Global defense and technology company Northrop Grumman Corp. (NOC) recently received an 18-month, $4.6 million contract for Phase II of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s (DARPA) Revolution in Fiber Lasers (RIFL) program. The 18-month DARPA contract award follows a successful Phase I.
The Phase I of the project demonstrated a near-perfect beam quality of better than 1.2 and efficiency better than 30%, twice the program’s goal of 15%, with a 1 kW single mode fiber amplifier.
The Phase II of the contract calls for scaling power to 3 kilowatts (kW) in a single mode fiber amplifier. The company has patents on techniques used to facilitate combination of many fiber amplifier beams, while maintaining near-ideal beam quality. The program aims at advancing the technology to 100kW in order to develop a lethal laser weapon.
Phase II of the project is an important step in the maturity of fiber laser technology. By surpassing Phase I goals, the company is in an excellent position for tasting success in Phase II. The company expects the success in Phase II to create a powerful springboard for scaling fiber lasers to weapons-class performance levels.
Apart from the DARPA project, Northrop Grumman is also working on other laser initiatives that will build on the company’s scalable architecture and beam combining expertise. These programs include a 2-Dimensional Diffractive Optical Element Beam Combining Demonstration and a Robust Electric Laser Initiative.
The former is a U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory program under which the company is demonstrating the diffractive beam combining and using the Joint Department of Defense high-power fiber laser test bed. The latter, is a two-year, $8.7 million contract for a High Energy Laser – Joint Technology Office program to produce a design using the company’s diffractive optical element beam combining technique to increase power levels to 25kW.
Los Angeles-based Northrop Grumman is one of the world’s leading shipbuilders and the second largest defense contractor in the U.S. The company supplies a broad array of products and services to the U.S. Department of Defense, including electronic systems, information technology, submarines and surface ships, aircraft, space technology, and systems integration services.
The company’s major competitors include Boeing Co. (BA) and General Dynamics Corp. (GD). We maintain our Neutral recommendation on Northrop Grumman, supported by our Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
(We have made a correction to this article. The original had an error and should not be relied upon.)
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