Attalon invests $15M in high-energy laser capacity

Attalon, the aerospace and defense oriented photonics company that was previously part of Coherent, says it will invest $15 million to boost its production of high-energy lasers.

The decision is related to a new long-term supply agreement with Arlington, Virginia, customer AeroVironment (AV), that will see Attalon’s new “Valaris” high-energy laser platform deployed as part of AV’s “LOCUST” system to counter drone threats.

Earlier this month AV revealed that it had been awarded a landmark contract by the US Army Portfolio Acquisition Executive for Fires (PAE Fires) program office to use LOCUST in the Enduring-High Energy Laser (E-HEL) program.

That award, valued at $464.8 million, was said to represent the first-ever production contract for high-energy laser weapon systems in US history, and to signal a historic transition from prototype to production for laser weapon systems.

US Army and international orders

Under the US Army deal, AV is contracted to deliver dozens of its LOCUST X3 laser weapon systems over the next few years, to provide part of a layered air defense capability against group 1-3 drones.

The LOCUST X3 is described as a 30 kW platform-agnostic system, and will be integrated with various platforms including the US Army’s Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV), with options for palletized configurations, while analyzing the potential to integrate on an Infantry Squad Vehicle (ISV) in the near future.

Last week AV also announced a $50 million purchase order from an unspecified international customer, with CEO Wahid Nawabi commenting: “This first international order signals increasing global recognition that high‑energy laser weapon systems are essential to modern air defense.

“The threat from low-cost drones is global and has fundamentally changed the economics of warfare. LOCUST gives our customers an affordable, scalable way to defeat drone threats at scale without relying solely on expensive interceptors.”

Responding to the elevated demand for its laser weapon systems, AV is spending $30 million to significantly expand its manufacturing operations in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Valaris options

Launched in August, Valaris represents Attalon’s flagship family of high-energy laser solutions. Offering coherently, spectrally, and dichroically combined beams, it is designed to scale from tens to hundreds of kilowatts with lightweight adaptive optics to provide accurate beam control across air, land, and sea.

Valaris is available in three versions, the “X” offering coherently beam combined (CBC) laser architecture for 50 kW-class output that Attalon says can be scaled beyond 300 kW.

Valaris “S”, which has been selected by AV, is a spectrally beam combined (SBC) design that delivers 30 kW-class output and is scalable to 50 kW-class, with a focus on exceptional beam quality, manufacturing scalability, and cost.

Finally Valaris “D” is a dichroically beam combined (DBC) laser system offering 10 kW-class performance for applications requiring lower power and cost-effective operational capability.

Mary Clum, AV’s president of Space, Cyber, and Directed Energy, said that Attalon’s Valaris S beam-combining laser subsystem would be central to the LOCUST production ramp, adding:

“This technology is strategically engineered to neutralize today’s pressing drone threats while maintaining the inherent flexibility required to adapt to tomorrow’s complex missions.”

Attalon’s CEO John Bergeron commented: “Every defense technology reaches a moment where breakthrough performance alone is no longer enough.

“The defining challenge becomes delivering that capability at production scale while ensuring it can be sustained throughout its service life. Directed energy has reached that moment.”

Attalon’s high-energy lasers now feature the “Kilowatt Interconnect (kWIC) Disconnect” subsystem, intended to make high-energy laser weapons field-serviceable.

In traditional high-energy laser systems, replacing damaged or failed amplifiers requires fiber splicing performed by highly trained technicians using specialized equipment.

kWIC Disconnect is said to eliminate that bottleneck by allowing operators to completely disconnect a faulty amplifier and plug in a replacement within minutes.