nLight (LASR) has won a contract from the US Department of Defense to deliver high-energy laser weapon systems, supporting the agency's cruise missile defense architecture, the company said Thursday.

The initial award is valued at $44 million, with a maximum value of $627 million, the company said.

nLight will initially build prototypes rated at around 150 kW to address urgent operational demands and scale subsequent iterations to reach a 300 kW to 500 kW threshold for robust cruise missile defense, it said.

Shares of the company were up 23% in Thursday afternoon trading.

Price: 72.38, Change: +13.70, Percent Change: +23.35