General Atomics

General Atomics Corp, a San Diego-headquartered defense and technology manufacturer, operates as a prime contractor on 95% of its recent federal awards across 75 customer agencies, delivering specialized aerospace and defense components, engineering services, nuclear research infrastructure, and system-level integration for naval aviation, space, and energy programs. The company competes in full-and-open procurement without set-asides, reflecting its status as a large, established prime contractor across all customer agencies and contract vehicles.

General Atomics' capability footprint centers on electromagnetic aircraft launch systems (EMALS) and advanced arresting gear (AAG) for naval carriers, naval component supply (power supplies, assemblies, sensor systems, electrical components), inertial confinement fusion target fabrication and characterization, high-energy laser rapid prototyping, space-based systems and spacecraft design, and advanced materials research. Representative work includes a $547.2 million definitive contract from the National Nuclear Security Administration (awarded October 1, 2024, completion March 31, 2035) for inertial confinement fusion target research, development, and fabrication; a $110.5 million delivery order from Naval Air Systems Command (January 1, 2025, completion March 31, 2028) for EMALS and advanced arresting gear long lead time material and development for the French FFC program on Ford-class carriers; a $25.5 million delivery order from Naval Air Systems Command (August 29, 2025, completion May 31, 2029) for support equipment, tools, logistics, and technical data packages for EMALS depot stand-up on Ford-class carriers; and a $180,000 purchase order from NASA Shared Services Center (July 18, 2024) for design of a space-rated sodium-potassium pump for liquid metal-cooled nuclear reactors, awarded on a sole-source basis.

Customer concentration aligns with General Atomics' defense and energy portfolio. The top five agencies by award count (47% of all awards) are Department of the Air Force (224 awards, $54.9 million), Department of the Army (132 awards, $98.9 million), Defense Logistics Agency Land and Maritime (120 awards, $9 million), Department of Energy (93 awards, $77.4 million), and Naval Supply Systems Command (86 awards, $92.1 million). By potential value, Naval Air Systems Command anchors the portfolio (77 awards, $5.4 billion), followed by the National Nuclear Security Administration (29 awards, $1.22 billion), Naval Sea Systems Command (50 awards, $1.14 billion), Air Force Research Laboratory (38 awards, $428.6 million), and Missile Defense Agency (10 awards, $273.9 million). The two rankings diverge materially—Naval Air Systems Command dominates dollar value while volume spreads across multiple smaller-dollar component and sustainment procurements from logistics and supply agencies.

General Atomics holds multiple parent vehicles anchoring its task order business: a single-award Ford-Class Sustainment IDIQ with Naval Air Systems Command ($149.9 million ceiling, December 31, 2030), a Basic Ordering Agreement with Naval Supply Systems Command (no ceiling, expires September 3, 2029) for repair and sustainment services, a $237.6 million multiple-award Space Test Experiments Platform 2.0 IDIQ with Air Force Research Laboratory (April 30, 2035), a $75 million multiple-award high-energy laser rapid prototyping IDIQ with Naval Sea Systems Command (March 16, 2028), a $6 billion multiple-award Rapid Spacecraft Acquisition IV IDIQ with NASA Goddard (August 31, 2025), a $1.843 billion multiple-award indefinite-delivery contract with Space and Missile Systems Center for space domain awareness systems (April 8, 2036), and a $151 billion multiple-award Scalable Homeland Innovative Enterprise Layered Defense (SHIELD) IDIQ with Missile Defense Agency (December 28, 2035). These vehicles enable rapid procurement across defense, space, and energy missions.

Activity has grown from 57 awards in 2022 to 113 in 2024, though 2025 and 2026 show moderation (96 and 33 awards, respectively, though 2026 is an incomplete year in the source). Eighty-one awards with ultimate completion dates in the next twenty-four months carry combined potential value of $335.1 million, representing recompete exposure and opportunity for competitors on Naval Supply Systems Command, Naval Air Systems Command, and sustained component supply contracts.

SCI-reportable federal service contract invoicing totaled $88 million across FY2022–FY2024 (FY2022: $46 million across 99.2 FTEs; FY2023: $0; FY2024: $42 million across 92.8 FTEs). The SCI data captures only service contracts above the $150,000 reporting threshold and excludes goods, products, and classified work; it represents a small fraction of General Atomics' total federal revenue, which is dominated by product sales, development contracts, and classified programs. Government-paid hourly rates on SCI service contracts ran from $202/hr at the 10th percentile to a median of $291/hr, with senior labor and specialized technical expertise priced through $2,254/hr at the 90th percentile. Across SCI-reportable prime contracts, General Atomics performed 0% of hours through named subcontractors, indicating internal workforce delivery on captured service work.

General Atomics operates predominantly as a prime contractor on its own delivery teams; however, the vendor subcontracts selectively to specialized suppliers. Named subcontractors across recent awards include Neeltran, Inc. (transformers and electrical equipment on EMALS and AAG development); Area51 Electronics (minority-owned electronic components supplier on Naval Supply Systems Command sensor work); Federal Electronics, Inc. (military electronics and circuit card assemblies); San Diego Precision Machining, Inc. (veteran-owned precision fabrication and welding); and multiple component suppliers (Nook Industries for ball screws, Mccrometer for flow sensors, Mil-Spec Magnetics for magnetic subassemblies, Avnet and Future Electronics for power and diode supply) on Naval Supply Systems Command and naval aviation programs. On the research and development side, General Atomics subcontracts under major primes: Triad National Security (Los Alamos National Laboratory management and operations, inertial confinement fusion and materials work), Pantexas Deterrence (Pantex Plant operations, special tooling and fabrication), The Boeing Company (SLAM ER missile redesign aerospace support), and Raytheon Company (MK-99 capacitor supply). This posture reflects General Atomics' role as a systems integrator and prime contractor that manages specialized component and research supply from qualified vendors rather than building all capabilities in-house.

General Atomics also operates as a federal grant recipient on fusion energy research and advanced materials. The vendor has received cooperative agreements and project grants from the Department of Energy's Office of Science (CFDA 81.049) for fusion energy data ecosystem infrastructure ($3.725 million, August 2025–July 2026), high-energy-density physics backlighter platform development ($300,000, September 2024–August 2025), machine learning platforms for fusion pilot plant design, superconducting undulator production, atmospheric plasma diagnostics, and gyrokinetic simulation leadership. The vendor is also a recipient on an Advanced Research Projects Agency cooperative agreement for laser driver fusion energy work with University of Rochester Laboratory for Laser Energetics. General Atomics subawards grant funds to academic partners including University of Rochester (laser facility experiments), Colorado State University (foam capsule microencapsulation and target timing experiments), UC San Diego (plasma expansion experiments at GALADRIEL facility), and University of Michigan and Wisconsin System (materials characterization support). These grant relationships align with the vendor's core fusion and high-energy-density science capabilities.

The company maintains no disclosed SBA designations (8(a), HUBZone, SDVOSB, WOSB) and does not compete under set-asides. Top NAICS categories span aircraft parts and auxiliary equipment manufacturing (167 awards), engineering services (54 awards), and research and development in physical sciences (87 awards combined across two related NAICS). The vendor's federal footprint is concentrated in defense and energy missions, with 1,399 total awards (prime and sub) since 1979, combining component supply, engineering sustainment, and advanced research and development.