On Sept. 16, 2026, BAE Systems received a $16 million contract under Defense Production Act Title III funding from the U.S. Department of War’s Warfighting Investments, Resourcing, and Execution directorate.
The funding supports the qualification and operational demonstration of BAE Systems’ radiation-hardened 45-nanometer (nm) semiconductor technology, reestablishing the domestic RH45 Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) Storefront for space missions.
Domestic Supply Chain Architecture and Foundational Technology
The RH45 ASIC Storefront relies on commercial 45nm silicon-on-insulator (SOI) fabrication processes conducted at GlobalFoundries’ manufacturing facility in Malta, New York. Production at the domestic foundry reinforces the U.S. supply chain for high-performance, radiation-hardened microelectronics required across civil, commercial, and defense space programs.
Engineering, packaging, and testing for the RH45 program are centered at BAE Systems’ Space Systems facility in Manassas, Virginia. The Manassas site is accredited as a U.S. Department of War Category 1A Microelectronics Trusted Source, providing design, aggregation, broker, packaging, assembly, and testing services for national security space architectures.
Technical Specifications and Modular ASIC Design
The RH45 ASIC Storefront functions as a high-reliability, radiation-hardened development platform containing qualified functional building blocks compatible with standard electronic design automation tools. Built on a commercial 45nm SOI transistor process, the architecture allows defense and commercial customers to design custom integrated circuits that operate in extreme orbital radiation environments.
Compared to legacy transistor generations, RH45 microelectronics deliver lower power consumption and higher processing speeds. The building blocks accommodate critical computing, payload processing, and data management functions across strategic defense missions, planetary exploration probes, weather satellites, and commercial communications spacecraft.
Executive Perspectives
“Design flexibility is important when it comes to supporting space missions,” said Joe Dziezynski, Space Systems product line director at BAE Systems. “Our RH45 ASIC library is a unique and trusted capability that allows our customers to target specific functions while meeting radiation-hardened requirements. These integrated circuits are the heart of computers whose advanced processing power cannot fail when carrying out critical objectives in the challenging space environment.”
“This investment builds upon our longstanding partnership with BAE Systems, a valued customer of our differentiated SOI technology,” said Ezra Hall, senior director of the Aerospace and Defense Business Line at GlobalFoundries. “It reaffirms our commitment to providing continuity of supply for critical defense applications and to supporting BAE Systems with secure, U.S.-manufactured semiconductor solutions. Together, we are accelerating the development of next-generation technologies that meet the highest standards of performance, reliability, and security – including in challenging space environments for critical space missions.”
Hardware Integration Roadmap
The qualified RH45 technology is being incorporated into single-board computer architectures for spacecraft manufacturers and national space agencies. Among these implementations is BAE Systems’ Endura single-board computer, which leverages RH45 components to provide hardware-accelerated input/output capabilities,
