Daylight Defense LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Daylight Solutions Inc., said the Army has selected the company to develop next-generation high-power ultraviolet (UV) laser capability to support future defense applications.
The award was made under the Army Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program, which provides high-tech U.S. businesses with fewer than 500 employees the opportunity to provide innovative research and development solutions in response to critical Army needs.
A recent Army solicitation said the service “is interested in laser sources in the near-UV for applications such as Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) and other applications for helicopter survivability.”
Other applications of the technology include battlefield awareness, trace detection using LIDAR backscatter and/or bio-fluorescence, and data storage.
“We are grateful that the U.S. Government has entrusted Daylight to develop a next generation capability for future airborne military laser systems,” said Timothy Day, CEO for Daylight Solutions. “The development of compact, ruggedized UV laser modules fits well within our product roadmap to bring advanced capabilities to the warfighter.”
Daylight has leveraged their patented quantum cascade laser (QCL) technologies to create a line of military laser products that provide high-power and multi-color capabilities. The company’s modular open architecture approach enables significant reductions in cycle-time from design to deployment, minimizing costs, while simultaneously providing improvements in reliability and lifetime over existing technologies.