Luna Labs USA LLC

Luna Labs USA LLC, a division of Luna Innovations Incorporated headquartered in Charlottesville, Virginia, is a small business specializing in advanced fiber optic sensing, measurement systems, innovative materials technologies, and biomedical device development that sells research and development services to federal defense and civilian agencies as a prime contractor on 97% of recent awards, competing predominantly under total small business set-asides across SBIR and STTR programs.

Luna Labs operates as a manufacturer of goods and research firm with a portfolio spanning specialized materials and coatings (dissipative coatings for high-energy threats, self-healing sealants, PFAS-free protective gloves), biomedical and medical device R&D (traumatic brain injury treatments, field-deployable hydrogels, wearable monitoring systems, vaccine delivery platforms), sensing and environmental monitoring (fiber optic corrosion sensors, spectroscopy systems for biomarker detection), and chemical and biological detection (blister-disclosing sprays, chemical agent detection platforms). Representative recent work includes a $1.4 million cost-plus-fixed-fee contract with Naval Air Warfare Center for research and development (awarded December 2025), a $2 million cost-plus-fixed-fee research agreement with the Office of Naval Research for advanced materials and sensor research (awarded January 2026), and a $1.95 million SBIR Phase II contract with Naval Sea Systems Command for Space-Based Infrared System development (awarded September 2024). Luna Labs also received a $975 million multiple-award indefinite delivery contract from the Air Force's Rapid Sustainment Office (running through July 2033) for dissipative coatings, self-healing materials, wearable physiological monitoring systems, and related sustainment solutions, which anchors the company's relationship with Air Force Materiel Command and signals its role as a prime vehicle holder.

Customer concentration is highly diffuse across defense and civilian research agencies. The top five funding agencies by award count—Defense Health Agency (21 awards), Naval Air Warfare Center (20 awards), Army Research Development and Engineering Command (16 awards), Office of Naval Research (14 awards), and Air Force Research Laboratory (14 awards)—account for 50% of recent awards but are somewhat offset by the Air Force's $975 million IDC, which alone represents 95% of combined potential value across all awards. By distinct customer count, Luna Labs has engaged 35 federal agencies across defense, health, energy, and civilian research sectors. The revenue distribution reflects Luna Labs' SBIR/STTR-centric business model: 127 of 170 awards sit in NAICS 541712 (Research and Development in Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences), and PSC codes show 31 awards in applied defense R&D, 25 in basic defense research, and 16 in health services basic research.

On the Air Force's Rapid Sustainment Office MAC IDIQ (multiple-award vehicle), Luna Labs has executed one task order valued at $1 thousand (kickoff meeting, July 2024), with the vehicle itself carrying the $975 million ceiling. No other named parent vehicles appear in the source data; Luna Labs operates primarily through direct definitive contracts and delivery orders rather than established GSA or agency-wide IDIQ positions outside the Air Force vehicle.

Activity has remained steady year over year: 38 awards in 2022, 40 in 2023, 32 in 2024, 30 in 2025, and 7 to date in 2026 (through May 1). The recompete cliff is material: 25 awards (combined potential value $31.8 million) reach ultimate completion in the next twenty-four months, representing moderate renewal pressure across the Naval Air Warfare Center, Naval Sea Systems Command, Army RDECOM, and Defense Health Agency portfolios.

Service Contract Inventory data shows Luna Labs invoiced $3.5 million in SCI-reportable federal services across FY2022–FY2024 (12 prime contracts), with FTE delivery ranging from 2.1 to 3.1 FTEs annually. SCI is a partial federal-services view and excludes goods, R&D products, and non-federal work. Median government-paid rates on SCI-reportable contracts ran around $238.51 per hour, with senior labor reaching the 90th percentile at $289.29 per hour and entry-level labor at $82.45 per hour. Across all SCI prime contracts, Luna Labs delivered 0% sub-hours share, meaning the company builds its own delivery teams rather than relying on subcontractors for labor on reportable service contracts.

Luna Labs subcontracts to larger defense primes on a limited basis. Named prime-contractor relationships include Smartronix LLC (C5ISR support to SOCOM Pacific, January 2025), Booz Allen Hamilton (engineering development and materials testing, September 2024), and The Boeing Company (Navy aircraft structural corrosion prediction tools, March 2024). All five sub-awards in the source are equipment, materials, or direct technical support rather than labor services, consistent with Luna Labs' positioning as a technology provider on larger prime vehicles.

Federal grant work spans the National Institutes of Health (NIAID awards for vaccine delivery and HIV antivirals), the Department of Energy Office of Science (carbon capture, energy storage, advanced materials), the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (SBIR award for agricultural diagnostics platform), and the Defense Health Agency (OPTIC ocular immunoassay cassette for field diagnostics). Grants typically range from $150 thousand to $900 thousand for Phase I/Phase II SBIR efforts, with completion dates extending into 2026 and beyond. Luna Labs operates as prime recipient on all named grant awards; no grant sub-awards appear in the source.

Luna Labs USA LLC is a wholly owned division of Luna Innovations Incorporated, a Blacksburg, Virginia-based manufacturer and research firm that also owns 3 Waves, Inc. (manufacturer of goods). Luna Innovations maintains its own separate federal prime footprint and serves as corporate parent, providing financial and administrative oversight while Luna Labs operates the Charlottesville facility as the point of execution for most SBIR/STTR and research contracts. The parent company's $975 million Air Force contract flows through Luna Labs' operational delivery.

Across the footprint, Luna Labs competes almost exclusively under total small business set-asides; the vast majority of awards carry SBIR or STTR Phase I or II designations. The company does not maintain positions on government-wide acquisition contracts (GWACs), schedules, or agency-wide blanket purchase agreements outside the Air Force's Rapid Sustainment Office vehicle. This focused specialization in innovation research and advanced materials development for defense and health applications, combined with consistent SBIR/STTR success and the recent Air Force IDC award, positions Luna Labs as a high-volume federal innovator with emerging sustainment and operational solution delivery capability.