Bascom Hunter is a leading provider of advanced technical solutions for the aerospace and defense market.
Founded in 2010 as a spin out of Princeton University, Bascom Hunter is a leading provider of advanced technical solutions for the aerospace and defense market. The company was founded by Princeton professor, Dr. Paul Prucnal, and Andrew McCandless, based on technology developed by Dr. Prucnal in 2009. Bascom Hunter licensed the technology from Princeton in 2010 and applied for its first Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) award in 2011 to further develop the technology – which it did, successfully commercializing and transitioning with more than $15 million in Phase III funding.
Today, Bascom Hunter delivers solutions for the most challenging operating environments, and has two operating businesses: Bascom Hunter Technologies (BHT), which provides advanced solutions for communication systems, as well as engineering and technology development services; and, Xcelaero which provides environmental control systems and thermal management components for the aerospace and defense market. The Xcelaero business was the result of the combination of Bascom Hunter’s thermal management group that developed a number of vapor cycle systems and compressor technologies under the SBIR program and Xcelaero, Inc., which was acquired by Bascom Hunter in 2019.
BHT’s communication system innovation was funded by the SBIR program, and will enable full awareness of the electromagnetic spectrum – providing the means to maneuver through, visualize, protect, and control the spectrum. The developed technology is based on a modular open hardware platform that allows new technologies to be developed, tested, and fielded in rapid manner. It provides value to the Navy, Air Force, and other government agencies by offering enhanced military capability through improved operation in Anti-Access and Area Denied Environments. Key capabilities of the system include the ability to simultaneously transmit and receive (STAR) in the same spectrum, time, and location by removing the high power transmit signal from the received signal, enabling battle damage assessment without the need to stop transmitting. The ICS also provides superior anti-jam capabilities to enable legacy communications equipment to operate in contested or congested radio frequency environments. Bascom Hunter’s advanced communication technology not only improves the reliability and quality of wireless communication systems – but provides enhanced protection to troops in contested anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) areas.
2019 was a breakout year for Bascom Hunter – the company has $25 million in funded contracts and expects significant additional revenue from long term follow on contracts. The company is headquartered in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and employs 30 people – 16 of whom are engineers. The company is proudly creating technology jobs in a region that has historically underperformed in doing so. Bascom Hunter has also been a major sponsor of research at Louisiana State University, and is a founding member of the Small Business Innovation Research Consortium (SBIRC). The company holds 12 granted patents and 4 trademarks, with an additional 6 patents pending.