Daylight Defense to Develop Ultraviolet Lasers for US Army
Next generation compact UV lasers to protect future aircraft
The US Army has chosen Daylight Defense LLC to develop next-generation high-power ultraviolet (UV) lasers. The Army is interested in laser sources in the near-UV for LIDAR (remote sensing by analysing the reflected light bouncing of an object) and other applications to do with protecting aircraft. Additional uses of near-UV sources include battlefield awareness, trace detection using LIDAR backscatter and/or bio-fluorescence, and data storage.
Daylight Defense received the award under the US Army Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program, which provides high-tech US businesses (with less than 500 employees) the opportunity to provide innovative research and development solutions in response to critical Army needs.
A specialist in military systems based on its patented quantum cascade laser (QCL) technology, Daylight is working with Northrop Grumman within the US Army's Common Infrared Countermeasures (CIRCM) program to develop the next generation of aircraft survivability equipment to defend helicopters against 'man-portable' air-defence systems and other heat-seeking munitions. When countering such hostile threats, applying multiple spectrums including IR, acoustic, ultraviolet, RF, and visual light to distinguish and characterise them increases the detection, identification, and geo-location accuracy.
Timothy Day, CEO for Daylight Solutions said: "The development of compact, ruggedised UV laser modules fits well within our product roadmap to bring advanced capabilities to the warfighter."
