BAE Systems, Inc. announced a strategic business agreement that will result in the BAE Systems’ FAST Labs™ research and development organization having early access to select Intel technologies. The agreement will enable BAE Systems to develop and more quickly field next-generation defense applications based on Intel’s most advanced technology. 

While commercial off-the-shelf semiconductor technology has increasingly been incorporated into U.S. defense applications, military-grade technology requires domestically developed custom capabilities that go beyond commercially available technology. To date, this development lag of customizing commercial technology has resulted in significant time gaps between chip-level technology and defense applications being fielded. 

“We are excited to extend our existing relationship with BAE Systems and look forward to working with them to protect national security, critical infrastructure, and vital information,” said Frank Ferrante, senior director of Military Aerospace and Defense Division at Intel.  

“Early access to Intel’s developing technology can speed the timetable of producing defense applications and maintain our country’s technological edge,” said Chris Rappa, director at BAE Systems’ FAST Labs. “Closing the development gap—potentially by years in some cases—will deliver a critical advantage to our country.”

This announcement comes on the heels of other new collaborations between BAE Systems and Intel, including on Intel’s recently launched FPGA technology and on the SHIP-Digital program, which will extend Intel’s wideband RF signal processing platform to the most size, weight and power-constrained defense applications. This collaboration will result in BAE Systems continuing to deliver the most advanced capabilities at significantly lower costs.