UES Inc. received a $48.7 million contract from the U.S. Air Force to research and develop laser materials.

The contract supports the branch's Blue Systems Survivability program. Work will include research for advanced laser hardened materials and techniques.

The U.S. Department of Defense says the goal of the research will be to develop a wide range of laser applications, but did not disclose what the products would be used for.

Work will be performed at the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio, and is expected to be complete by the end of June 2023.

UES Inc. received $505,000 in fiscal 2017 research, development, test and evaluation funds at the time of the contract award. The Air Force Research Laboratory will manage the project.

Lasers solutions are being developed for various uses within the U.S. military, including offensive and defensive platforms.

Earlier in March, the U.S. Army demonstrated combat capabilities for an armored vehicle equipped with a 5kW laser weapon.

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Where does laser energy go after being fired into plasma?
Glasgow, Scotland (SPX) Mar 27, 2017
An outstanding conundrum on what happens to the laser energy after beams are fired into plasma has been solved in newly-published research at the University of Strathclyde. The study discovered that the same forces that produce a bubble in plasma in the laser-plasma wakefield accelerator produce two additional low-energy but high-charge electron beams simultaneously with a low charge high energy ... read more

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Learn about laser weapon technology at SpaceWar.com

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