December 20, 2019 – In approving a sweeping Fiscal Year 2020 federal spending bill, Congress included $4 million in additional U.S. Army R&D funding allocated for continued research into manufacture and maintenance of transparent armor used in military combat vehicles. Rochester, New York-based Lumetrics company, a leader in transparent armor optical inspection technology, will have access to this funding through a cooperative research agreement with the Army Research Laboratory (ARL) currently under negotiation.
Lumetrics, which is represented in Washington by The National Group, develops and manufactures precision non-contact thickness measurement and optical inspection systems for medical, glass, food packaging, ophthalmic, automotive and film industries. Lumetrics systems are used by quality assurance laboratories, research and development centers and manufacturing production lines.
The National Group coordinated Capitol Hill lobbying to include the $4 million for transparent armor research in the FY 2020 DOD Appropriations bill. Working with the House and Senate New York Congressional Delegations, The National Group assisted in the successful effort to convince the House and Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittees to include the $4 million in the DOD spending bill. The President signed the larger spending package, including the DOD spending bill, into law today.
The National Group will assist Lumetrics in its negotiations with ARL over access to the $4 million in research funding and coordinate Congressional support for the effort.