$29.9M Contract to Advance 400kW Directed Energy System Awarded to Coherent Aerospace

Coherent Aerospace & Defense, Murrieta, California, is awarded a cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for the SONGBOW: Pulsed Fiber Lasers and Directed Energy Subsystems with High Bandwidth Wavefront Control Project. This contract provides for the development of pulsed fiber lasers for remote sensing and illumination and to further the development of a 400 kilowatt (kW) directed-energy subsystem by integrating a 50-kW laser with a beam-control assembly. Work will be performed in Murrieta, California, and is expected to be completed in January 2027. The total cumulative value of this contract, including a 20-month base period with one 11-month and one 18-month option periods which will run concurrently, is $29,981,651. Fiscal 2024 research, development, test and evaluation (Navy) funds in the amount of $12,881,201 are obligated at the time of award and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured under long range broad agency announcement (BAA) N0001424SB001 entitled “Long Range Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) for Navy and Marine Corps Science and Technology.” Since proposals were received throughout the year under the Long-Range BAA, the number of proposals received in response to the solicitation is unknown. The Office of Naval Research, Arlington, Virginia, is the contracting activity (N0001425C1506).