Luna Innovations Incorporated

Luna Innovations Incorporated, a Roanoke, Virginia-based manufacturer of fiber optic sensing and measurement instruments, operates primarily as a prime contractor (99% of recent awards) supplying advanced optical sensors, interrogators, and distributed sensing systems to defense and federal research agencies under purchase orders, definitive contracts, and Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs. The company is a small business that self-certifies as a small disadvantaged business and competes across both total small business set-asides and full-and-open procurements, with the majority of its 1,058 awards in the past several years designated as total small business set-asides.

Luna's capability portfolio centers on fiber optic distributed sensing technology, optical interrogators, strain and temperature sensors, and associated instrumentation for structural health monitoring, non-destructive testing, and harsh-environment applications across aerospace, defense, and energy sectors. Representative prime work includes a $5.8 million cost-plus-fixed-fee Office of Naval Research (ONR) research and development contract awarded July 2025 (total small business set-aside, running through July 2028), a $3.28 million cost-plus-fixed-fee Naval Sea Systems Command contract for the Space-Based Infrared System High (SBIRS High) program (total small business set-aside, awarded August 2024), a $1.9 million Naval Air Warfare Center cost-plus-fixed-fee research and development contract (total small business set-aside, awarded July 2021), and a $1.5 million Air Force Research Laboratory SBIR Phase II contract for composite-safe high-precision robotic laser ablation coating removal using terahertz thickness control (total small business set-aside, awarded March 2022). Recent purchase orders include a $185,886 order for an ODISL fiber optic monitoring system from the Engineer Research and Development Center (March 2026) and a $77,990 order for ninety Wavelength-Division Multiplexer optical splitter boxes for NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center (March 2026).

Customer concentration runs heavily toward defense research and development. The top five funding agencies account for 52% of combined potential value and drive the portfolio: the Air Force Materiel Command Research Laboratory leads by award count (124 awards, $41 million combined potential value), followed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (14 awards, $38.2 million), the Naval Air Systems Command Naval Air Warfare Center (96 awards, $38.1 million), the Office of Naval Research (53 awards, $28.6 million), and Naval Sea Systems Command (66 awards, $19.8 million). The portfolio spans 90 distinct customer agencies, with civilian agencies including NASA, the Department of Energy, the U.S. Geological Survey, the Army Corps of Engineers, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology accounting for material volume. The top two rankings diverge on value — DARPA anchors the most dollars despite fewer awards than AFRL — indicating a concentration of high-dollar R&D programs at DARPA and ONR compared to AFRL's broader set of smaller research initiatives.

Luna sits on a limited set of named parent vehicles: the Federal Supply Schedule GS23F0457P carries four task orders totaling $73 thousand, with three additional indefinite delivery contracts supporting single task orders each. The vendor does not anchor a government-wide IDIQ or GWAC; most work flows through agency-specific vehicles, purchase orders, and definitive contracts.

Activity has remained steady at mid-teens to low-twenties awards per year from 2022 through 2025 (17 in 2022, 12 in 2023, 15 in 2024, 9 in 2025), with only two awards recorded in 2026 to date. Six awards carrying combined potential value of $7.8 million reach ultimate completion within the next twenty-four months and face recompete exposure.

Across SCI-reportable service contracts (a subset of Luna's total federal services business, limited to contracts above the $150,000 threshold), Luna reported $3.6 million in invoiced revenue from FY2022 through FY2024, with FTEs declining from 3.0 in FY2022 to 1.7 in FY2024. Government-paid hourly rates on prime SCI contracts ranged from $68.51/hr at the 10th percentile to a median of $207.94/hr and $882.93/hr at the 90th percentile, reflecting a mix of junior technical labor and senior research scientist roles. Across SCI-reportable prime contracts, Luna self-performed all hours with zero subcontractor engagement.

Luna operates as a predominantly self-performing prime, with 99% of awards as prime contracts or grants and only 1% as subcontractor work. Subcontract activity names Leidos, Lockheed Martin, Fluor Marine Propulsion, American Electronic Warfare Associates, and the University of Dayton as prime contractors, with Luna supplying fiber optic instruments, T-Ray terahertz measurement devices, and distributed sensor systems in support of defense advanced technology programs and naval nuclear laboratory operations. The corporate structure includes seven subsidiaries: Optasense Inc. (a self-certified small disadvantaged business), Luna Labs USA LLC, General Photonics Corp, Silixa LLC, and Optasense LIMITED, alongside Luna Innovations Inc. and Luna Innovations Incorporated. These subsidiaries carry capability framing in their names — Optasense signals distributed acoustic sensing expertise, General Photonics suggests optical component manufacturing — but the source does not specify corporate strategy or functional allocation across the structure.

Luna's federal work concentrates in NAICS categories aligned with research and development in physical, engineering, and life sciences (333 awards) and analytical laboratory instrument manufacturing (11 awards), with PSC coding dominated by defense applied research, exploratory development, space R&D, and basic research categories. The vendor's footprint reflects a specialty manufacturer and research organization embedded in defense innovation pipelines rather than a diversified systems integrator or prime contractor on large acquisition programs.

Luna serves high-growth industries with solutions to measure, monitor, protect and improve critical processes in the medical, defense and composites industries.