AFRL to host industry briefing on DETER effort

The Air Force Research Lab will host an online briefing next month for industry regarding Directed Energy Technology Experimentation Research, according to a notice posted last week.

On April 15, AFRL will give an overview to contractors and academics of the DETER Advanced Research Announcement, which is a call for submissions of white papers and research proposals relating to directed energy systems and components that runs until February 2025, according to another notice updated last week.

The research is intended to support AFRL and its Directed Energy Directorate “to equip the joint warfighter with next-generation technologies, advanced concepts and weapon system options across all operational domains to become more agile and increase the commercialization potential of directed energy investments to ensure the National Defense,” the notice states.

AFRL put out the first DETER call for research last year, requesting submissions by February 2022, but program manager Marcella Cantu said “it made sense” to extend the submission period by another three years because of the benefit it had to research and development.

“This allows AFRL to continue to engage with industry in accepting white papers under the Open Announcement as well as issuing discrete requirements under Closed Calls,” Cantu told Inside Defense in an email Tuesday.

The briefing will include a question-and-answer session, but questions should be submitted ahead of time, according to the notice.