Perhaps best known for its highly functional and miniaturized electronic subsystems for mission-critical defense platforms, Mercury Systems has been selected by the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) to develop advanced electronic packaging. The award comes from the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering's (OUSD R&E) for Mercury’s support of the State-of-the-Art Heterogeneous Integrated Packaging (SHIP) program. The goal of the program is to ensure domestic sources of microelectronics technology fundamental to key areas, including 5G, artificial intelligence (AI), and hypersonic technology.
The SHIP program is driven by the needs of national security for reliable, domestic sources of technology. It enables the U.S. DoD to directly engage with companies such as Mercury Systems to design, develop, test, and supply cost-effective packaged electronic solutions (see the figure). “For decades, Mercury has been in a unique position, through our partnerships with commercial technology industry leaders and DoD customers, to deliver uncompromised solutions to the aerospace and defense industry,” said Tom Smelker, vice-president and general manager of Mercury Microsystems.
Smelker expanded on the significance of the SHIP program: “Programs like SHIP are expanding our ability to partner with our government, allowing them access to our investments in onshore trusted microelectronics and our expertise in secure, heterogeneous packaging to realize the DoD’s forward-looking commitment to accelerating innovation. We’re honored by and excited for this opportunity.”