Aalyria Tightbeam. Photo: Aalyria

Google connectivity-focused spinoff Aalyria has a new contract from the Office of Naval Research and Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) to develop over-the-horizon connectivity for the Navy’s sea, air, and land assets.

The initial $7 million contract award is for the first phase of the Navy’s Secure Optical Aerial Relay (SOAR) project, which aims to provide a low latency, high bandwidth free space optical communication capability for warfighting scenarios. 

Aalyria plans to use its Tightbeam light free space optics technology for the program, and Tightbeam terminals will be delivered to the Navy for installation on naval aircraft and other platforms. The company claims Tightbeam can deliver speeds starting at 100 Gbps through hundreds of kilometers of atmosphere. 

“When we demonstrate Tightbeam’s capabilities, the reaction is routinely one of disbelief,” said Nathan Wolfe, CTO of Aalyria Technologies. “The technology can deliver faster speeds, across greater distances, and through more difficult conditions than people think is possible. We’re excited to leverage Tightbeam’s unique, cutting-edge technology to advance critical communications capabilities for the Navy.”

Aalyria recently emerged from stealth and won a number of government and commercial contracts, including with the Defense Innovation Unit, Rivada Space Networks, Anduril, and Leidos.