Lockheed Martin taps Machina’s robots for mission-critical missile parts

Machina has been awarded a qualification contract from Lockheed Martin in support of the JASSM program. S. defense missile system.

“The defense industrial base is under pressure to scale faster than legacy manufacturing allows,” said Edward Mehr, co-founder and CEO of Machina. “Missile programs are not constrained by design. They are constrained by production.

” Mehr was on a recent episode of The Robot Report podcast , where he explained the growth and evolution of the company. On the episode, he noted that Machina is uniquely configured to support defense clients. “We are excited about this opportunity to support a vital weapon system for the United States and its allies,” said John Borrego, president of Machina Bellator .

” Save the date for RoboBusiness 2026 Machina system forms precision parts The company was a 2023 RBR50 Robotics Innovation Award winner for its novel use of industrial robots to pound metal into precise shapes. The robots form complex parts from exotic materials such as titanium. Machina’s workcells consist of two industrial robots arranged on opposite sides of a vertical sheet of raw material.

Through coordinated interactions on opposite sides of the material, the robots form a part, just like a blacksmith would. The latest version of the workcells includes the capability to drill holes into parts as well as laser cut or engrave. Unlike a stamp-and-die production line, which is expensive to create and set up, a Machina workcell can produce high-quality parts in lot sizes as small as one unit.

The workcell is suitable for low-volume production or for parts that have a short lead time, the company said. Machina Labs Factory 3 will be dedicated to the production of defense systems. | Credit: Machina Labs New manufacturing facility dedicated to defense clients Machina doesn’t sell its metal-forming workcells.

Instead, the company serves as a contract manufacturer, fulfilling its clients’ production needs. To that end, the company is opening a new facility, Machine Factory 3, to exclusively serve the needs of Lockheed Martin and other defense contractors. The contract will be supported through Machina Factory 3, the company’s first large-scale Intelligent factory currently under development.

-ft. 6 sq. m) facility is designed to house up to 50 RoboCraftsman cells and support high-rate production of mission-critical metal structures for defense programs, including JASSM .

By integrating forming, machining, welding, and assembly under one roof, Machina said its new facility will compress production timelines from months to days. “Lockheed Martin Ventures invested in Machina for its powerful combination of speed, flexibility, and scalability, and our teams have worked closely to transition key capabilities to production,” said Chris Moran, vice president and general manager at Lockheed Martin Ventures. “Machina’s work advances capacity, reduces risk, and helps ensure we can deliver mission-critical capabilities at scale.

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