AKHAN Semiconductor and partner Lockheed Martin have demonstrated the capability of a new diamond-based coating technology to act as a countermeasure to directed energy weapons.
The demonstration was made at the Association of the United States Army (AUSA) Annual Meeting and Expo in Washington DC.
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The diamond coating technology is touted as a new solution to increase the survivability of manned and unmanned military aircraft systems.
Headquartered in Illinois, US, AKHAN is involved in the fabrication of electronics-grade diamonds as functional semiconductors.
AKHAN Semiconductor CEO and founder Adam Khan said: “The opportunity to apply our technology to serve our nation’s security and defence is an honour not taken lightly.
“We are extremely grateful to be working with Lockheed Martin to demonstrate the capabilities and myriad applications of our Miraj Diamond coatings.”
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By GlobalDataThe diamond coating is meant for use in control systems and cockpit areas.
The technology will serve as a countermeasure to electromagnetic, kinetic and laser energy weapons.
While AKHAN provided its diamond coating, Lockheed Martin’s contribution to the partnership involved supplying the testing environment.
The partners tested the technology by simulating the force exerted by these weapons upon coated and uncoated fused silica samples.
AKHAN noted that unlike the previous coating systems, the diamond coating will not have issues with delamination, degradation and fluctuating optical transmissivity.
The company also highlighted the importance of multilayer anti-reflective coating systems in military aerospace sensor and detector applications.
The technology demonstrated is said to provide new capabilities in optical sensing, detecting and transmission.
Commenting on the development, AKHAN said: “The technology further allows the development of optical components with ultra-hardness, scratch-resistance, high thermal conductivity, hydrophobicity, chemical and biological inertness, and with high transmittance at a variety of critical angles.”
AKHAN is a finalist in this month’s US Army’s xTech 2.0 Competition. As part of the competition, the company proposed to integrate its Miraj Diamond technology in protective coatings.
The integration is aimed at improving the protection of aircraft developed under the army’s Future Vertical Lift (FVL) programme.
