ANELLO Photonics has been awarded $20 million by the Department of War (DoW) under the Accelerate the Procurement and Fielding of Innovative Technologies (APFIT) program.
The funding aims to fast-track the procurement, production, and scaling of the GPS-denied navigation technology by ANELLO. Established in FY2022 by the Office of the Under Secretary of War for Research & Engineering (OUSW(R&E)), the APFIT program focuses on transitioning mature, mission-ready technologies into large-scale fielding and production.
As the creator of the Silicon Photonics Optical Gyroscope (SiPhOG™), ANELLO Photonics specializes in solid-state, high-precision inertial navigation. The company’s selection for the FY 2026 APFIT award follows several previous defense-sector milestones, including a U.S. Navy Phase I and U.S. Army Phase II SBIR award, as well as other defense wins. These previous design achievements served to validate the company’s GPS-denied navigation capabilities across contested, mission-critical scenarios.
Dr. Mario Paniccia, CEO of ANELLO Photonics, commented, “This award marks an important step in bringing GPS-independent navigation to the forefront of operational autonomy. With the support of our Navy and Marine Corps partners, we’re accelerating the deployment of mission-ready technologies that redefine performance in GPS-denied environments.”
By leveraging photonic inertial navigation, the company enables precise Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) in GPS-denied and degraded environments. The APFIT funding is intended to move these validated solutions directly into operational use at scale.
