Will Edwards, CEO of Firehawk Aerospace

Missile supply chain bottleneck issues are becoming one of the biggest constraints in modern defense production, limiting how quickly missiles can actually be built.

Missile demand is accelerating, but capacity isn’t keeping up—and the real issue isn’t design or funding. It’s rocket propulsion manufacturing.

In this episode of Mission Critical: Defense Recruiting, Elray Search CEO Katherine Jerald speaks with Will Edwards, CEO and co-founder of Firehawk Aerospace, about one of the most overlooked challenges in the defense industrial base: propellant production.

How Firehawk Is Solving the Missile Supply Chain Bottleneck

Firehawk is approaching the problem differently—developing 3D printed rocket propellant to reduce production timelines from months to hours while enabling scalable, flexible manufacturing.

At Elray Search, we work closely with leaders building mission-critical defense systems, making conversations like this especially relevant as the industry works to rebuild capacity and meet growing demand.

Edwards brings an outsider’s perspective to a legacy challenge, questioning long-standing assumptions around propulsion manufacturing and focusing on the constraint that actually limits output.

The implication is clear: solving bottlenecks—not building more complexity—is what unlocks scale.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode

• Why rocket propulsion is the most fragile bottleneck in missile production
• How 3D printed propellant reduces timelines from months to hours
• Why “unsexy” component problems unlock massive defense capacity
• The hidden challenges of scaling missile manufacturing
• How startups can work with primes without slowing innovation
• Why barriers like past performance limit new entrants

CEO Insight: The Edwards Playbook

🧠 Focus on constraints. That’s where leverage lives
🧠 Solve the problems no one else wants to touch
🧠 Speed is meaningless without manufacturability
🧠 Enable incumbents instead of competing with them

🎧 If you work in defense manufacturing, aerospace, or national security, this episode offers a practical look at how propulsion innovation could reshape missile production.

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