Mynaric’s Hawk terminal for airborne platforms. Photo: Mynaric

L3Harris is making a strategic investment in Mynaric, investing 11.2 million euros ($11.4 million) in the business for a 7.2% share. L3Harris will acquire 409,294 new bearer shares of Mynaric at a price of around 27.37 euros per share. The companies announced the investment on Wednesday.

Under the investment, Mynaric will become a preferred provider of laser communications solutions and L3Harris have certain privileges including access to select test capabilities of Mynaric, including the company’s already established interoperability labs and testbeds. 

“Laser communications is rapidly proliferating as a technological pillar for Joint All-Domain Command and Control [JADC2] capabilities across space, air, maritime, and terrestrial domains,” said Daniel Gittsovich, vice president  of Corporate Strategy and Development at L3Harris. “Our strategy is focused on disrupting the traditional, lengthy development and acquisition processes; Mynaric will be an excellent partner to rapidly address our customers’ needs for high-bandwidth and secure connectivity.” 

Mynaric and L3Harris have collaborated previously — L3Harris demonstrated Mynaric’s HAWK optical communications terminal for airborne applications over the last two years. The companies now plan to build on their existing collaboration in the airborne domain and widen the scope to include space, maritime, and ground.