Epirus, Inc.

Epirus, Inc., a Torrance, California–based for-profit manufacturer of directed energy systems, operates as a prime contractor on full-and-open federal defense procurements in high-power microwave, counter-unmanned aerial system (UAS), and electromagnetic pulse technologies. The company holds a 100% prime posture across 21 awards with no subcontract footprint, competing without set-aside protections except on its Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I and Phase III awards (which carry total small business designations).

Epirus' customer concentration is overwhelmingly defense-focused and heavily anchored to the Department of the Army. The top five funding agencies account for 67% of recent awards by count, but the dollars are skewed dramatically toward the Army: the Army holds $133.2 million combined potential value across just three awards (88% of the company's total portfolio), while the Office of Naval Research carries $9.4 million across four awards. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the Office of the Secretary of Defense, and the Air Force Research Laboratory round out the active set. The two rankings diverge sharply — the Navy places more task orders than the Army, but the Army's contract values dwarf all other customers combined.

Epirus' footprint is anchored to three large Other Transaction IDVs with the Army and DARPA. The most recent is the Scalable Homeland Innovative Enterprise Layered Defense (SHIELD) multiple-award IDIQ, awarded by the Missile Defense Agency on December 29, 2025, with a $151 billion ceiling through December 28, 2035 (with an initial $500 delivery order); the Army's IFPC-HPM GEN 2 Prototypes OT IDV, awarded June 13, 2025, carries a $45.7 million ceiling; the Army's IFPC-HPM PROTOTYPE OT IDV from December 23, 2022, holds $87.2 million; and DARPA's FAST BAYESIAN POLYNOMIAL CHAOS FOR ELECTROMAGNETIC MODELING IDV from October 20, 2021, is worth $3.7 million. Representative concrete work includes a $5.5 million Other Transaction Agreement from the Office of Naval Research for the LEONIDAS Scalable HPM for Counter-UAS and Expeditionary Directed Energy for Counter Swarm program (awarded August 29, 2022, completed December 31, 2024), a $3.4 million Other Transaction Agreement from the Office of Naval Research for Preliminary Evaluation of Ground-Based Anti-Swarm UAS System (PEGASUS) (October 15, 2024), a $2.48 million DARPA development contract for an Ultra Efficient Analog Correlator using Time-Varying Transmission Line Technology (March 3, 2023), and multiple SBIR Phase I and Phase III awards from the Army, Air Force Research Laboratory, Naval Sea Systems Command, and US Special Operations Command in the $239 thousand to $742 thousand range for high-power microwave susceptibility, UAS effects testing, and small-form-factor antenna feasibility studies.

Award activity was volatile across 2021–2025 (five awards in 2021, three in 2022, three in 2023, two in 2024, and four in 2025), reflecting the lumpy nature of large IDV awards; $142.3 million of the $151.3 million combined potential value (94%) has been obligated. Epirus also received a $243,000 National Science Foundation Engineering grant (CFDA 47.041) for antiviral electromagnetic pulse research during the COVID-19 pandemic (December 2021 through November 2022), making it the sole non-defense federal customer in the visible footprint. The company's capability portfolio is narrowly specialized in directed energy systems engineering, software-defined HPM platforms, power management, electromagnetic pulse effects testing, and counter-electronics for military modernization priorities, with no visible civilian or IT services exposure.