BALTIMORE — Pixelligent and the University of Massachusetts Amherst were awarded a grant from the National Science Foundation to support their collaborative project titled “Research Partnership for Scalable Metalens Fabrication.” The grant, worth $548,305, will support the collaborators’ effort to show that high-efficiency metalenses with refractive indices as high as 2.10 can be fabricated at commercial scale using efficient nanoimprint processes and equipment.

MELBOURNE, Fla. — The U.S. Special Operations Command awarded L3Harris Technologies a five-year, $96 million indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contract to procure WESCAM MX electro-optical, infrared, and laser designator sensor suites and services. L3Harris’ WESCAM MX-10D and WESCAM MX-15D sensor systems provide multispectral imaging and designation capabilities for various aircraft within the U.S. Army Special Operations Aviation Command inventory.

SAN DIEGO — Citadel Defense was awarded a $6 million sole-source contract from a classified U.S. Department of Defense customer to build and deploy an AI-powered counter-drone solution. The solution is designed to autonomously detect, identify, track, and defeat hostile drones using state-of-the-art artificial intelligence, machine learning, and sensor fusion.

DURHAM, N.C. — Cree, a provider of silicon carbide technology through its Wolfspeed business, and STMicroelectronics, a semiconductor technology company, have expanded an existing multiyear, long-term silicon carbide wafer supply agreement. The amended agreement, which calls for Cree to supply ST with 150-mm silicon carbide bare and epitaxial wafers over the next several years, is now worth more than $800 million.

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — GENIUS NY, a business accelerator program at CenterState CEO’s Tech Garden, announced the five finalist companies selected for its fifth round. These startup unmanned systems and robotics companies will participate in the yearlong program and will compete for a total of $3 million in direct investment, with one grand prize of up to $1 million, and four $500,000 awards. The finalists are Airial Robotics, Airtonomy, CarScanner, Circle Optics, and Windshape.