Attalon lands $17.1M Navy grant for high-power laser weapons

What's the deal? Attalon, a California-based defence firm, received a $17.1 million contract modification from the Office of Naval ResearchDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → to develop pulsed fiber lasers and high-power directed energy subsystems for the US Navy. The grant falls under the ONR's SONGBOW program.

What's the endgame? Attalon will keep maturing a 400-kilowatt-class directed energy subsystem, integrating a 50-kilowatt laser with a beam control assembly. The work will be led by its Directed Energy & Advanced Lasers team in Beavercreek, Ohio.

Why now? The Department of the Navy is expanding its directed energy investments, and scalable fiber laser architectures and precision beam control are increasingly central to fielding operational systems. SONGBOW is meant to push high-energy laser technology from research toward deployment.

"SONGBOW is focused on advancing the technologies that will enable the next generation of directed energy systems," said Matt Straup, vice president of directed energy and advanced lasers at Attalon.

Where the money goes: Attalon says it is expanding facilities, funding internal research and development, and growing its technical workforce across its US engineering and manufacturing footprint. Chief executive officer John Bergeron said the award "reflects the Navy's continued confidence in our team."

The signal: The award underscores growing US military demand for domestically built laser weapons as the Navy moves directed energy from the lab toward the field.

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Image credit: Generated with Gemini