The market for nuclear event detector systems could double in the next decade as government agencies pay increased attention to the threat of attack from a weapon of mass destruction, according to an industry official.
"I see the marketplace growing," Larry Longden, director of marketing and technology for microelectronics at Maxwell Technologies , told Defense Daily in a Nov. 21 telephone interview. "In the next decade, it could double."
Maxwell Technologies has delivered about 8,500 units of its nuclear event detector (NED) to various military services since 1985. Longden said his company annually does about $500,000 in business with the Pentagon; that could easily grow to over $1 million.
The demand for systems, which has been typically in strategic systems like satellites that would need to function in a nuclear war, is also growing at the tactical level, he said. Longden said he is starting to see interest in equipping other systems, such as tanks and missiles, for example, with NEDs, that would have to perform through a nuclear event.
"It's getting to be a boundless market," he said. "Threats are getting bigger."
The NED market dipped in the late 1990s and several of Maxwell's competitors exited the market. But since the terrorist attacks of 9/11, demand has steadily grown. The department of Homeland Security is also likely to generate some NED requirements.
"We are so confident of the market growing that we will introduce an advanced version," he said.