A new, nearly $100 million contract award could lead to hiring growth and expanded directed energy work in Albuquerque for a major aerospace and defense contractor a few months after the firm announced its largest acquisition deal to date.
BlueHalo, based in Arlington, Virginia, said Tuesday it was awarded a $95.4 million contract from the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command, or SMDC. The award is for advanced directed energy prototype development, with contract dollars being used for the designing and building of "cutting-edge laser weapon systems," the company's release notes.
A "large portion" of BlueHalo's direct energy research, development and production is based in Albuquerque, a communications representative for the company said over email. It's currently expanding its presence within the Sandia Science and Technology Park, with a new 83,000-square-foot manufacturing, research and development and office facility expected to be fully operational at 1300 Eubank Blvd. SE before the end of this year.
With that facility, BlueHalo's total footprint within the Park would total 200,000 square feet. The major government contractor has had a presence in Albuquerque since 2019 after acquiring Applied Technology Associates, previously based in the Duke City; it has other major sites in locations including the Washington, D.C., metro area, Huntsville, Alabama; Dayton, Ohio; and Sunrise, Florida.
BlueHalo's new Albuquerque facility, part of its larger Albuquerque campus, would support research and development related to the company's Locust suite of products — laser weapons focused on countering unmanned aerial systems (UAS) and similar threats.
Lessons learned through the "active deployment" of those laser weapons systems will inform BlueHalo's research and development activities under the new Army SMDC contract, according to its release, with work expected to expand in Albuquerque.
"BlueHalo's [Locust] laser systems are deployed overseas, providing multi-domain mission success in UAS threat elimination and force protection," Trip Ferguson, BlueHalo's chief operating officer, said in a statement. "We are honored that the U.S. Army continues to trust BlueHalo to deliver superior Directed Energy technologies and air defense innovations."
Work is ongoing under the SMDC contract, with a performance period through 2026.
The contract award comes just over three months after BlueHalo announced its acquisition of Eqlipse Technologies, a cyber intelligence and advanced research and development firm. CEO Jonathan Moneymaker said at the time the deal was the company's largest to date.
BlueHalo said when it announced the Eqlipse acquisition it expects to hire more than 150 people in New Mexico in 2024. It employs approximately 400 people in the state currently.
New hires will include radio frequency engineers, software engineers and production support roles, among others, to staff the company's directed energy group for work under the recently announced Army SMDC contract and others. BlueHalo currently has 18 open positions in Albuquerque listed on its website for various engineering, technician and manager roles; the listings don't show salary estimates.
Other systems the company develops in Albuquerque include its BADGER, or Broad Area Deployable Ground terminal Enabling Resilient communication, system, and its Wide Area Scanning Parabolic, or WASP, system. CEO Moneymaker said in February Albuquerque serves as one of BlueHalo's "core hubs and centers of excellence."
To date, it's invested $52 million in the city and could invest another $15 million over the next two to three years.
