Exploring Spectra Aerospace & Defense’s Mission-Critical Computing Solutions Across Multiple Domains
August 1, 2025
Vice President of Sales Lars Sørfang explores rugged embedded computing solutions for ground, airborne and naval platforms, plus strategic growth opportunities for the company.
In this Q&A, Spectra Aerospace & Defense Vice President of Sales Lars Sørfang discusses the company’s strategic market position, domain-specific rugged computing solutions, and vision for deeper partnerships with global defense primes.
Market Positioning & Current Demand
Q: How is Spectra Aerospace & Defense positioned in today’s market, and what key solutions are you seeing the most demand for across ground mobile, airborne and naval applications?
A: We are well-positioned in today’s defense and aerospace market as a trusted provider of high-performance, rugged computing solutions, displays and recorders. Through our combined expertise spanning over 65 years — including rugged displays and computing, and expertise in flight data recording systems — we serve a comprehensive range of mission-critical applications.
Our core focus encompasses mission-critical data recording, rugged data storage systems, and processing tailored for harsh environments, with particular emphasis on SWaP-optimized designs. We serve Tier 1 defense contractors and military programs across multiple domains, from fighter aircraft to bombers, rotary wing platforms, and unmanned systems.
Our integrated solutions portfolio includes ruggedized displays, mission computers, tablets, workstations, high-speed flight recorders, and specialized peripherals — all designed to perform where standard equipment fails.
Industry Trends & Evolving Requirements
Q: What major industry trends are you observing in the aerospace and defense sectors right now, and how are these shaping customer requirements?
A: Current trends include increasing deployment of artificial intelligence, machine learning, autonomy and enabling of MUM-T (Manned Unmanned-Teaming) at the tactical edge. This directly impacts our customer requirements with demand for GPU-accelerated, SWaP-optimized systems that can process sensor data in real-time, need for low-latency edge computing in ISR and autonomy applications, and increased interest in AI-ready embedded platforms capable of running real-time analytics. These trends address the challenge of balancing compute power with thermal and power constraints in harsh, mobile environments.
Domain-Specific Capabilities
Q: How do Spectra solutions specifically address the unique challenges and requirements across ground mobile, airborne and naval platforms?
A: We take a comprehensive, domain-focused approach leveraging our full spectrum of capabilities across computing, displays and data recording systems. Our solutions range from proven flight data recorders deployed on fighter and bomber platforms, to industry-leading rugged displays serving programs including AWACS and submarine fleets.
For ground mobile systems, we tackle extreme shock, vibration, and temperature variations with ruggedized mission computers and data recorders featuring MIL-STD-810 designs and removable storage for quick mission data offload. Our compact computing solutions are ideal for dismounted operations and unmanned ground vehicles.
Our airborne solutions address SWaP-C constraints through lightweight, conduction-cooled recorders with high-bandwidth data handling, synchronized time stamping, and built-in security features. This includes specialized video recording systems and large-format displays for various airborne early warning platforms.
For naval and maritime systems requiring long-duration operations, we provide high-capacity storage systems with advanced RAID and encryption options, environmental sealing resistant to harsh maritime conditions, and flexible data interfaces. Our rugged displays support submarine programs with military qualifications and specialized touchscreen capabilities.
Trade Show Strategy & Market Presence
Q: What’s on the horizon for Spectra in terms of trade shows and industry events?
A: We have several strategic trade shows coming up, including DALO Industry Days in Denmark, the Norwegian Defence and Security Industries Association exhibition in Oslo, and Defence and Security Equipment International (DSEI) in London.
These shows are excellent opportunities to interact with potential and existing customers, showcase our product portfolio, and demonstrate how our systems operate in real-world scenarios.
Strategic Vision & Growth
Q: Based on your experience at Teledyne FLIR, Kongsberg Defence and Exail, what’s your strategic vision for strengthening Spectra’s competitive position with primes and system integrators globally?
A: Drawing from my previous leadership roles, our strategic vision for Spectra Aerospace & Defense focuses on reinforcing trust, innovation and integration-readiness with global primes and system integrators. We leverage the combined strengths of our portfolio companies that combined have decades of innovation — including inventions that are now U.S. Government Standards.
Our goal is to position Spectra not just as a hardware vendor, but as a mission-enabling technology partner who understands the unique challenges each domain faces. Whether it’s ground mobile platforms, airborne systems or naval operations, we’re embedded early in the customer’s solution architecture lifecycle with Tier 1 primes.
What sets us apart is our agility as a small business combined with deep technical expertise — we maintain simple company infrastructure that provides both agility and affordability while delivering high value to customers. Our track record spans from supporting current-generation platforms to next-generation systems, with customizable solutions that larger manufacturers often cannot provide.
By combining our technical credibility with sharper customer interaction and mission alignment strategy, we can elevate from a trusted product vendor to a core integration partner for global defense primes. The path forward lies in agility, openness and embedded trust.