Dec 6 2007
Ionatron, Inc., the Laser Guided Energy (LGE(R)) Company, today announced that it has delivered an advanced Ultra-Short Pulsed Laser "Transportable Demonstrator" system to its customer, the US Navy.
Ionatron previously announced on April 24, 2007 that it had received a U.S. Government contract for continued development of its Laser Induced Plasma Channel (LIPC(TM)) technology. The contract value was $9,839,094. As described in the Pre-Solicitation Notice released by the U.S. Navy in December of 2006, this contract funded the development of an advanced Ultra Short Pulse Laser; physics modeling related to LGE requirements; a Transportable Demonstrator System; and LGE effects testing.
The Transportable Demonstrator is an integrated, mobile, laser laboratory with a state-of-the-art, ultrashort pulsed laser and motion-stabilized beam delivery optics. This system provides the Navy with unique capabilities to study terawatt laser-atmospheric interactions in a wide variety of environments and over long ranges.
Dana Marshall, Ionatron's President, Chief Executive Officer, and Chairman, stated, "The development and delivery of this Transportable Demonstrator was the product of an intensive six month effort by Ionatron's engineers and technicians." Mr. Marshall continued, "We are working with our customers to build our joint understanding of how terawatt laser pulses will behave in a full range of environmental conditions and over long ranges. This is important information intended to further our efforts to develop LGE technology and applications, and to deliver militarized LGE systems hardware in the future."
Mr. Marshall also noted, "The Army has invested in developing LGE as a technology for various counter-material missions, to include Military Operations on Urban Terrain (MOUT). We see the use of LGE for the counter-material mission as a clear extension of our ongoing work on developing LGE-related technologies for the various DOD services."