On 2026-09-16, BAE Systems received a $16 million award under Defense Production Act Title III funding from the U.S. Department of War’s WIRE directorate to qualify and demonstrate its RH45 radiation-hardened 45-nanometer semiconductor technology.[1][2] The program reestablishes the RH45 ASIC Storefront for space missions and uses GlobalFoundries’ 45nm silicon-on-insulator process in Malta, New York.[2]
The technical significance is supply-chain resilience for radiation-tolerant chips that can support space missions in natural and strategic radiation environments, including defense, civil, and commercial applications.[1][2] For lunar habitation, this kind of component base matters because guidance, power control, communications, and autonomous fault management all depend on electronics that keep working after cumulative radiation exposure over long mission lifetimes.[1][2]
The Ark team should track RH45 qualification milestones, especially whether the storefront reaches stable, self-sustaining production and whether BAE’s Endura single-board computer line integrates these parts for space use.[2][13] The most relevant next step is to map RH45-class parts against Ark-critical subsystems and identify which lunar systems could benefit from a qualified, domestic, radiation-hardened chip supply chain.[2][13]