Radiance Technologies

Radiance Technologies is a 100 percent employee-owned prime contractor headquartered in Huntsville, Alabama, that describes its work as cybersecurity, systems engineering, prototyping and integration, and operational and strategic intelligence, including scientific and technical intelligence.¹ Its Alabama corporate record shows incorporation in Madison County on June 1, 1998 under the name CDES, Inc., with a legal name change to Radiance Technologies, Inc. on February 2, 1999; company releases give 1999 as the founding year.² A release dated September 9, 2026 gives more than 1,200 employee-owners.³

Corporate record

The Alabama Secretary of State entity record (000-195-724, status "Exists," nature of business "ANY LAWFUL ACTIVITY") lists five directors (John A. Dennis, William C. Bailey, A. Brown Ballard, James E. Deason and Gary L. Rigney) and one incorporator (John Dennis), entered May 19, 2014 with restated articles. Authorized capital is $10,000 and paid-in capital $1,000. The recorded mergers into the corporation are Missile Systems & Technologies, Inc. (November 3, 2004), Open Source Publishing Incorporated, a Virginia corporation (July 20, 2005), Symbiont Enterprises, Inc. (June 6, 2007) and Ares Corporation, a Virginia corporation (May 2, 2008). The registered agent was changed on November 25, 2025 from Paige R. Nix to Seth P. Crochet at 310 Bob Heath Drive, Huntsville. A company release of July 31, 2025 is titled as the promotion of Crochet to executive vice president and general counsel.²⁴

The website of the joint venture Radiance Ignite Technologies describes William C. Bailey, Jr. as having joined Radiance in 2001, with fourteen years of military service that included work as a research and development engineer at the National Air and Space Intelligence Center (NASIC) and at Phillips Laboratory, now the Air Force Research Laboratory.⁵ Company releases record the acquisition of Phased n Research (March 31, 2025), the acquisition of Verus Research (June 2, 2025), a campus expansion at Jan Davis Drive in Cummings Research Park (ribbon cutting March 18, 2025), the appointment of the former SAIC chief executive Tony Moraco to the board of directors (August 12, 2025), and a partnership with Bright Path Research, a service-disabled veteran-owned joint venture with Offset Strategic Services (February 2025).⁶

Federal awards

The USAspending award search for the recipient name "Radiance Technologies" (queried October 3, 2026; contract award types; October 1, 2007 to September 30, 2026) returned 499 prime award records. Summed by awarding agency, the listed award amounts are: U.S. Army $1,644,356,533; U.S. Air Force $774,964,427; Defense Contract Management Agency $111,297,241; DARPA $86,496,102; Defense Logistics Agency $51,410,244; Department of the Interior $20,589,351; U.S. Navy $19,948,933; NASA $15,851,589; Missile Defense Agency $6,361,339; General Services Administration $2,727,219; Department of Homeland Security $896,246. The sum is of per-award totals with no de-duplication of indefinite-delivery vehicles and their orders.⁷

The largest records are an Army systems engineering and technical assistance task order (W50RAJ20F0014, $280,784,689, September 30, 2020 to September 30, 2025), an Army task order for 2016 to 2021 (0007, $92,337,830), an Air Force contract for Distributed, Automated, and Intelligent Hardware and Software Security (FA875019C1508, $91,915,261, August 20, 2019 to August 19, 2025), a Defense Contract Management Agency record for Cyber Platforms and Capabilities-Efficiency (FA875018F0024, $87,351,560) and a series of Army space, missile defense and high-energy laser task orders (identifiers beginning W9113M, 45 records, $558,301,239).⁷

Radiance's Army record (USAspending, October 2026) includes Space and Missile Defense Command task order W9113M22FD002 under contract W9113M-16-D-0004, awarded August 3, 2022 with a period of performance from July 28, 2022 to December 15, 2027 ($64,956,127.08), described as "IN SUPPORT OF DIRECTED ENERGY SYSTEM INTEGRATION LABORATORY TECHNOLOGIES (DESIL). THIS EFFORT WILL VERIFY THE PERFORMANCE OF HIGH ENERGY LASER (HEL) COMPONENTS," with two offers received.⁸

Records with identifiers beginning FA8604 number 141 and total $391,367,960; their descriptions cite ATEP II and the "NOVASTAR, National Air and Space Intelligence Center Science and Technical Intelligence Analytic Capability Support Contract," "RF Signatures Production and Tool Support" (FA860424FB319, $6,525,500, September 29, 2024 to September 28, 2028), "Non-Cooperative Target Identification (NCTI) Analysis and Production Support" (FA860425FB103, $2,599,919) and "High Fidelity Sensor Characterization Research and Development" (FA860425FB064, $5,168,200). The largest ATEP II records are FA860419F6091 ($13,443,110, March 28, 2019 to October 17, 2022), FA860423F6135 ($11,365,108, January 8, 2023 to January 7, 2024) and FA860420F6118 ($10,380,920).⁷ None of the award descriptions uses the phrases "foreign materiel exploitation" or "reverse engineering" except an Army Small Business Innovation Research Phase I record (W31P4Q11C0140, $99,993, February 1, 2011 to October 15, 2011) titled "Anti-Reverse Engineering (RE) Techniques."⁷

National Air and Space Intelligence Center work

A Radiance release dated October 6, 2014 states that Radiance, "along with its Dayton partners," was awarded a $960,000,000 indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract for the Advanced Technical Exploitation Program II (ATEP II), covering research, development, system sustainment and intelligence production using geospatial-intelligence and non-nuclear measurement and signature intelligence data at NASIC at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. The release quotes Radiance president Bill Bailey.⁹

A September 23, 2019 report in the Huntsville Business Journal states that Radiance was awarded a General Services Administration blanket purchase agreement for scientific and technical intelligence support to NASIC, with a five-year base period, five one-year options and a $997 million ceiling, most work to be performed at Wright-Patterson in Beavercreek, Ohio. The team named is Battelle Memorial Institute, COLSA Corp., Northrop Grumman, Parsons Government Services and Teledyne Brown Engineering. Bryan Johnson, then Radiance chief operating officer, is quoted: "Our win is the culmination of years of hard work that started with a single task supporting NASIC as a subcontractor in 2001."¹⁰ NASIC is the successor organization to the Foreign Technology Division, whose history at Wright-Patterson includes Project Blue Book.

Missile and Space Intelligence Center and the COMET contract

On September 9, 2026 Radiance announced that it had been selected as an awardee on the Contract Operations for Missile Evaluation and Testing (COMET) multi-award task order contract supporting the Missile and Space Intelligence Center (MSIC), part of the Defense Intelligence Agency. The release gives the contract value as $14 billion and lists five task areas: foundational and technical intelligence analysis, foreign materiel exploitation, information technology operations, modeling and simulation, and business processes, with a period of performance from July 21, 2026 to January 1, 2037. It states that Radiance leads its own team and holds positions on two other winning teams, one led by SAIC and one through Radiance Ignite Technologies. The Huntsville outlet 256 Today, reporting on September 14, 2026 that MSIC is at Redstone Arsenal, gave the ceiling as "more than $14 billion."³¹¹

The solicitation text (HHM40225R0025) and the questions-and-answers matrix are quoted on the page for the Missile and Space Intelligence Center. One answer in the matrix states that there is "no predetermined cap on the total number of awards."¹²

Radiance's release of June 2, 2023 states that Peraton had been awarded the "SCAR" (Countering Advanced Conventional Weapons Analytical Requirements) task order under the Defense Intelligence Agency's Solutions for Intelligence Analysis 3 program, valued at $284 million with a one-year base and four one-year options, with Radiance on the team; the release describes "analysis of foreign weapon systems across all MSIC's missions and disciplines, including air and missile defense systems, ballistic missiles, anti-tank guided missiles, and directed energy weapons." Radiance executive vice president Karl Walli is quoted: "While Radiance has supported MSIC for over 15 years, we are excited to have this opportunity to expand our support to MSIC's critical mission."¹³

The Government Accountability Office docket B-424401.1 records a protest by Radiance Ignite Technologies, Inc. against solicitation HHM40225R0025 (agency Defense Intelligence Agency), filed April 9, 2026 and dismissed April 22, 2026; proposals were due April 27, 2026.¹⁴ Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) stated in a Form 8-K exhibit dated August 31, 2026 that it "was awarded a position on the estimated $14 billion" contract.¹⁵

Radiance Ignite Technologies

Radiance and Ignite Fueling Innovation, Inc. are the members of the joint venture Radiance Ignite Technologies (Alabama entity 001-144-448; formation date on the Alabama record July 10, 2024; announced October 14, 2024), which has its own page.¹⁶

Mentor-protege agreements

The Small Business Administration list of active mentor-protege agreements (effective October 1, 2026) shows Radiance as mentor in two agreements and Ignite Fueling Innovation as protege in one: approved May 23, 2024, protege Ignite (certifications SDVOSB and VOSB; naics 541512), mentor Radiance Technologies, Inc.; approved November 4, 2024, protege Offset Strategic Services, LLC (SDVOSB and VOSB; naics 541715), mentor Radiance. A third row, approved July 29, 2024, lists JBS Solutions, Inc. (EDWOSB, WOSB and 8(a); naics 541715) as protege and Ignite as mentor.¹⁷ The Alabama certificate of formation of Radiance Ignite Technologies is dated July 10, 2024. A February 2025 news item on the website of Bright Path Research LLC, headed "A Bright Path Ahead" and referring to the "SBA SDVOSB Mentor-Protege JV Program," quotes Bailey as chief executive of Radiance: "Our vision is to redefine innovation by delivering groundbreaking solutions now, not later."¹⁷

Hires from the UAP Task Force

Radiance announced on April 22, 2022 (a Friday) that Travis Taylor, described in the announcement as a scientist, author, engineer and television star, had joined as a principal research scientist. Chief executive Bill Bailey was quoted: "Dr. Taylor is an outstanding and highly qualified scientist whose inventive way of thinking will be a great asset for Radiance."¹⁸

A Radiance release dated May 12, 2022, "John F. Stratton Jr. Joins Radiance Technologies as SME for Intel Strategy," announced the hiring of Jay Stratton (John F. Stratton Jr.), "recently retired" from his role as Defense Intelligence Senior Executive with the Office of Naval Intelligence, as a member of the chief executive's strategy team for scientific and technical intelligence work. It describes him as "the first Director of the Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon Task Force (UAPTF)," and quotes Radiance president Tim Tinsley: "Jay's extensive experience in the Intelligence Community will be valuable in identifying and cultivating new strategic teaming opportunities within both industry and government."¹⁹ George Knapp of KLAS-TV wrote on May 24, 2022 that "In January 2021 ... Stratton was surprisingly transferred out of the job" at the UAP Task Force, and that Taylor said of Stratton, "he and I have been colleagues for a long time." Knapp wrote that Stratton "has never spoken publicly about his work and is not commenting now."²⁰

Statements by company officials

In an 8 News Now report by Knapp posted October 13, 2022 (Pacific time), Tinsley was asked whether the company would take a contract to take apart a UFO and learn how it works. He answered: "Why not. I'm waiting for one of those." Of work at Nellis Air Force Base he said, "I can't tell you a lot. I can tell is you is we've supported the Las Vegas community, Nellis Air Force Base, for over 20 years." Asked whether the company worried about the perception that it reverse engineers UFOs, he said, "No, we provide customer solutions. Whatever our customers want us to work on and support, then that's what we'll do." Knapp wrote that Radiance "isn't able to confirm the allegations" about crash retrievals, that Stratton urged Radiance to hire Taylor, and that when Radiance announced the two hires "the news releases didn't hide the connection." Taylor told Knapp: "Jay and I are working on growing the capabilities, doing reverse engineering of foreign materials. If we were to get something to reverse engineer, we would absolutely want to do that."²¹

Allegation by Daniel Sheehan

On December 3, 2023 Liberation Times published an interview with the attorney Daniel Sheehan, whom it identified as president of the New Paradigm Institute, about opposition to the Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Disclosure Act in the fiscal 2024 National Defense Authorization Act. Sheehan said that Representatives Mike Rogers and Mike Turner had faced pressure from private defense contractors and the intelligence community, and, asked to name the entities, named Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, Radiance Technologies and the Central Intelligence Agency Directorate of Operations. An Internet Archive copy of the article from December 2023 adds, after "Directorate of Operations," the words "run by David Marlowe, its current Deputy Director"; the present version of the article does not carry them. Sheehan said that the CIA disperses non-human materials to aerospace companies and that Radiance is one of its newest customers: "Lockheed Martin, Raytheon and, now Radiance Technologies, are given particular discrete aspects of the technology to try to figure it out."²²

The same article states that Liberation Times "has been unable to further substantiate the involvement of these organisations", that "there is no evidence to suggest that Radiance Technologies, Raytheon, Lockheed Martin or the CIA are influencing Representatives Turner or Rogers", and that "multiple sources have told Liberation Times that the allegations made regarding Radiance Technologies are untrue and that two of its employees, Jay Stratton and Travis Taylor are long-time advocates for more transparency on this topic and are in no way involved in any coverup." It reports that Radiance maintains an office in Beavercreek, Ohio, in Turner's district, and cites a 2016 ribbon cutting there by Turner and a 2020 opening of a 104,000 square foot Huntsville facility at which Rogers was a guest of honour.²²

Political contributions

The Federal Election Commission lists Radiance Technologies, Inc. Political Action Committee (C00372979, nonqualified PAC, first filed February 12, 2002). Its Schedule B disbursements to Mike Rogers for Congress (C00367862, an Alabama committee whose candidate identifier H2AL03032 is that of Michael Rogers, Alabama, House district 3) total $37,100 across 15 records from September 9, 2003 to February 5, 2024, the last four of $5,000 each (March 13, 2019; February 19, 2020; October 12, 2021; February 5, 2024). Disbursements to Citizens for Turner (C00373001, an Ohio committee whose candidate identifier H2OH03067 is that of Michael R. Turner, Ohio, House district 10) total $51,250 across 20 records (August 10, 2007 to June 18, 2024). Disbursements to Turner Victory Fund (C00611962, registered in Georgia as a joint fundraising committee, no sponsoring candidate listed in the FEC record) total $25,000 across 5 records (October 1, 2020 to June 23, 2025); no record opened ties that committee to Mike Turner. Two other recipients matched the search term "Rogers," Hal Rogers for Congress ($10,000) and an individual-named committee ($1,000), and are excluded. Liberation Times stated that "since 2010, over $30,000 was given by Radiance Technologies to Representative Rogers and over $60,000 to Representative Turner."²²²³

Bid protest

The Government Accountability Office docket B-422615.1 lists Radiance Technologies, Inc. as protester on solicitation TORFP-24-005 of the U.S. Army Materiel Command, filed May 24, 2024, with the outcome "Denied" and a decision date of August 30, 2024.²⁴

Founding and early customers

The Alabama record shows incorporation as CDES, Inc. in 1998, while the company's own pages give March 15, 1999 as the date operations began; the 2017 About Us page names George Clark, John Dennis and Scott Dublin as the founders, who "launched operations in a 3,000 square foot facility in Executive Plaza" in Huntsville, Alabama with an initial subcontract supporting the United States Army Space and Missile Defense Command through the NRC SETAC contract. The page states that the founders' goal "was to be employee-owned" and that the company ended its first calendar year with 11 employees and $1.2 million in revenue.²⁵ A 2005 company release quotes Clark as president.²⁶ A 2002 company page lists a Hattiesburg, Mississippi signal research facility, an Oxford, Mississippi office and an office in Fairfax, Virginia.²⁷

Foreign materiel exploitation pages, 2001 to 2006

A Radiance web page captured on October 27, 2001 is titled "Foreign Materiel Exploitation." It states that Radiance "assists the government in understanding the operations of foreign sensor and weapon systems, to ensure that Free World military forces can exploit weaknesses of foreign systems and can avoid strengths," and lists "Reverse Engineering," "RTSS Development," "Capability/Vulnerability Analysis," "Algorithm Analysis" and "Data Link Exploitation," with Bryan Johnson as the contact.²⁸ A page captured on September 27, 2002, titled "Intelligence Community Support," lists "Foreign Material Exploitation," "Software Reverse Engineering," "Hardware Reverse Engineering" and "ELINT, COMINT, FISINT, and MASINT Analysis," with Bill Bailey as the contact.²⁷

A Dayton office page captured in January 2004 describes the office as a branch of the company's Intelligence Systems Division at 2900 Presidential Drive in Fairborn, Ohio: "Our primary customers are the intelligence and research organizations at Wright-Patterson AFB. We specialize in the analysis of foreign weapon systems and the development and implementation of emerging technologies to advance US weapon systems."²⁹ A December 2005 programs page lists "Foreign Electronic Systems Capabilities (FESC)" for the National Air and Space Intelligence Center as a subcontract to Syracuse Research.³⁰ A job posting captured May 16, 2006 (HR328, Senior Engineer, Dayton) describes "FME" duties: "Candidate will process, exploit, report and disseminate data collected on various threat systems."³¹

Open Source Publishing and Eliot Jardines

On August 19, 2005 Radiance announced the acquisition of Open Source Publishing, Incorporated of Leesburg, Virginia, founded in 1996 by Eliot Jardines; the unit became the Open Source Intelligence Division.²⁶ The Office of the Director of National Intelligence announced on December 7, 2005 that Jardines had been named the first Assistant Deputy Director of National Intelligence for Open Source, and the release states that the firm "was acquired by Radiance Technologies, Inc., where he served as the director of the Radiance Open Source Intelligence Division."³² A Congressional Record declaration of September 21, 2009 lists a request by Representative Mike Turner under H.R. 2647 (Air Force research, development, test and evaluation) titled "Open Source Research Centers," with Radiance Technologies at 3100 Presidential Drive, Fairborn, Ohio as the requesting entity; the amount is not stated.³³

Former National Air and Space Intelligence Center and Missile and Space Intelligence Center officials

A Radiance release of November 20, 2018 announced that Curtis Rowland had joined as chief intelligence strategist. It states that he entered federal service in July 1982; that he held "board leadership roles, including on the Joint Foreign Materiel Board of Directors, Foreign Denial and Deception Committee and the Scientific and Technical Intelligence Committee"; and that from 2014 he was chief scientist of the National Air and Space Intelligence Center at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, leading "a team of 3,000."³⁴ A release of March 2, 2020 promoted him to executive vice president and chief strategy officer and corporate lead executive for the Dayton office and states that he "led a team of 4,000."³⁵

Company leadership pages captured in November 2019 give Bailey's background as fourteen years of military service including work as a research and development engineer at the National Air and Space Intelligence Center and Phillips Laboratory, and describe Cindy Santy as having "led scientific and technical intelligence analysis of foreign weapon systems at the Defense Intelligence Agency's Missile and Space Intelligence Center." The page for president Dave Diaddario lists company expertise in "foreign materiel exploitation, anti-tampering technique development/implementation" and describes his earlier work at BAE Systems (formerly MEVATEC) with the Missile Defense Agency and NASA. The page for Bryan Johnson, chief operating officer, describes earlier work leading the Cyber Solutions Group in "system exploitation, software reverse engineering."³⁶

A release of January 20, 2022 announced Bill Jennings, with more than 35 years in the intelligence community and senior roles at the Missile and Space Intelligence Center, as senior intelligence advisor for the defense sector.³⁷ Radiance announced on July 16, 2024 the hiring of Mark Tillman, who had served as a senior defense intelligence analyst in the Defense Intelligence Agency Directorate for Analysis from June 2020 to July 2024, and on March 31, 2025 named him president of the acquired Phased n Research.³⁸ A release of April 2, 2026 announced Major General Timothy A. Sejba, United States Space Force (retired), formerly of the National Reconnaissance Office, as a strategic consultant; a release of February 20, 2025 announced General Charles A. Flynn, United States Army (retired), as a strategic consultant.³⁹

Contract vehicles at the National Air and Space Intelligence Center

USAspending shows two multiple-award indefinite-delivery vehicles held by Radiance under Air Force contracting activity FA8604. The Advanced Technical Exploitation Program II vehicle FA860415D7976 had a ceiling of $1,240,000,000 from October 3, 2014 to October 2, 2023; the sibling vehicles were FA860415D7975 (KBR Wyle Services) and FA860415D7977 (Altamira Technologies). The NOVASTAR vehicle FA860422DB008 has a ceiling of $4,797,000,000 from August 19, 2022 to August 18, 2027; the parallel awards are FA860422DB005 (Altamira Technologies), DB006 (Epsilon C5I), DB007 (Modern Technology Solutions) and DB009 (Xandar).⁴⁰ The Radiance release of August 19, 2022 states that NOVASTAR covers "research, development, sustainment, and production across all of NASIC's missions and disciplines" and the "creation, evaluation, and analysis of intelligence data on foreign developments in current and future weapon systems, subsystems, and technologies," and quotes Bill Bailey: "20 years of hard work by a lot of Radiance employee-owners with our customer, NASIC."⁴¹

The USAspending order list for NOVASTAR contract FA860422DB008 shows 38 orders totaling $157,754,299.01, signed September 2, 2022 to May 28, 2026. Obligations by fiscal year are $5,000 (2022), $13,679,969.71 (2023), $32,188,834.90 (2024), $49,577,403.40 (2025) and $62,303,091.00 (2026, through October 4). Funding offices are NASIC GS (22 orders), NASIC WM (6), National Space Intelligence (F4FTSF, 4), NASIC Wing Staff A Staff (F4FTBJ, 2) and one each for NASIC FT, NASIC SC, the Missile Defense Agency (FA860423FB312, $2,171,632, generic NOVASTAR description) and Space Systems Command (F2TSTA, FA860424FB192, "FY24 SPACE-BASED INFRARED SYSTEM (SBIRS) PROCESSING AND SENS...", $1,315,000). Places of performance are Dayton, Ohio (36), Beavercreek, Ohio (1) and Huntsville, Alabama (1, FA860425FB064, $5,168,200). Thirty-seven orders are coded "FAIR OPPORTUNITY GIVEN" and one "MINIMUM GUARANTEE" ($5,000, FA860422FB366, September 2, 2022).⁴²

The subaward list for the Radiance NOVASTAR orders shows 48 rows to 22 subawardees with a reported total of $23,261,154.69. The largest are Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation (5 rows, $5,655,213.26), SciTec Innovations LLC (4, $3,163,915.29), NextGen Federal Systems LLC (4, $2,374,542.72), Etegent Technologies (2, $1,962,305.88), CFD Research Corporation (2, $1,690,742.77), Peerless Technologies Corporation (2, $1,508,223.00) and Gateway Geospatial Group LLC (5, $1,451,982.16).⁴³

For Advanced Technical Exploitation Program II contract FA860415D7976 the order list shows 136 orders totaling $276,367,359.98 (award-level obligations; transaction sum $273,227,408), signed October 3, 2014 to January 6, 2023. Obligations by fiscal year (transactions) are $19,076,674 (2015), $24,858,614 (2016), $24,666,946 (2017), $31,250,859 (2018), $55,232,494 (2019), $33,805,396 (2020), $34,447,743 (2021), $20,472,327 (2022) and $29,416,356 (2023). Place of performance is Huntsville, Alabama on 103 orders, Dayton on 25, Beavercreek on 4 and one each for Madison, Alabama, Boulder, Colorado, Chantilly, Virginia and Woburn, Massachusetts; funding offices are NASIC GS (121), NASIC FT (4), AFLCMC PZI (2), and one each for NASIC WM, Space Systems Command (F2TSTA), "F59900 SAF FMBIB" and the "OFFICE OF SECURITY COOPERATION - IQ," with five orders listing National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency offices (two as "ATTN: MS S84-OCSA," one as "ATTN: MS S84 - OCS," one as "GEOINT RESEARCH CTR, M/S S14-SRCB" and one as "NGA SPRINGFIELD"). Offers received were one (37 orders), two (40) and three (59). Radiance's ATEP II subaward list shows 287 rows to 29 subawardees with a reported total of $110,842,917.02: Northrop Grumman Systems (83 rows, $42,202,507.37), Booz Allen Hamilton (36, $21,697,084.13), Raytheon Company (27, $14,657,896.08), Lightstorm Research (24, $9,862,514.10) and L3Harris Technologies (28, $6,997,709.56).⁴³

The 141 FA8604 records total $391,367,960. By place of performance, 52 records ($175,176,576) list Wright-Patterson Air Force Base ZIP 45433, 43 records ($162,220,419) list Huntsville ZIP 35806 and 37 records ($42,550,315) list Huntsville ZIP 35805. Competition fields on the sampled orders read "FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION AFTER EXCLUSION OF SOURCES SUBJECT TO MULTIPLE AWARD FAIR OPPORTUNITY," with one to four offers received. Descriptions of the 2015 to 2018 orders name subjects such as "FY15 SBIRS AUTOMATED PROCESSING R&D SUPPORT," "FY16 SAR CONTINGENCY OPERATIONAL SUPPORT," "PERSISTENT INFRARED ENHANCED ANALYTICS" and "GROUND TRUTH SUPPORT"; later orders carry titles such as "RF SIGNATURES PRODUCTION AND TOOL SUPPORT, NSC-24-083," "NASIC PLATFORM SERVICES SUSTAINMENT AND DEVELOPMENT, NSC-25-074" and "ICAM COLLECTION DEVELOPMENT AND SUPPORT" (FA860426FB159, $12,955,000, June 12, 2026 to March 11, 2029).⁴⁰ A September 24, 2019 trade report states that Radiance won a GSA blanket purchase agreement for Intelligence Mission Data support to the center with a ceiling of $376 million, a five-year base and five one-year options, with work at Wright-Patterson, on a team with Battelle, COLSA, Leidos, Parsons and AT&T Government Solutions.⁴⁴

Foreign materiel exploitation subawards, 2017

USAspending lists Radiance as subawardee with eleven rows dated September 14, 2017, subaward number DSC3104B, description "TECHNICAL SERVICES," reported total $5,416,812.89, on General Services Administration award GS05T13BMC0003, "FOREIGN MATERIEL EXPLOITATION ENGINEERING AND MAINTENANCE SUPPORT," awarded to HII Mission Technologies Corp. The award's obligation, funding office, period and subaward total are stated on the Foreign Technology Division page. Modern Technology Solutions appears on the same award with seven rows dated February 15, 2018 (reported total $1,403,592.12).⁴⁵

Agile Cyber Technology 3 and the ARCHANGEL orders

Federal records list Radiance as a holder of indefinite-delivery contract FA875022D1005, "AGILE CYBER TECHNOLOGY 3," awarded by the Air Force Research Laboratory Information Directorate at Rome, New York, signed June 8, 2022, with a ceiling of $950,000,000, an ordering period ending June 7, 2027, program acronym "ACT 3," a total small business set-aside, 17 offers received, naics code 541715 and funding office "F4HBGA AFRL RIGA." Four other firms hold sibling positions: Assured Information Security (FA875022D1001), CNF Technologies (D1002), Global Infotek (D1003) and Invictus International Consulting (D1004).⁴⁶ Radiance's release of July 5, 2022 states that the contract has "a $950M ceiling with a 10-year period of performance and a 5-Year ordering period," that the Radiance team "consists of over 72 large companies, small companies, and University partners," that Radiance "was also a Prime contractor on ACT1 and ACT2," and that the effort "will be led out of our National Security Sector's Electronic Systems and Cyber Technologies (ESCT) Group." The release lists the technical requirements as "Cyber Threat Avoidance & Cyber Defense," "Full Spectrum Cyber Operations," "Cyber Network Exploitation," "Cyber Situational and Mission Awareness," "Cyber Command & Control," "Cyber Modeling, Simulation, & War Gaming," "Cyber Infrastructure" and "Cyber Mission Assurance."⁴⁷

Radiance's order under the vehicle is FA875023F1005, titled "URIEL," signed April 19, 2023 with an initial obligation of $13,006,250 and 22 modifications through P00022 (April 22, 2026), bringing obligations to $60,785,899 against a ceiling of $99,405,337; the order ends June 19, 2028, drew one offer, and carries the competition entry "FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION AFTER EXCLUSION OF SOURCES." Modification descriptions change over time. Through P00014 (August 15, 2024) the description is "URIEL." Modification P00015 (September 20, 2024, $3,100,709) reads "REMIEL." Modification P00016 (April 9, 2025, $800,000) reads "ARCHANGEL - URIEL IS TO DEVELOP, ENHANCE, INTEGRATE, AND TRANSITION CYBER PROTOTYPES FOR THE AIR FORCE RESEARCH LABORATORY (AFRL), ITS PRODUCTS CENTERS, AND THE OPERATIONAL COMMUNITY," repeated through P00019 and P00022; P00020 (August 14, 2025, $4,600,000) carries the title "DIRECTIONAL AIRBORNE NETWORKS FOR CONTESTED ENVIRONMENTS (DANCE)" and P00021 (February 12, 2026, $6,873,673) "GEOINT NETWORK ARCHITECTURE RESEARCH FOR COLLABORATIVE MISSION UTILITY ENHANCEMENT."⁴⁶ The vehicle's other holders received one large first order each between April 19 and June 1, 2023:

All six orders were awarded by the Rome contracting office (FA8750 AFRL RIK). The funding office is F4HBGA AFRL RIGA for all but two: AZRAEL lists "NC JTF6" and REMIEL lists "FY2044 AFRL RIK."⁴⁶ The Baker complaint's reference to COINS as an ACT3 task order is described above; Radiance's prime award record lists one other order under the vehicle, FA875022F1011, "SYSTEMS ENGINEERING MANAGEMENT PLAN- AGILE CYBER TECHNOLOGY 3," $2,000, June 8 to September 7, 2022.⁴⁶

Air Force Anti-Tamper Executive Agent contracts, 2024

On February 7, 2024 the Department of Defense announced that the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base had placed 17 companies on a multiple-award contract to design, develop, test and deliver anti-tamper systems, after receiving 20 offers; trade reports of February 8 and 12, 2024 give the ceiling as $499 million, the technology areas as secure processing, volume protection and sensors, and cryptographic protection, and expected work in the continental United States through February 28, 2030.⁴⁸ USAspending lists the positions as indefinite-delivery contracts FA868424DB003 through DB019, titled "ATEA FPO MAC IDIQ" (Anti-Tamper Executive Agent Field Program Office multiple-award contract), each with a $499,000,000 ceiling, signed between February 27 and March 1, 2024, awarded through office FA8695 AFLCMC WAG AT. Radiance holds FA868424DB013 (signed February 28, 2024; period March 1, 2024 to February 28, 2034; funding office "F4FDAA AFLCMC XA BLDG 16"; solicitation FA868422RB009; 20 offers; no set-aside; product code 5962, electronic microcircuits). The holders include Honeywell International Inc. (DB010), Kratos SRE, Inc. (DB005), Lockheed Martin Corporation (DB009), Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation (DB003), L3Harris Technologies (DB007), General Dynamics Mission Systems (DB006), GE Aviation Systems (DB008), Chip Scan (DB004), Microsemi SoC Corp. (DB011), Idaho Scientific (DB012), Draper Laboratory (DB014), Raytheon Company (DB015), Mercury Systems (DB016), Sabre Systems (DB017), Battelle Memorial Institute (DB018) and The Boeing Company (DB019).⁴⁹ The only public order under Radiance's position is FA868424FB014, "ATEA FPO DELIVERY ORDER- WHITE PAPER," $1,000, signed March 11, 2024, with one offer.⁴⁹

Integration Innovation subaward (2017 to 2018)

USAspending subaward records list Radiance as subawardee to Integration Innovation, Inc. on prime order N0017317F2055, issued by the U.S. Navy under General Services Administration contract GS00Q14OADS416. The records are 19 cumulative subaward reports under two subaward numbers, 10107-17-0025-RDTI (reported December 1, 2017) and 10142-18-0048-RDTI (reported May 23, 2018), all with the same description. The subaward description reads: "RADIANCE PROVIDES REVERSE ENGINEERING OF EXPLOITED HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE IN SUPPORT OF SIMULATION DEVELOPMENT AND CLOSED LOOP HWIL TESTS IN THE CENTRAL TARGET SIMULATION (CTS). THIS ACTIVITY INCLUDES REVERSE ENGINEERING FIRMWARE AND EMBEDDED SOFTWARE AND THE COMPUTERS ON WHICH THEY OPERATE. IN ADDITION, RADIANCE REVERSE ENGINEERS ELECTRONICS AT THE CIRCUIT BOARD LEVEL TO DETERMINE THE FUNCTION WITHIN THE OVERALL MISSILE SYSTEM." Reported amounts include $1,713,749.46 and repeated entries of $327,010.77 (December 1, 2017) and $1,546,246.66, $1,494,346.66 and $1,386,738.70 (May 23, 2018).⁵⁰

National Air and Space Intelligence Center task order FA860426FB159

Order FA860426FB159, "ICAM COLLECTION DEVELOPMENT AND SUPPORT," was signed April 27, 2026 under Radiance's NOVASTAR contract FA860422DB008 by contracting office FA8604 AFLCMC PZI, with funding office F4FTBJ "NASIC WING STAFF A STAFF." The order text incorporates a performance work statement dated March 25, 2026. It records an obligation of $12,955,000, $19,214,890 with all options, a period from June 12, 2026 to March 11, 2029, two offers, multiple-award fair opportunity procedures (MAFO), place of performance Dayton, Ohio, and 11 subaward reports totaling $4,362,010.25. One is a subaward to Ignite Fueling Innovation of $98,665, reported June 11, 2026 under the subaward number "IDIQ-00038 TO 26FB159," described as "ENTITLEMENTS CORE SERVICE, ENTITLEMENTS RESOLUTION SERVICE, USER PROFILING SERVICE" and "THE MAINTENANCE, SUSTAINMENT, AND MINOR ENHANCEMENT (MS&E) OF DELIVERED OPERATIONAL SOFTWARE (O&M), REFERENCING THE ICAM COLLECTION VISION, AS IDENTIFIED BY THE GOVERNMENT."⁵¹

Capability statement of January 2022

A Radiance corporate overview dated January 13, 2022 (submitted to the National Advanced Mobility Consortium) lists, under the National Security Sector, "Microelectronics Exploitation," "Integrated Circuit Failure Analysis," "RF Material Interactions Studies," "Weapon System Exploitation" (including "Software/Hardware Exploitation," "FPGA and Complex Devices Exploitation," "Computer Forensics"), and under the Department of Defense Sector "Systems Engineering: Design/Re-Design Reverse Engineering." It lists laboratories named Space Technology Analysis and Concepts, Space Payload Demonstration, Space PNT Resiliency and Air and Missile System Integration; states that the company has "numerous cleared office, laboratory, prototyping and high bay facilities," over 950 employees and 24 indefinite-delivery contracts.⁵² A Radiance posting for an OPIR Extractions Analyst supporting the center at Wright-Patterson (Beavercreek; removed May 9, 2025) lists duties to "plan, conduct and accomplish OPIR extraction exploitation, production, and quality control," requires a TS/SCI clearance and desires being "NASIC certified in BRASS or SBIRS extractions"; a ClearanceJobs posting for a C4ISR Analyst (Beavercreek, Secret with SCI eligibility) describes "all-source analysis on foreign space and counterspace organizations, processes, facilities, equipment, and technologies."⁵³

Employee ownership and the Berry v. Bailey litigation

The Department of Labor Form 5500 dataset lists the Radiance Technologies, Inc. Employee Stock Ownership Plan (sponsor EIN 63-1204084, plan 003, effective January 1, 2008). Schedule H reports employer securities of $17,993,650 at the end of 2017, $50,834,346 (2018), $65,757,103 (2019), $94,399,503 (2020), $117,620,408 (2021), $119,038,268 (2022), $163,931,588 (2023) and $191,284,778 (2024), against total assets of $194,917,315 at the end of 2024 and distributions of $19,127,713 in 2024; beginning-of-year participants numbered 640 (2017) and 1,092 (2024).⁵⁴

In Berry v. Bailey (N.D. Ala. 5:24-cv-522, removed April 25, 2024), former employees sued Bailey, the board (Robert E. "Bud" Cramer, Jead Deason, Jim Poss, Jim Scanlon, Carol Tevepaugh, JT Thompson and John F. Thompson) and the trustee Argent Trust Company and its employee Stephen A. Martin. The second amended complaint alleges that in early 2023 Bailey began to "shop" Radiance, that an offer came from Axient (Sagewind) and a second in summer 2023 from BlueHalo, that the board retained Jefferies Financial Group, that about 14 offers were narrowed to five each "in a range of two times (2X) the ESOP's last appraised value," that Bailey dismissed president Tim Tinsley during due diligence, and that Bailey told the board of "product(s) and programs" that "did not even exist" and were "proverbial 'moon shots'." Judge Corey Maze dismissed all claims without prejudice on September 18, 2025 on standing, preemption and exhaustion grounds without reaching the merits; the opinion records that the plaintiffs were held to be beneficial stockholders with standing for derivative claims before those were dismissed on preemption.⁵⁵⁵⁶

Radiance announced on December 21, 2015 that the former congressman Robert E. "Bud" Cramer had joined its board of directors.⁵⁷

Employee Stock Ownership Plan: administration, trustee and plan-year ledger

The Radiance Technologies, Inc. Employee Stock Ownership Plan is plan number 003 under sponsor employer identification number 63-1204084 and, by the plan's own statements, was established effective January 1, 2008 (the audits state that "the Company established the Plan effective as of January 1, 2008"). The Form 5500 bulk files for plan years 2016 through 2020 carry the plan name as "EMPLOYEE STOCK OWNERSHP PLAN." The same employer identification number files a 401(k) profit sharing plan (plan 001), an employee benefits plan and a health insurance plan. The audits state that the plan "is administered by the Company's management" and that "Argent Trust Company is the Plan's Trustee." Schedule H lists the accountant as Warren Averett (spelled "Warren Averitt" in the 2020 through 2024 filings). The 2024 audit states: "Administrative expenses for the Trustees fees are paid directly by the Company." The 2024 audit describes the valuation process as "selecting a qualified appraiser under a three-year contract that can be canceled at any time," with a report of the estimated per-share value that "Plan management and the Trustee then review in detail, discuss and approve" (the audits for plan years 2018 to 2021 say "Plan management, along with the ESOP trustee, reviews in detail, discusses and approves"); no filing names the appraisal firm. The audit for plan year 2018 states that the plan's loan "was paid off as of December 31, 2017."⁵⁸

The table gives each plan year as filed with the Employee Benefits Security Administration. Participant counts are the beginning-of-year totals in the Form 5500 bulk files; share counts are the "number of shares" of company common stock in the investment note of the audited statements; the price per share is the fair value of employer securities divided by that share count (arithmetic, not a filed field).

The implied prices for 2023 and 2024 correspond to a statement in the 2024 audit that purchases in the 2024 internal market "were purchased at $98.76, the share price as of December 31, 2023." The plan's allocated share count fell in each plan year from 2019 to 2023, from 2,272,188 to 1,659,899. The Schedule H distributions were $2,581,737 (2018), $2,671,131 (2019), $3,714,771 (2020), $7,256,764 (2021), $18,517,358 (2022), $11,022,914 (2023) and $19,127,713 (2024). Employer cash contributions on Schedule H were $2,344,015 (2020), $4,404,348 (2021), $3,331,332 (2022), $1,202,383 (2023) and $2,096,627 (2024), with noncash contributions on Schedule H of $2,598,069 (2017), $2,433,373 (2018), $3,069,179 (2019), $1,197,752 (2020), $1,054,209 (2022), $4,174,001 (2023) and $3,630,575 (2024). The audits' investment notes record "unrealized appreciation in estimated fair value" of $22,422,500 (2018), $16,924,941 (2019), $29,284,799 (2020), $29,250,748 (2021), $19,934,332 (2022), $54,859,573 (2023) and $27,640,821 (2024) for those years. Plan year 2025 had not been posted to the public Form 5500 datasets as of October 4, 2026.⁵⁹ Documents 43-3 and 57-1 in Berry v. Bailey, filed by the Radiance defendants, are the Form 5500 filings for plan years 2022 and 2023 and show the same share counts.⁶⁰

February 1, 2018 transition to sole ESOP ownership

The audit for plan year 2018 (filed September 27, 2019, Note 1) states: "On February 1, 2018, the Plan became the sole shareholder of the Company. This transaction included the Company purchasing all outstanding shares of common stock held outside the ESOP (2,617,594 shares), the Company assuming $10,800,000 in shareholder notes, and a transfer of funds into the ESOP from participants' 401(k) plan balances in the amount of $11,542,350 to purchase additional common stock shares within the ESOP." The plan's share count rose from 1,439,492 at December 31, 2017 to 2,353,442 at December 31, 2018, and the audit's statement of changes records "Transfers from 401(k)" of $11,542,350. Schedule H lists the $11,542,350 purchase of common stock as a reportable transaction. The audit does not name the holders outside the ESOP or state a price per share for the 2,617,594 shares. The 2024 audit refers to "the transfer account" holding shares "transferred from the 401k plan to the Plan in January 2018."⁶¹

The first amended and restated complaint in Radiance Technologies, Inc. v. Heath Berry (Madison County, Alabama Circuit Court, CV-2024-900092), which the Radiance defendants filed as Exhibit 1 (Doc. 42-1) in Berry v. Bailey on September 4, 2024, states at paragraph 6: "Radiance is a 100% employee-owned company that has faithfully served its customers and the Huntsville community since 1999."⁶²

The trust agreement under which Argent serves is dated September 5, 2017, between Radiance and "Argent Trust Company, as successor trustee"; Argent's signature block is Stephen A. Martin, Senior Vice President.⁶³

IRS Voluntary Correction Program and the 2014 to 2019 redemptions

The audit for plan year 2020 (filed September 15, 2021, Note 2, "Voluntary Correction Program") states: "In 2020, representatives of the plan administrator discovered that several operational failures had occurred in the 2014 through 2019 plan years. During those plan years, the Company redeemed vested shares of Company stock using the most recent appraised fair market value instead of the appraised fair market value on the date of the redemption. The most recent appraised fair market value of company stock in such cases was the value determined as of the immediately preceding June 30 or December 31, as applicable. Participants whose vested Company stock was redeemed by the Company during those plan years may have experienced underpayments because the proceeds that were credited to their liquidated company stock accounts and transferred to the 401(k) Plan were likely less than the amounts that should have been credited and transferred under the terms of the Plan." The same audit records "other liabilities" of $788,368 at December 31, 2020 and 2019, and its Note 10 reconciliation to the Form 5500 lists an "Employer contribution receivable for self-correction" of $1,099,798 and a "Payable to 401(k) for self-correction" of $788,368. Note 11 states: "The Company received approval of the Plan's Voluntary Correction Program (VCP) application, in accordance with the Internal Revenue Service's Voluntary Correction Program under the Employee Plans Compliance Resolution System (EPCRS), concerning these operational failures." The audit for plan year 2021 states: "In June 2021, the Plans Voluntary Correction Program application was accepted and paid for by the Company."⁶⁴ The audits do not state how many participants were affected or the total paid.

2024 internal market

The 2024 audit states that "during 2024, the Company established an internal market between the Companys 401k Plan and the Plan to allow participants to transfer funds from the 401k Plan to the Plan to purchase additional shares of Company stock"; active participants employed on or before May 1, 2024 could invest "up to 50% of their vested, pretax 401(k) account balance," the market "opened on May 15, 2024, and closed on June 17, 2024," and transfers totaled $13,540,671. Transfers from the plan to the 401(k) plan under two 2013 transfer agreements totaled $969,227 in 2024.⁶⁵

Litigation papers and program names

Radiance's suits against departing employees, and one suit by their new employer, PeopleTec, put program names and contract figures into public court files. The papers are the pleadings of the parties, filed by Radiance, by former employees and by the defendants in a related suit, and no court has made findings on the facts in them.⁶⁶

Radiance Technologies, Inc. v. Heath Berry, No. CV-2024-900092 (Circuit Court of Madison County, Alabama), was filed on January 19, 2024 and assigned to Judge D. Alan Mann; the case action summary lists a jury trial set for December 16, 2024, a subpoena to PeopleTec issued March 1, 2024 and served March 12, 2024, and an amended complaint e-filed August 9, 2024. Heath Berry, the defendant, is described in the First Amended and Restated Complaint as Radiance's senior vice president, "responsible for one of Radiance's business units," the Electronic Systems and Cyber Technology/National Security Management Division. The complaint's introduction states that "part of Radiance's business focuses on cutting edge technologies in the directed energy, hypersonic, space, aviation, test and evaluation, intelligence, microelectronics, cyber, and critical infrastructure markets" and that Radiance is "a 100% employee-owned company that has faithfully served its customers and the Huntsville community since 1999."⁶⁶ It alleges that Berry's business unit "was deep in negotiations with Honeywell on a new, very lucrative contractual opportunity" in late 2023, that "the contract with Honeywell would have provided $6,500,000 in revenue in 2024, and $40,000,000 to $50,000,000 in revenue over the life of the contract," and that Berry's actions "cost Radiance the Looking Glass contract and the $40 to $50 million in future revenue it will generate." Count II alleges that Berry "interfered with Radiance's negotiations and ongoing work on Looking Glass" and Count III pleads civil conspiracy with non-Radiance employees at PeopleTec "to divert the Honeywell contract from Radiance to PeopleTec."⁶⁶ The Radiance defendants in Berry v. Bailey later wrote that Berry and Baker "took Radiance's work and its trade secrets with them when they left. So Radiance has sued, and is still suing, them," and that the federal suit "was originally filed by Berry after Radiance sued him in Madison County Circuit Court."⁶⁷

Radiance Technologies, Inc. v. Jade Baker, No. 5:24-cv-00794 (N.D. Ala.), was filed on June 15, 2024 (docketed June 17) and reassigned to Judge Liles C. Burke on August 27, 2024; Jade Baker answered on July 11, 2024. The four counts are misappropriation of trade secrets under the Defend Trade Secrets Act, breach of fiduciary duty, civil conspiracy and violation of the Alabama Digital Crimes Act. The complaint (Doc. 42-1, Exhibit 2) states the following about the group Berry led:

• Paragraph 7: Baker, hired as chief scientist in 2018 and assistant vice president by 2021, worked in "Radiance's Electronic Systems and Cyber Technology group, led by then-senior vice president Heath Berry."
• Paragraph 8: the group's "work on federal government contracts focuses on anti-tamper microelectronics, a collection of countermeasures that protect security chips, like microchips, from being monitored or affected."
• Paragraph 9: Radiance "is working to build a facility in Louisiana to produce microelectronics CHIPS packages," a reference to the CHIPS and Science Act of August 2022.
• Paragraph 10: Radiance produces such packages "through various federal contracts, such as the Agile Cyber Technology 3 ('ACT3') indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity ('IDIQ') contract vehicle," and "protects the information about its ACT3 contract, and others, by using secured internal networks, marking documents as proprietary, requiring some of the work to be performed only in classified areas, and with non-disclosure agreements." A footnote states that an IDIQ contract "is often called a 'license to hunt' because it allows a company to bid on work in the future."
• Paragraphs 11 and 12: in 2023 Baker "was part of the Radiance team that negotiated a subcontract with Honeywell to perform work on a contract called 'Looking Glass,'" on which he was listed as key personnel, a program that "involved anti-tamper work for microchips on classified programs." The subcontract "would have guaranteed Radiance $6.5 million in revenue in 2024 and would have provided another $40 to $50 million over the life of the contract," and Honeywell "even let Radiance began performing some Looking Glass work, with preliminary funding, while subcontract negotiations were ongoing."
• Paragraph 42: "shortly after Baker left Radiance, Honeywell sent Radiance a stop work order on the work they were already performing for the Looking Glass effort and the subcontract negotiations ended," and on January 10, 2024 Berry "attended a meeting with the government customer and Honeywell representatives, on behalf of PeopleTec, for the Looking Glass work."
• Paragraphs 46 and 47: Radiance "is working to build a registered facility in Louisiana to produce secure microelectronic CHIPS packages"; "only (approximately) 5-10 of Radiance's 1,050 employees had access to those files" and "some of the work can only be performed in classified areas."⁶⁸

The complaint names the files Baker is alleged to have copied between November 1 and November 29, 2023. They include "Experimental_Slice_Interfacing_Released.pdf" from a folder path ending "from_APL" (paragraph 21, described as proprietary information "pertaining to the Looking Glass work"); 61 screenshots of "Radiance's CHIP technology" from a folder named "Parts_Initial_Inspection" (paragraph 22); "LOOKING_GLASS_AO4B_Technical-Volume.docx," described as "the technical solution and pricing documents for Radiance's effort to get work on the Looking Glass contract with Honeywell," followed by 19 files of the "Looking Glass" proposal technical volume, basis-of-estimate files ("LOOKING_GLASS_AO4B_BOE_Methodology-no-template.docx," "LOOKING_GLASS_A04B_BOE_Methodology.docx," "phase1b_boe.xlsx," "LG-AO4B_tool_lead_times.xlsx") and vendor quotations whose file names include "delidding-apparatus-estimate.pdf," "Nordson_Bondtest_4000PLUS.pdf," "hast_options.xlsx," "steam-ager_options.xlsx" and two Hentec test-system quotations (paragraphs 28, 29 and 40).⁶⁸ On November 28 Baker allegedly saved "Quad Secure Microelectronic Interposer Technology FY24.pptx" after "FY23 Congressional Add Quad_Full Spectrum Protective Technologies for Cyber Mission Assurance_SED Submission_6February2023.pptx," which the complaint says "contain proprietary information about Radiance's process for obtaining and executing funding for contracts" (paragraph 38).⁶⁸

The complaint also describes a second contract vehicle in connection with PeopleTec. A message of November 7, 2023 from Baker to Berry is quoted as asking "what contract vehicle the COINS subs are currently using, what the PoP is, and the anticipated burn out," and paragraph 27 states that "Cyber Operation INSCOM Network Strategies, otherwise known as 'COINS,' is work on a task order under the ACT3 contract," on which "PeopleTec is a subcontractor to Radiance."⁶⁸ Paragraph 13 of the complaint states that Tim Tinsley was Radiance's president "until Radiance fired him in September of 2023," and paragraph 24 alleges that Cahaba Federal Solutions, which the complaint says Tinsley owns, "is currently doing work previously performed by Radiance as a subcontractor to Kratos" and "employs Mr. Wright and other former Radiance employees." Paragraph 14 names Chris Wright as "the senior vice president of Radiance's Emerging and Disruptive Technologies group" and quotes a document he is alleged to have written, titled "Fiduciary": "[s]enior leaders will be first order effect," "[n]ext level staff will get nervous and many will leave," "[c]ustomers will lose confidence" and "[s]hip will sink," followed by the sentence "Their plan was not limited to Radiance's directed energies group." Paragraph 32 identifies Karl Walli as executive vice president of Radiance's national security sector.⁶⁸

Baker's answer (Doc. 42-1, Exhibit 11, filed July 11, 2024) responds to paragraph 11 with the following: "Baker admits that he was involved in a Radiance project with Honeywell International. Baker admits that he was a part of the government funded research and planning team, Looking Glass 1A, to develop the technical approach for Looking Glass 1B. Baker admits that he was listed as key personnel for Looking Glass 1B." The answer states that Baker was without knowledge of the remaining allegations of that paragraph.⁶⁹

Radiance Technologies Inc v. Wright, No. 5:24-cv-00290 (N.D. Ala.), was opened in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama on March 7, 2024. The docket caption gives the defendant's surname only, and CourtListener lists a last filing date of March 5, 2025.⁷⁰ PeopleTec, Inc. v. Radiance Technologies, Inc., No. 5:26-cv-00497 (N.D. Ala.), was filed on March 25, 2026 and assigned to Judge Harold Mooty III.⁷⁰

Berry v. Bailey (No. 5:24-cv-00522, N.D. Ala.), classified on the CourtListener docket as a Labor: E.R.I.S.A. matter (cause 29:1132), is a suit by five former Radiance employees, individually and derivatively on behalf of Radiance, against Bill Bailey, the Radiance directors and the trustee of the employee stock ownership plan, Argent Trust Company; its docket is outlined on the page for Bailey. The plaintiffs' allegations are theirs alone, and the court dismissed all claims without prejudice. In that case the Radiance defendants' motion to dismiss attached the Berry and Baker pleadings as Exhibits 1, 2 and 11; the plaintiffs moved on October 7, 2024 to strike them, and the court's opinion of September 18, 2025 denied that motion in part and as moot in part "because the court did not consider the challenged materials, other than the ESOP Plan Summary, to reach its decision."⁶⁷

Sole-source award under the ESOP pilot program

Defense Logistics Agency Aviation at Huntsville awarded SPRRA226C0009 to Radiance on April 10, 2026 for range improvement and modernization at the Reagan Test Site (Kwajalein Atoll) for the Army Space and Missile Defense Command: $30,159,000 obligated against a ceiling of $149,683,593 through April 10, 2031, coded "NOT AVAILABLE FOR COMPETITION." The redacted justification and approval states the authority as "DFARS 206.302-5(b), Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) pilot program, NDAA Provision 874, and amended NDAA Provision 872," approved by an Office of the Under Secretary of War memorandum signed by Col. Steven R. Green Jr. on December 23, 2025. It states that Radiance has invested in "laboratory and integration spaces that meet ICD 705 requirements for classified facilities," that a sources-sought notice of January 20, 2026 drew no responses, and that two small businesses, McDonald Technical Solutions and Polaris Sensor Technologies, answered the synopsis, "Neither of these vendors are ESOP companies." The same document calls Radiance "an employee-owned small business" and states "Radiance, a small business, is the only known source with the current capability to successfully complete the range modernization."⁷¹

The Defense Logistics Agency award notice for SPRRA226C0009 (SAM.gov notice posted April 14, 2026) reads "AWARD NOTICE OF CONTRACT SPRRA226C0009 TO RADIANCE TECHNOLOGIES, IAW 10 U.S.C. 2304(C)(1)FAR 6.302-5 AUTHORIZED OR REQUIRED BY STATUE," "SINGLE PURCHASE, COST PLUS FIXED FEE (CPFF) EFFORT" and "TOTAL AMOUNT OF CONTRACT: $149,683,593.02." Its justification states that the contract is a "sole source follow-on for the current SPRRA224C0020 contract with Radiance," which "was awarded as a bridge from a prior effort"; that Radiance developed its range-operations capability "much at their own expense, over a 6-year period"; and that funding is fiscal year 2025 and 2026 research, development, test and evaluation money of the USASMDC Program Office (United States Army Space and Missile Defense Command). It lists planned projects including replacement of the ALTAIR tracking radar ultra high frequency transmitter high voltage power supply and development of "a multi-band multi-static radar system," names the programs that plan missions at the Reagan Test Site (Air Force Minuteman III and LGM-35 Sentinel, Army Patriot and Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, Navy Conventional Prompt Strike, Space Force "classified Space systems testing," and "Golden Dome"), and states that the program "was approved by the Secretary of War to have a DX priority rating." It lists the existing work as "upgrades to current sensor subsystems that will restore the systems to Full Mission Capability for critical major defense acquisition programs including the Air Force LGM-35A, Army Dark Eagle, Navy Conventional Prompt Strike."⁵¹ The predecessor SPRRA224C0020 was announced by an award notice of July 15, 2024 reading "UNUSUAL AND COMPELLING ONE TIME BUY" with a "CEILING ON CONTRACT: $15M"; a redacted justification for unusual and compelling urgency (solicitation SPRRA2-24-R-0063) was posted August 13, 2024.⁵¹

Section 874 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2022 (Pub. L. 117-81; 10 U.S.C. 3204 note), as amended by section 872 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2024 (Pub. L. 118-31), authorizes the Department of Defense to award certain follow-on contracts noncompetitively to employee-owned businesses. The Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement implementation, published in the Federal Register on October 10, 2024 (Docket DARS-2024-0017, RIN 0750-AM01, effective November 25, 2024), defines a qualified business at 270.101 as "an S corporation as defined in 26 U.S.C. 1361(a)(1) for which 100 percent of the outstanding stock is held through an employee stock ownership plan as defined in 26 U.S.C. 4975(e)(7)." It limits awards to "[o]ne sole-source, follow-on contract per predecessor contract" unless waived, to qualified businesses with at least a satisfactory rating for the predecessor contract in the Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System, and to businesses that certify they will not pay more than 50 percent of the amount paid by the government to subcontractors; the authority "expires on December 27, 2029." DFARS 206.302-5(b) lists the pilot among the statutory exceptions to full and open competition. In the rule's response to public comment, the Department stated that neither section waived the requirement for a justification and approval and that the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment "implemented section 874 via a contract policy memorandum dated November 8, 2022, and limited participation in the pilot program to nine contractors."⁷²

The justification for SPRRA226C0009 (solicitation SPRRA226R0040) states that a synopsis ran on the Governmentwide Point of Entry from January 27, 2026 through February 10, 2026, and lists among Radiance's capabilities "investment in tools and fixtures that enable highly skilled technical personnel to design, develop and test candidate technologies for range improvements," "business processes that enable identification of vendors of unique, niche technologies required to execute RTR I&M projects" and "acquisition of companies to provide comprehensive radar technical expertise for hardware and software prototyping." It states that a new vendor would need "18 months to 2 years" to replace the capability. The federal procurement record for the award, signed April 10, 2026, lists one offer received, solicitation procedure "SSS" ("ONLY ONE SOURCE"), the Defense Logistics Agency as awarding agency, extent competed code "B" ("NOT AVAILABLE FOR COMPETITION"), a performance period of April 10, 2026 to April 10, 2031, and the description "material, other direct costs (ODC), total direct labor, and travel to meet the needs of the customer, US Army Space and Missile Defense Command's (SMDC) Reagan Test Site (RTS)."⁷³

Size status and the Army RCCTO protest

Radiance protested a small-business recertification requirement in Army task order request for proposals 24-005 (systems engineering and technical assistance for the Rapid Capabilities and Critical Technologies Office) before the Government Accountability Office (B-422615.1, denied August 30, 2024) and then in the United States Court of Federal Claims (No. 24-1375C). The court's opinion of December 5, 2024 states that Radiance, the incumbent, "was a small business when it was awarded its OASIS IDIQ contract but admits that it no longer meets that qualification," and dismissed the protest under the task-order bar.⁷⁴ The joint venture Radiance Ignite Technologies was formed on July 10, 2024, between the May 2024 protest and the December 2024 opinion.

Political action committee, all recipients

The Federal Election Commission lists 367 Schedule B disbursements by Radiance Technologies, Inc. Political Action Committee (C00372979). By recipient committee the largest totals are Robert Aderholt for Congress $65,300 (22 records, April 5, 2002 to October 27, 2023), the National Republican Senatorial Committee $55,000 (5), Citizens for Turner $51,250 (20), Terri Sewell for Congress $40,600 (13, to March 31, 2026), Mike Rogers for Congress $37,100 (15), Defend America PAC $33,850 (7), Scalise for Congress $27,700 (3), Turner Victory Fund $25,000 (5), Jo Bonner for Congress $25,000 (14) and Friends of Bud Cramer $25,000 (7, August 14, 2003 to April 9, 2007).⁷⁵ A $10,000 disbursement on January 17, 2005 went to a "Reception Custodial Account (c/o Van Scoyoc Associates, Inc.)."⁷⁵

Individual contributions listing Radiance as employer total $2,766,062 over 9,176 records, including $675,991 to the company PAC; William C. Bailey Jr. (name variants of "Bailey, William" with occupation listed as CEO; 230 records from April 25, 2019 to June 30, 2026; sum of itemized receipts as returned, net of 19 negative correction rows: $1,116,488; the FEC does not unify donors, a different William Bailey appears under other occupations, and earlier rows are not counted) gave the largest amounts to the National Republican Congressional Committee ($331,200), Grow the Majority ($270,000) and the Scalise Leadership Fund ($115,000).⁷⁶

House earmark declarations name Radiance as the requesting entity for $2,400,000 (Representative Jo Bonner, Navy anti-submarine camera system, September 24, 2008), $800,000 and $9 million (Army "Gunfire Detection System for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles," Representative Terry Everett, 2008) and $2,000,000 (Representative Jack Kingston, Army, July 2009).³³

The Radiance Technologies, Inc. Political Action Committee reported to the Federal Election Commission six disbursements dated between July 21, 2023 and November 21, 2023, all on its year-end 2023 report (images 202401309600664855 and 202401309600664856): Turner Victory Fund $5,000 (July 21, 2023); Letlow Victory Fund $5,000 (August 1); Tuberville Victory Fund $3,000 (October 9); Robert Aderholt for Congress $5,000 (October 27); LaRose for Senate $2,500 (November 14); and Wicker for Senate $5,000 (November 21). The Turner Victory Fund payment is on image 202401309600664856, line 23, and the recipient is a joint fundraising committee (C00611962, registered in Georgia) with no candidate identifier in the FEC record. Between 2019 and 2025 the committee's disbursements to the Turner committees are $5,000 each on October 9, 2019 (Citizens for Turner, image 201911049165324401), October 1, 2020 (Turner Victory Fund, 202101209405240320), October 24, 2022 (Turner Victory Fund, 202212079547209468), July 21, 2023, June 18, 2024 (Citizens for Turner, 202407159653323303), September 11, 2024 (Turner Victory Fund, 202410149684954155) and June 23, 2025 (Turner Victory Fund, 202507229764196383), totaling $35,000. Its disbursements to Mike Rogers for Congress since 2019 are $5,000 each on March 13, 2019, February 19, 2020, October 12, 2021 and February 5, 2024, totaling $20,000.⁷⁷

Lobbying disclosure filings

Records filed under the Lobbying Disclosure Act list Radiance Technologies as a client of the following registrants, with the quarterly reports of each year summed (income reported by the registrants): $300,000 in 2019, $320,000 in 2020, $320,000 in 2021, $406,000 in 2022, $464,000 in 2023, $560,000 in 2024, $670,000 in 2025 and $250,000 in the reports for the first two quarters of 2026.⁷⁸ In 2023 the registrants were Maynor & Stiers ($80,000 per quarter; lobbyists Linda Maynor and William Stiers), Adams and Reese ($20,000 per quarter; Bradley Byrne, Charles Bonner and Paula Zorensky) and the Skipper Group ($15,000 to $19,000 per quarter; Tripp Skipper). The Maynor & Stiers reports give the issue as "Research and development in directed energy technologies, protective electronics, AI/ML, modeling and simulation tools - FY24 National Defense Authorization Act (HR 2670; S2226) and FY24 Defense Appropriations Act (HR 4365; S 2587)" (second through fourth quarters, with the Senate appropriations bill unnumbered in the second), with a "Port Resiliency and Security" item on the homeland security appropriations bill in the first quarter; Adams and Reese report "Acquisition regulations, National Defense Authorization Act"; the Skipper Group reports "Facilitated congressional meetings."⁷⁸

Venn Strategies registered for Radiance on a filing posted June 6, 2024 (issues "Computer Industry" and "Defense": "Technology, CHIPS Act"), described its work in the first-quarter 2025 report as "Educate stakeholders on technology, semiconductor solutions, and capabilities," and reported $100,000 for the third quarter of 2024 and $60,000 in each quarter from the fourth quarter of 2024 through the first quarter of 2026. Its lobbyists with prior government positions as printed on the filings are Andrew Sigmon ("Legislative Director, Congressman Mike Turner (R Oh)" on the first filing, "Legislative Director Congressman Mike Turner (R-OH)" on later ones), Erik Olson ("Chief of Staff, Rep. Ron Kind (D-WI)") and Garrett Lukken ("Legislative Assistant - Rep. Ed Perlmutter (CO-07)"). Williams and Jensen registered on February 3, 2025 (issue text "Federal government and congressional engagement to grow business development") and lists Christopher Brinson ("Deputy Chief LD, COS/General Counsel, Rep. Mike Rogers") and Jordan Mills ("Regional Director, Senator Tommy Tuberville"); McKinnon Group registered on April 3, 2025 (issue text "Defense"; $30,000 per quarter from the second quarter of 2025 through the first quarter of 2026 and $60,000 for the second quarter of 2026) and lists Mark McKinnon ("National Security Advisor, Sen Katie Britt; National Security Advisor, Sen Richard Shelby; Special Assistant to the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence & Security").⁷⁸⁷⁹

Radiance's earlier registrant, Maynard Nexsen, registered on a filing posted July 9, 2014 (issue "FY15 Defense Appropriations (Aviation engineering and technology development for transition of advanced technologies to rotary wing aircraft)"; lobbyist Linda Maynor) and reported for Radiance each quarter through the second quarter of 2022 ($50,000 per quarter in 2017; $50,000 in the first quarter of 2018 and $60,000 in each later quarter of 2018; $60,000 in the first quarter of 2019; $80,000 per quarter from the second quarter of 2019 through the second quarter of 2022). The lobbyists on its 2019 reports are Maynor and William Stiers ("Legislative Director - Reps. William Dickinson and Terry Everett"). Its reports for the second quarter of 2019 through the fourth quarter of 2019 list two issues: "H.R.2022 - ESOP Business Act of 2019" under the small business issue code, and under defense "FY20 Defense Appropriations (H.R. 2968, S. 2474)- advanced protection technology, air and missile defense technologies; FY20 Defense Authorization (H.R. 2500, S. 1790)- provisions impacting employee owned companies, Army Futures Command" (the second-quarter report gives the appropriations bills as "H.R. 2968, unnumbered Senate"). The first-quarter 2019 report lists only "FY2020 Defense Appropriations (to be introduced) for advanced protection technology, air and missile defense technologies." The 2020 reports list "Directed energy systems, air and missile defense technologies, position navigation and timing resiliency" and "Port resiliency and security"; those for the third and fourth quarters of 2021 list "Air and Missile Defense Integration, directed energy development, position navigation timing laboratory - FY22 National Defense Authorizations (HR 4350, S.2792)." Its report for the second quarter of 2022 (posted July 8, 2022, $80,000) lists "Research and development in directed energy technologies, protective electronics, AI/ML, modeling and simulation tools - FY23 National Defense Authorization Act (HR 7900, Senate unnumbered)"; Maynor & Stiers registered on June 14, 2022 and reported $30,000 for the same quarter.⁸⁰

Adams and Reese's first quarterly report for Radiance (first quarter 2022, $20,000, posted April 7, 2022) gives the same issue text as its registration, "Acquisition regulations, National Defense Authorization Act," and the text is unchanged in each report from the first quarter of 2022 through 2026, at $20,000 per quarter through the fourth quarter of 2025 and $10,000 for the first quarter of 2026.⁸¹ The registration of The Halcrow Group for the Employee-Owned Contractors Roundtable (posted March 15, 2022, with Stephanie Halcrow listed under the covered position "Professional Staff Member, House Armed Services Committee") and that firm's first report, which gives the issue "National Defense Authorization Act for FY 2022, Section 874," are described on the Roundtable page and on DoD ESOP Pilot Program.⁸²

Radiance appears in the affiliated-organizations field of Venn Strategies' reports for the Roundtable, which also list Modern Technology Solutions and Torch Technologies among others: on the amended reports for 2019 (filed December 4, 2020) and the first three quarters of 2020 (filed December 2, 2020), on the fourth-quarter 2020 report, on each report for 2021, and on the reports for the first quarter of 2022 and the first quarter of 2023. The Roundtable's reports for 2021 give as their issue "Promoting ESOP related small business procurement policies as part of the FY2022 National Defense Authorization Act to provide incentives for 100% employee-owned businesses in federal contracting." The Roundtable's 2026 Membership List does not include Radiance Technologies. The Roundtable's comment on the proposed rule implementing section 874 was received July 24, 2024 (Docket DARS-2024-0017, comment DARS-2024-0017-0013) and the final rule was published on October 10, 2024. Venn Strategies' report for Radiance for the second quarter of 2024 (filing 8ffd2c47-9cc1-4808-a2bb-b73a6d788e39, posted July 22, 2024, no income figure printed) reads "Educate stakeholders on technology, semiconductor solutions, and capabilities" and was posted the same day as the Roundtable's report for that quarter, which lists Erik Olson, Matt Scott and Teagan Poleykett under the issue "Improvement and expansion of ESOP policies that were passed in Sec. 874 of FY2022 NDAA. Provision for sole source procurement for follow on contracts through Department of Defense for businesses wholly owned through an employee stock ownership plan." The Roundtable's third-quarter 2024 report (no income figure printed) was posted October 16, 2024, the day Venn Strategies posted its third-quarter 2024 Radiance report.⁸³

Clayton Hinchman's 2018 candidacy

Robert Clayton Hinchman, listed in his own FEC filings as chief operating officer and later chief marketing officer of Ignite Fueling Innovation, is recorded by the Federal Election Commission as a 2018-cycle House candidate (party code GOP) for Alabama's 5th Congressional District (candidate H8AL05208, statement of candidacy first filed June 20, 2017).⁸⁴ His committee (Hinchman for Congress, C00648162) reported $253,800 in receipts for 2018, including a $100,000 candidate loan (March 30, 2018), $2,700 from Ignite Fueling Innovation Inc Federal PAC (May 18, 2017), $5,000 from the Radiance Technologies, Inc. Political Action Committee (March 21, 2018), $1,500 from COLSA president Richard Amos, and contributions from Ignite's president and a human resources manager.⁸⁵ Hinchman became president and chairman of Radiance Ignite Technologies in 2024.

Sheehan Twitter Space, December 2023

Daniel Sheehan described the company in a Twitter Space of early December 2023, transcribed by the writer Steve Skojec on December 7, 2023. Sheehan said Ohio's 10th District is "the chief field office for Radiance Technologies, which is a high tech aerospace industry that is working on a program called 'Prompt Global Strike,' which is the attempt to back engineer UFO technology which they have apparently secured from the ... another aerospace industry," and that Representative Mike Rogers is chair of the House Armed Services Committee with his "home district ... the 2nd district of Alabama." The Federal Election Commission lists the committee Mike Rogers for Congress (C00367862) under candidate identifier H2AL03032. Skojec wrote that he could not vouch for Sheehan.⁸⁶

In June 2023 The War Zone reported that NASIC includes a Foreign Materiel Exploitation Squadron and quoted a Department of Defense Inspector General report on the point.⁸⁷ That report, No. 98-005 of October 8, 1997, states that the Air Force Test and Evaluation Directorate's Foreign Materiel Office "had an ongoing initiative to involve contractors early in the exploitation process," that the initiative "pertained only to electronic warfare systems," and that the Air Force "had plans to expand the program to other systems"; it put Military Department spending on foreign materiel exploitation projects in fiscal 1996 at "about $117 million."⁸⁸ The War Zone article names no Radiance, and cites a Pentagon statement of no evidence of "possession or reverse-engineering of extraterrestrial materials."⁸⁷