Phoenix Semiconductor and NAVAIR are partnering to sustain safety systems onboard Nimitz-class aircraft carriers
Defense Logistics Agency Award Funds Recreation of Chip for NAVAIR’s Nimitz-Class Carrier CATOBAR System, Alongside Three Additional Mission-Critical Components
We are proving that American ingenuity can solve one of the most pressing vulnerabilities in our defense industrial base, without multi-million-dollar redesigns and years of delay.”
AUSTIN, TX, UNITED STATES, June 18, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Phoenix Semiconductor, dedicated to recreating legacy semiconductors at scale, today announced it has been awarded a Phase II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract by the U.S. Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) to build and deploy cost-effective, drop-in replacements for discontinued microelectronic components critical to active U.S. defense programs. The award marks a significant milestone in Phoenix’s effort to establish a secure, domestic, and enduring supply chain for legacy chips that power some of the nation’s most essential military platforms.— Ryan Hatcher, PhD, Chief Executive Officer, Phoenix Semiconductor
Under the Phase II award (Proposal L2-0516, Topic DLA241-P01), Phoenix will design, fabricate, and validate four drop-in replacement chips for high-priority components currently in critical shortage across U.S. defense programs. The first and most strategically significant of these is a recreation of the Signetics 82S100, a Bipolar Field-Programmable Logic Array (FPLA) first manufactured in April 1975 and discontinued in the late 1980s, being developed under contract with Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR).
Specifically, this chip is a critical component within the Catapult Assisted Take-Off but Arrested Recovery (CATOBAR) system, which is the mechanism by which every fixed-wing aircraft aboard a Nimitz-class carrier is launched. Recently the Navy announced that Nimitz-class carriers will be in service through the 2030s, making the sustainment of safety systems on board more important than ever. Working with Phoenix allows NAVAIR to avoid costly system-level replacement; which would require qualification testing, certification, and shipyard availability — likely costing tens of millions per carrier versus Phoenix’s chip-level solution.
Defense platforms routinely remain in service for several decades, while commercial semiconductors are typically discontinued within 7 to 10 years. This disparity has created a persistent and costly obsolescence crisis across the Defense Industrial Base, costing Department of War (DoW) programs an average of $5 million over 5 years in redesign per instance and contributing to more than $2.4 billion in annual Diminishing Manufacturing Sources and Material Shortages (DMSMS) mitigation expenses.
Phoenix built on demonstrated Phase I success to earn this Phase II contract. The company has already completed its first prototype lot of cycle-accurate, drop-in replacement chips that were successfully tested in a live commercial system with no hardware modifications or software changes. This award directly supports the DLA Strategic Plan’s Modernization Acquisition and Supply Chain Management Line of Effort, as well as key provisions of the FY2025 National Defense Authorization Act addressing microelectronics obsolescence mitigation (Section 841), supply chain risk management (Section 832), and domestic manufacturing expansion (Section 842).
Phoenix’s patent-pending approach does not require new silicon, a foundry, or original wafers, enabling fast, flexible production of high-reliability components at significantly reduced cost and lead time compared to traditional solutions. Phoenix’s drop-in replacement chips are form, fit, and function compatible with the original parts, eliminating the need for board redesigns, software updates, or downstream re-qualifications. All components undergo rigorous qualification testing and system-level integration testing, ensuring they meet or exceed the performance specifications of the original devices in the demanding thermal and electrical environments of active defense platforms.
Caroline Eklund Kazmierski
Phoenix Semiconductor Corporation
Caroline.Kazmierski@phoenixsemicorp.com
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