TUCSON, Ariz., 21 Aug. 2009. Applied Energetics Inc. won a $3.1 million contract from the U.S. Army's Research, Development, and Engineering Command (U.S. Army RDECOM - Picatinny, N.J.) for the continued development and advancement of the company's Laser Guided Energy (LGE) technology.

Joe Hayden, chief operating officer of Applied Energetics says: "This contract signifies the continued commitment of the Army to mature LGE and advance this technology to the field."

LGE is a transformational weapon technology by which a controllable high-voltage electric charge can be precisely guided by a laser through the atmosphere to induce a range of effects against a variety of targets, says a company representative.

Ben Lagasca, chief of the Advanced Energy Armaments Division at U.S. Army ARDEC, says: "The U.S. Army has been involved with the development of LGE for the past five years. Now that the technology is approaching the level of maturity needed to begin weaponization, we will be more closely coordinated with Applied Energetics through this contract to fulfill Army mission needs."

The award is a cost plus fixed fee Ordnance Technology Initiative Agreement with a ceiling value of $13.4 million over a period of performance of three years. The initial funded contract value is $3.1 million over a period of one year.

The development effort will be incrementally funded to support the advances in the systems and components that comprise a Laser Guided Energy system, and will be the next step in advancement of these systems to meet U.S. Army future requirements.