ANN ARBOR, Mich., Sept. 15, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Advanced
Photonix, Inc.® (NYSE MKT: API) announced today that it
has received a contract worth approximately $1,600,000 from a leading military contractor,
which acts as a prime supplier for the U.S. Navy's Guided Missile
Weapon System. The contract is for a custom photodiode and is
expected to be completed within the next 18 months, and payment is
due upon shipment.
The Navy's Guided Missile Weapon System is the world's most
modern ship self-defense weapon and has been specifically designed
to provide exceptional protection for ships of all sizes. The
specific guided missile is a supersonic, light-weight,
quick-reaction, fire-and-forget missile designed to destroy
anti-ship missiles. Its autonomous dual-mode passive
Radio-Frequency-to-Infrared guidance design requires no shipboard
support after the missile is launched. This provides uniquely
high-firepower capability for engaging multiple threats
simultaneously.
Richard Kurtz, API's President
and CEO, said, "We are very pleased to have been awarded this
contract. This vital missile program has been one of the
Navy's most reliable missile guided systems, and we are proud to
have been a part of this successful endeavor. This is an
ongoing program which we have been fortunate to have for the past
15 years and expect this program to continue into the future."
Photodiodes convert light into current; a conventional solar
panel is really just a large area photodiode itself. For this
particular purpose, it serves as a detector on the missile's
proximity sensor. Because the missile's airframe rotates like a
rifle bullet for greater accuracy, the system requires four
detectors mounted 90 degrees away from each other. So as the
airframe rolls, there is always a detector sensing for
proximity.
Ideally, the ship's missile will strike the enemy's incoming
missile, but the proximity sensors are there to ensure that, if
there is not a direct heads-on hit, the Navy's missile will
detonate as it passes by the incoming missile protecting the fleet
below.
The RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missile (RAM) is a lightweight,
quick-reaction, fire-and-forget missile designed to destroy
anti-ship cruise missiles and asymmetric air and surface threats.
The RIM-116 RAM was developed as a cooperative program between the
U.S. and German governments and continues to be cooperatively
produced and supported. Currently, there are two RIM-116
configurations: Block 1A (RIM-116B) and Block 2 (RIM-116C). Block
1A is nearing completion of full rate production. The RAM Block 2
configuration, for which API is supplying its photodiodes, is
currently in low rate initial production and undergoing
Developmental and Operational Testing.
In addition to missile guidance, API's technology serves the
military by providing components for heads-up displays, satellite
positioning, laser range finders, and navigation.
In fiscal 2014, military and aerospace contracts generated
$2.7 million of API's total revenue
of $29.0 million. API anticipates
that this contract, along with the absence of government
sequestration this fiscal year, will result in greater revenue from
these customers.
This project is part of API's Optosolutions line of business
that serves not only the military/aerospace industry but also
customers in testing and measuring [T&M] as well as the medical
market. In the T&M market, API technology is used in such
diverse areas as water quality monitoring, the control of seed
planting, safety monitoring, currency validation, counterfeit
detection, and pyrometry (heat measurement at a distance). Among
the uses for API's work in the medical field are immunoassay
testing, retina eye diagnostics, pulse oximetry and flow cytometry.
The Company estimates that the total addressable market for its
optoelectronics is roughly $150
million annually.
In addition to its Optosolutions, API operates a high-speed
optical receiver [HSOR] line of business which addresses bandwidth
infrastructure demand: Long Haul/Metro 100G and beyond;
fiber-to-the-curb (FTTx); cloud computing; 4G/LTE wireless
backhaul; and manufacturing test (ComTest) of next generation
telecom. The field has an expected CAGR of more than 30%.
API's Terahertz business line is a disruptive technology for
non-destructive testing and process control. This includes nuclear
gauge replacement and single sensor with multiple measurement
devices.
About Advanced Photonix, Inc.
Advanced Photonix, Inc.®
(NYSE MKT: API) is a leading supplier of optoelectronic sensors,
devices and instruments used by Test and Measurement, Process
Control, Medical, Telecommunication and Homeland Security markets.
The company has three product lines: Optosolutions focuses on
enabling manufacturers to measure physical properties, including
temperature, particular counting, color, and fluorescence for
Medical, Homeland Security and Process Control applications. The
Terahertz sensor product line is targeted to the Process Control,
to enable quality control, and Security markets through
nondestructive testing. The T-Gauge® sensor can measure
subsurface physical properties, like multi-layers thicknesses,
density, moisture content, anomaly detection and some chemical
features, online and in real time. High-Speed Optical Receiver
(HSOR) products are used by the telecommunication market in both
telecommunication equipment and in test and measurement equipment
utilized in the manufacturing of telecommunication equipment. For
more information visit us on the web at
www.advancedphotonix.com.
The information contained herein includes forward looking
statements that are based on assumptions that management believes
to be reasonable but are subject to inherent uncertainties and
risks including, but not limited to, unforeseen technological
obstacles which may prevent or slow the development and/or
manufacture of new products; potential problems with the
integration of the acquired company and its technology and possible
inability to achieve expected synergies; obstacles to successfully
combining product offerings and lack of customer acceptance of such
offerings; limited (or slower than anticipated) customer acceptance
of new products which have been and are being developed by the
Company; and a decline in the general demand for optoelectronic
products.
CONTACT: ir@advancedphotonix.com
RELATED LINKS: http://www.advancedphotonix.com
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SOURCE Advanced Photonix, Inc.