The U.S. Navy awarded an exclusive contract to Persistent Systems to expand tactical networking equipment for its weapons and armaments research facility in the Mojave Desert.

A notice published earlier this month revealed the New York-headquartered vendor would be tasked with expanding existing networking infrastructure it previously deployed at the military installation in California. No contract value was disclosed; however, the Navy Air Warfare Center wants “continued operational reliability” of its tactical networking capabilities.

Persistent Systems supplies networking solutions for military, first responder, and government customers. Offerings like its portable ground-to-air antenna provide connectivity in rugged environments.

The vendor has a history working with the U.S. Navy, notably securing a $1.3 million contract in 2024 to supply antennas and mobile ad-hoc networking (MANET) radios. Earlier this month, it was one of around 90 companies selected as part of a $982.1 million effort to support data links for unmanned surface vessels (USVs).

Persistent’s latest work with the Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake will see it support a site spanning more than one million acres. It has restricted and controlled airspace that takes up around 12% of California's total airspace and was used for initial tests of weapons including the AGM-84H/K SLAM-ER cruise missile and the aptly named China Lake pump-action grenade launcher used during the Vietnam War.

A somewhat less threatening development that came from the naval base was the glow stick, with early work on chemiluminescence – the chemical reaction that releases energy as visible light without generating heat – coming from researchers at the site.