when its planned $4.6 billion acquisition of Aerojet Rocketdyne closes in the second half of this year.

While Aerojet Rocketdyne has finished building the engine, it will be a couple of years before any possible testing begins.

“Aerojet Rocketdyne could be in a position to hot fire the AR1 engine…