REDONDO BEACH, Calif., May 7 -- The US Air Force has awarded contracts to three companies for the first phase of a three-year program to develop the strategic illuminator laser, or SILL -- a four-kilowatt-class, solid-state pulsed laser. The Department of Defense Missile Defense Agency is providing the funding under a contract managed by the Air Force. Northrop Grumman Corp.'s Space Technology sector, in Redondo Beach, received $499,606; Textron Systems Corp., of Wilmington Mass., $482,982; and General Atomics, of San Diego, $486,026. Under the four-month, Phase I contracts, the companies...Read full articleRelated content from Photonics MediaArticlesTower Semiconductor, InnoLight Pair for Silicon Photonic Optical Transceivers: Week in Brief: 09/08/23Tower Semiconductor and data center optics company InnoLight Technology will develop multigeneration high-speed optical transceivers based on Tower’s silicon photonics process platform. 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