Jerry Petersen
Semiconductor and fiber lasers provider nLIGHT will work as a subcontractor to Kord Technologies on a $34.5 million U.S. Army contract for the Directed Energy Maneuver-Short Range Air Defense prototyping effort.
DE M-SHORAD aims to install 50kW-class high energy laser weapon systems on Stryker vehicles, improving their defenses against a variety of threats, including unmanned aircraft systems, nLIGHT said Monday.
nLIGHT Defense Systems President Jeff Barchers touted his company’s ability to produce ruggedized, field-serviceable lasers that use adaptive optics to increase lethality.
For his part, nLIGHT President and CEO Scott Keeney shared his company’s history of developing high-power defense and commercial fiber lasers and expressed pride in its partnership with Kord and the Army Rapid Capabilities Critical Technologies Office, which is handling the DE M-SHORAD program.
Keeney went on to add that, “we look forward to leveraging our dual-use business model to accelerate the development and delivery of innovative and affordable lasers to the warfighter.”
