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U.S. Army and AeroVironment officials will re-open the supply chain for components and subsystems within the Enduring-High Energy Laser (E-HEL) program to competition, military and company officials said on Oct. 12.
The Army awarded the E-HEL contract to AeroVironment on Sept. 2, placing the first production order the photon-based, 20-kw-class, counter-drone weapon.
But the directed energy supply chain will remain open to new bids on key subsystems, and an industry event will be held at the end of October to brief potential suppliers on the plans.
AeroVironment is interested in recruiting new suppliers to help with scaling-up production of the relocatable directed energy system, AeroVironment Vice President John Garrity told Aviation Week during the Association of the U.S. Army annual meeting in Washington.
The company is developing 11 interface control documents that will be handed over to the Army, Garrity said. Those documents will form the basis of an Army-owned reference architecture, a step intended to smooth the process of bringing in new suppliers with compatible hardware.
For some prospective suppliers, the chance to enter the E-HEL supply chain in the future offers the opportunity to introduce components with improved performance.
“There's going to be opportunities to innovate technology … and be able to on-ramp that into that platform that AeroVironment is is creating for that program,” said David Zoller, a senior director at KBR, which offered a competing 20-kilowatt system for E-HEL.
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