Department Of War Invests $22.1 Million In Radiation Testing Infrastructure
The Department of War has awarded a $22.1 million, 24-month contract to expand U.S. radiation testing infrastructure for defense microelectronics, targeting a key requirement for qualifying components that must continue operating in radiation environments. The announcement was made Aug. 31 and identifies Michigan State University, Trusted Strategic Solutions LLC and Nucleon as the participating organizations.
Takeaways
The Department of War is investing $22.1 million to expand domestic radiation testing infrastructure for advanced defense microelectronics, addressing a critical test and qualification requirement for radiation-hardened systems.
The project, known as the Optimized Radiation Beam Infrastructure for Testing Systems, or ORBITS, will be built at Michigan State University’s Facility for Rare Isotope Beams in East Lansing, Michigan. The Department says the project will establish a dedicated single event effects testing beamline and experimental end-station connected to Linear Accelerator Segment 3 of the superconducting radiofrequency accelerator.
The investment is being made through the Office of the Assistant Secretary of War for Industrial Base Policy’s Industrial Base Analysis and Sustainment program.
What The ORBITS Project Will Add
The central objective is to increase domestic access to high-energy heavy-ion beams for single event effects, or SEE, testing.
SEE testing exposes electronic components to energetic ions that can produce temporary or permanent changes in their operation. Such effects are important when evaluating electronics intended for environments where exposure to energetic particles can affect semiconductor performance.
Michigan State University’s FRIB already operates dedicated SEE facilities. Its existing capabilities use high-energy heavy-ion beams to reproduce radiation effects on electronics, allowing researchers and engineers to study failures that could otherwise emerge only after extended exposure in operational environments.
The new ORBITS infrastructure is intended to expand that capacity and provide beam characteristics that the Department says will extend beyond current domestic capabilities.
| ORBITS Capability | Planned Capacity |
|---|---|
| Contract value | $22.1 million |
| Contract period | 24 months |
| Annual SEE testing capacity | Up to 2,000 hours |
| Heavy-ion energy | Up to 150 MeV/u |
| Light-ion energy | Up to 300 MeV/u |
| Location | Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan |
| Program | Industrial Base Analysis and Sustainment |
The additional capacity is significant because radiation testing is part of the qualification process for advanced electronics intended for demanding environments. The ability to conduct controlled testing before fielding can help identify vulnerabilities in components, boards and electronic subsystems.
Why Single Event Effects Testing Matters
Modern defense platforms rely on increasingly sophisticated microelectronics for sensing, communications, navigation, computing, electronic warfare and weapons control.
Radiation effects are particularly relevant to spacecraft and high-altitude systems, but radiation-induced electronic failures can also affect aircraft and other systems operating in environments exposed to energetic particles. FRIB states that SEE testing can be used to evaluate electronic and photonic systems intended for Earth, aircraft and spacecraft applications.
A high-energy ion striking a semiconductor can create an electrical disturbance. Depending on the device and the event, the result can range from a temporary error to a more serious malfunction or physical damage.
For defense programs, the important issue is not simply whether a component works under normal laboratory conditions. Engineers also need to establish how that component behaves under the radiation conditions expected during its intended service life.
That makes access to suitable testing infrastructure part of the broader microelectronics supply chain.
FRIB Already Has A Growing Radiation Testing Role
The ORBITS project builds on Michigan State University’s existing role in radiation effects testing.
In February 2026, FRIB inaugurated its K500 Chip Testing Facility, also known as KSEE. Michigan State said the facility expanded U.S. capacity for radiation effects testing of advanced microelectronics used in spaceflight, defense, wireless communications and autonomous systems.
The KSEE facility uses a K500 cyclotron to deliver heavy ions to targets in an in-air testing environment. FRIB says the facility includes two additional user vaults and increases its chip-testing capacity.
FRIB also operates its Single Event Effects Facility using the laboratory’s linear accelerator. The facility provides heavy-ion beams, beam characterization and measurement capabilities for SEE experiments.
The ORBITS project therefore represents an expansion of an existing national testing capability rather than the creation of a completely new radiation research function.
Higher Energy Beams Expand The Test Envelope
One of the most important technical aspects of the Department’s announcement is the planned energy range.
The ORBITS infrastructure is expected to support heavy ions at energies of up to 150 MeV per nucleon and light ions at up to 300 MeV per nucleon.
Energy per nucleon is an important measure for accelerator-based ion testing because it describes the kinetic energy available on a per-nucleon basis rather than simply stating the total energy of the complete ion.
Higher-energy and different ion species allow engineers to examine how electronic devices respond to a wider range of radiation conditions. FRIB’s existing beam capabilities demonstrate that its accelerator infrastructure can deliver multiple ion species at high energies for research applications.
For microelectronics qualification, the value is not simply a higher numerical energy level. The practical benefit comes from having the beam characteristics, intensity, ion species and measurement systems needed to reproduce relevant radiation effects and collect reliable test data.
The Capacity Question Is As Important As The Beam Energy
The planned 2,000 hours of annual SEE testing is another important element of the investment.
Radiation testing can become a scheduling constraint when multiple government, industry and research programs compete for limited accelerator access. FRIB already operates SEE facilities that support users from government, industry and academia.
Increasing available test hours can therefore help address a different problem from simply increasing beam energy.
The combination of higher-energy testing and additional annual capacity could provide defense programs with more opportunities to evaluate components during development and qualification. That matters as defense electronics become more complex and as programs increasingly depend on specialized semiconductor technologies.
The Department’s announcement does not specify how the 2,000 hours will be allocated among individual programs or customers. It also does not identify particular weapons platforms that will use the facility.
Those details should therefore not be inferred from the award.
A Defense Industrial Base Investment Beyond Semiconductor Manufacturing
The ORBITS award illustrates an important point about the defense microelectronics supply chain: domestic capability depends on more than semiconductor fabrication.
A complete microelectronics ecosystem also requires design, packaging, qualification, environmental testing, radiation testing, reliability analysis and specialized measurement infrastructure.
A shortage at any of these stages can create a bottleneck even when the underlying semiconductor technology is available.
The Department’s Industrial Base Analysis and Sustainment program is designed to address these types of industrial base gaps. The Department says IBAS has invested more than $5.1 billion across 219 projects since its creation in 2014.
The ORBITS investment places radiation testing within that broader industrial base strategy.
Implications For Defense Electronics Qualification
The strategic value of the project is primarily in reducing dependence on limited domestic testing resources.
Radiation-hardened electronics are used when a system must maintain functionality despite exposure to radiation. Qualification requires more than selecting a component marketed as radiation tolerant or radiation hardened. Engineers need empirical test data showing how the device responds to relevant conditions.
SEE testing provides one part of that evidence.
For defense acquisition programs, expanded domestic testing can also improve access to test infrastructure during development. More available capacity can give program engineers greater flexibility to test different components, investigate failures and compare device designs.
The project does not itself manufacture radiation-hardened semiconductors. Instead, it strengthens the infrastructure needed to evaluate them.
That distinction is important because testing capacity is an enabling capability within the broader defense electronics ecosystem.
Three Organizations Will Execute The Contract
The Department awarded the contract to three members of the National Center for Manufacturing Sciences Consortium:
- Michigan State University, which operates the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams and will host the ORBITS infrastructure.
- Trusted Strategic Solutions LLC, based in Sacramento, California.
- Nucleon, based in Atlanta, Georgia.
The Department says the three organizations will work together under the 24-month contract.
Michigan State University’s FRIB is a U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science user facility. Its research mission centers on rare isotope beams and nuclear science, while its capabilities also support applications involving nuclear security, industry and advanced technology.
The ORBITS project adds a defense industrial base mission to that broader scientific and technical infrastructure.
What Happens Next
The immediate objective is construction and integration of the dedicated beamline and experimental end-station.
The Department has not announced an operational date beyond the 24-month contract period. It also has not released a detailed schedule for installation, commissioning or initial defense qualification campaigns.
Once operational, the planned 2,000-hour annual capacity would provide an additional domestic resource for high-energy SEE testing.
The significance of the award is therefore less about a new weapon or platform and more about strengthening an enabling layer of the defense technology base. As advanced military systems depend increasingly on sophisticated microelectronics, the ability to test those components under demanding environmental conditions becomes an important part of maintaining system reliability.
The ORBITS project is intended to provide that capability at scale, while keeping a critical part of the radiation testing pipeline within the United States.