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US Air Force awards Northrop Grumman $60.4M LAIRCM enhanced-sensor upgrade; War Dept. backs nLIGHT/Lockheed Martin Aculight with

On July 8, 2026, the U.S. Air Force awarded Northrop Grumman a $60,438,241 sole-source contract to develop an enhanced sensor for the LAIRCM aircraft missile-defense system, with performance at Rolling Meadows, Illinois through April 30, 2029. Separately, the U.S. Department of War awarded nLIGHT and Lockheed Martin Aculight $86 million to develop containerized laser weapons to counter drones and cruise missiles.

Discovered 2026-07-10T00:59:53.488387-07:00 | 2026-07-10T00:59:53.488387-07:00

Briefing

What Hype is tracking

  • The awards quantify near-term U.S. investment in layered missile and counter-drone defense: $60.4M to upgrade LAIRCM sensing for aircraft protection and $86M to develop containerized directed-energy systems.
  • Both contracts point to programmatic focus areas—enhanced sensor development (LAIRCM) and scalable “containerized” laser deployment—shaping how integrators may architect airbase/force-defense counter-UAS and counter-cruise-missile capabilities.
  • The sole-source LAIRCM effort (through April 30, 2029) and the War Dept. laser development effort provide concrete timelines and prime/industry teaming signals for future procurement and follow-on modernization work.

Reported By

AeroTime defence-blog.com
Sources Tracked
2
First Seen
2026-07-10T00:59:53.488387-07:00
Latest Update
2026-07-10T01:58:52.441351-07:00
Coverage
Defense

Sources

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