Alakai Defense Systems

It is still based in Largo, with offices in Miami and Orlando, and describes itself as a small, veteran-owned business. Its PRIED system is a backpack-and-wand unit that, the company says, detects from under 10 to 50 metres, is eye-safe and is not ITAR restricted.

Its CPEDS system is a checkpoint detector built for extreme standoff range. In September 2014 the Army Contracting Command awarded the company an $8,734,134 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract, with options, for CPEDS-2 upgrades to detect bulk homemade explosives and precursors in the field.

On 17 August 2023 the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division awarded it a $30.7 million contract for CPEDS systems, training and product support, with work due to finish by February 2027. In February 2026 it signed a memorandum of understanding with Florida Polytechnic University, running to the end of 2030, covering research, student projects and testing on robotic and drone platforms.

The company says PRIED won a SPIE Prism Award and was named best in show at SOFIC in 2017.

• https://www.alakaidefense.com/about
• https://www.alakaidefense.com/pried
• https://www.alakaidefense.com/alakai-defense-awarded
• https://www.afcea.org/signal-media/technet-augusta-22-coverage/alakai-upgrade-explosive-detection-systems
• https://floridapoly.edu/news/022026-florida-poly-and-alakai-defense-systems-partner-for-advanced-standoff-threat-detection-innovation/
• https://www.businessobserverfl.com/news/2010/nov/19/laser-focused/

• Ownership structure and any outside funding: none found.
• Whether the 2014 contract options were exercised: not found.
• Certifications: none named in the sources read.
• A 2024 research contract of about $499,000 for a handheld Raman sensor appeared only in an aggregator snippet and is omitted.