Superconductor Technologies Inc. (STI), a provider of high performance infrastructure products for wireless voice and data applications, announced it was awarded a contract from the US Air Force to develop Semiconductor-Tuned High Temperature Superconducting Filters for Ultra-Sensitive Radio Frequency Receivers (SURF). The funded contract amount is $4.7 M.
Upon successful completion of the initial contract, the US Air Force has an option to extend the contract for the delivery of a prototype rack-mountable system incorporating a reconfigurable, ultra-fast tuned filter. If exercised, the value of this contract extension option is $5.4 M and would be recognized over 12 months.
"We are executing on our company strategy to extend our technology to new applications with existing customers, as demonstrated by this US Air Force contract win," said Jeff Quiram, STI's president and chief executive officer. "Most importantly, this contract moves us much closer to our corporate goal of achieving significant product sales to the US government, moving STI beyond its historical role as principally a provider of contract R&D services."
"The SURF program, which builds on an STI proprietary approach to tuning filters, will incorporate semiconductor-tuning of High Temperature Superconducting (HTS) filters to enable microsecond tuning speed, while also reducing size and cost," said Dr. Bob Hammond, STI's senior vice president and CTO.
"This unique approach will minimize tuning speeds, a primary limitation of today's tunable HTS filter technologies for most military applications."
The US Air Force conducts research, development, test and evaluation, and provides the acquisition management services and logistics support necessary to keep US Air Force weapon systems ready for war.