Contracts awarded to support Directed Energy Directorate Published March 3, 2006 By Rich Garcia AFRLDirected Energy Directorate Public Affairs KIRTLAND AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. -- Eight contracts with a potential value of $24 million were awarded, Air Force Research Laboratory officials here announced March 1. All eight contractors will be identifying potential electronic threats to U.S. systems and developing solutions that will enhance the Defense Department's ability to defend against high-power electromagnetic weapons. Two of the eight contractors are Albuquerque-based companies. Each company will receive a set amount of money but all eight have the potential to get additional monies based on their contributions. The companies and their initial awards are Fiore Industries Inc. ($33,166) and Voss Scientific ($73,351), both based in Albuquerque, N.M. Also included are Alliant Technologies/Mission Research Corporation ($419,562) in Santa Barbara, Calif.; Electro Magnetic Applications, Inc. ($81,416) in Lakewood, Colo.; Lockheed Martin Corp. ($97,894) in Grand Prairie, Texas; Science Applications International Corp. ($196,881), headquartered in San Diego; Northrop Grumman Corp. ($334,613), based in Los Angeles; and ITT Industries ($419,516), headquartered in White Plains, N.Y. Under the contracts, the companies will be supporting the research laboratory's Directed Energy Directorate over the next five years. Directorate officials are asking the contractors to make optimum use of existing assets, augmenting or complementing those assets where possible, and encouraging sound engineering to develop new solutions that will counter electronic threats. The directorate focuses its research on developing high-energy lasers, high-power microwave systems and other directed energies for national defense.