Kopin Corp
NASDAQ:KOPN

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Kopin Corp
NASDAQ:KOPN
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Earnings Call Analysis

Summary
Q2-2024

Kopin’s Q2 Transformation Drives Defense Revenue Surge

Kopin Corporation reported strong Q2 2024 results with a significant increase in defense product revenue, which grew by 106% year-over-year to $10.4 million. The company’s total revenue for the quarter reached $12.3 million, up 18% from the previous year. Kopin has received over $55 million in orders for 2024 and beyond, driven by both existing and new customers. The company expects a strong second half of 2024, with Q3 revenues anticipated to exceed analyst guidance. Long-term, Kopin aims to achieve $100 million in annual revenue within the next three years, fueled by ongoing commitments from U.S. and NATO defense programs.

Earnings Call Transcript

Earnings Call Transcript
2024-Q2

from 0
Operator

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to the Kopin Corporation Second Quarter 2024 Earnings Call. [Operator Instructions]. At this time, I'd like to turn the conference call over to Brian Prenoveau, Investor Relations for Kopin. Please go ahead.

B
Brian Prenoveau
executive

Thank you, Cindy. Good morning, everyone. Before we get started, I'd like to remind everyone that during today's call, taking place on Thursday, August 8, 2024, we will be making forward-looking statements as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are based on the company's current expectations, projections, beliefs, and estimates and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those forward-looking statements. Potential risks include, but are not limited to, demand for our products, operating results of our subsidiaries, market conditions and other factors discussed in our most recent annual report on Form 10-K and other documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.



Although the company believes that the assumptions underlying these statements are reasonable, any of them can be proven inaccurate, and there can be no assurances that results will be realized. The company undertakes no obligation to update the forward-looking statements made during today's call. In addition, references may be made to certain non-generally accepted accounting principles or non-GAAP measures, for which you should refer to the appropriate disclaimers and reconciliations in the company's SEC filings and press releases. Kopin Corporation's Chief Executive Officer, Michael Murray, will begin today's call with an overview of Kopin's progress within the company's strategy. Following Michael, Kopin's CFO, Richard Sneider, will review the company's second quarter 2024 financial results. I would now like to turn the call over to Michael Murray. Michael?

M
Michael Murray
executive

Thank you, Brian. Good morning to everyone, and welcome to our second quarter 2024 earnings call. I'm going to spend much of the time on this call updating you on the strong progress we made operationally on our strategic initiatives. I am very proud of the significant progress we are making on our transformation plan. We have received over $55 million in orders for 2024 and beyond, including repeat or follow-on orders from our existing customers, and programs and importantly, orders from new customers within the U.S. and now Europe, which demonstrates that we are actively expanding our revenue and customer base. The second quarter was highlighted by continued sales momentum with $12.3 million in revenue. Notably, our products for defense applications delivered year-over-year growth of 106% to $10.4 million. This progress has been validated and validating our strategy to reset the course within Kopin to focus on defense products that we began last year.



Every month in Q2 and in July, incoming inspection rates at our top customers reached 97%, up from 86% in the previous quarter, which positively and significantly impacted product gross margins. We now expect Q3 revenues to increase cautiously above analyst guidance, and we are expecting a much stronger second half of 2024 than the first half. During the quarter, we demonstrated combat use helmet warn daytime and nighttime readable heads-up displays or HUD. These concepts during the special operations forces weak or soft week in Tampa, Florida. We also expanded the focus of our 3D AOI sales team based in Europe to sell the full breadth of Kopin products and capabilities to European and Southeast Asian defense customers. This reorganization has already begun to produce orders and increased opportunities.



Now just to recap our second quarter order activity, 5 new customers place development orders, which, when completed, we believe, will fuel a multimillion dollar per year production orders and significant revenue growth. From an international perspective, we received a 1,200-unit production order for OLED microdisplays for the Indian armed forces with deliveries taking place over a 6-month time span. Now from a domestic perspective, we received a development contract from a new defense customer to support the integration of our OLED microdisplay with a power-efficient low-latency digital night vision sensor referred to as PEB NVIS for use in next-generation war fighter integrated visual acuity systems, also known as IVAS. Furthermore, the U.S. Army awarded Kopin a Phase I SBIR contract to research optical approaches for visual augmentation systems to improve performance and lessen cognitive dissidents and nausea. This is critical research for the military, and we are honored to be able to be trusted to do this work.



The U.S. Army also awarded Kopin a contract to develop a high-resolution IPs assembly for the new commander launch assembly or CLA, used next-generation short-range Interceptor or NGSRI system. The NGSRI system and program was won by Lockheed, and it is expected to replace over 100,000 Stinger Missiles and launches. These new projectiles are expected to be faster, tera-enabled and have radiofrequency jamming capabilities. Kopin has been selected to design, develop and produce the targeting IPs for the new launches. We believe the program will require just as many launches as there are missiles. When production starts in 2027, and we estimate this contract, will provide Kopin tens of millions of revenues in peak annual production. Now I would like to remind folks of some of the other notable items that we have been working on in 2024. Kopin has developed its integrated visual acuity system or IVAS now solution, which allows war fighters both in night and daytime solution today, that works with their currently fielded systems like the current versions of Night Vision Goggles or NVG goggles, and popular helmet won systems like those from Wilcox.



This allows Kopin immediate access to a significant market potential. There are millions of NVG goggles in use today, which require the additional information sources to be visible through the goggles during operation. Kopin's OLED solutions provide the real-time digital overlay to the analog world in a unique, easy-to-use, lightweight, adaptable and lesser cost than the high-end systems, which are cost prohibitive. We've also demonstrated our neural display, a highly advanced OLED bidirectional display that includes embedded sensors to track eye movement, position and gaze while simultaneously processing the tracking data in Kopin's proprietary software integrated within an AI engine that resides in the back plane of the display. The system adjusted displayed information in real-time to optimize user experience and performance in high stakes use cases. This innovative software platform has now reached the alpha testing stage of development, marking a significant milestone in our neural display development efforts.



We believe that this display system will be a great fit for the next generation of defense, visual augmentation systems, and it's also receiving significant interest from consumer spatial computing manufacturers due to its ability to reduce size, weight, power consumption, while still offering a great image quality, eye and people tracking, and dynamic image control. In addition to our efforts, Kopin is also benefiting from overall market trends. Our pipeline of opportunities is being fueled by U.S. DoD refreshing its current capabilities, investing in new targeting and next generation of visual acuity systems, and now NATO pushing member countries to spend the required 2% of GDP required by the membership mandate. Furthermore, consumer, medical and industrial companies are reevaluating their spatial computing architectures, and realizing that not only do customers want a great display, but they're demanding reductions in size, weight, power consumption and cost.



We anticipated these market signals with our patented AI-enabled neural display architecture. As a result of this strategy, focus and the reorganizations, we believe our opportunity pipeline has now extended over $500 million, of which $350 million of the total resides within the defense market and has high probabilities for contractual awards, while the remaining $150 million of new opportunities are in other markets and in the early stages of formation. On the expense side of the ledger, in January, we launched our one Kopin initiative to enhance synergies, expand capabilities, gain efficiencies, decrease costs and increase accountability across our 3 sites. As a reminder, that's Westboro, Massachusetts, Reston, Virginia, and Dalgety Bay Scotland, which previously operated autonomously. We have made substantial progress against our goals, including sharing engineering resources, initiating purchasing efficiencies and cross-training our sales organizations.



Having reviewed our quarterly progress, let me turn to the longer-term and our strategic initiatives, which are the foundation of our future success. Turning to our first strategic initiative, building the backlog. Our backlog remains ahead of plan for the year thus far, and we are pleased with the new customer adoption, which will bring a stronger, wider and deeper foundation for Kopin's long-term growth. Based on our current purchase orders, Kopin could potentially ship triple the volume of weapon sights as 2023, within the calendar year of 2024. While our quality rates continue to improve and are stabilizing at the targeted levels. With respect to our fixed and rotary wing aircraft orders, we have recently announced that our OLED display reached the final milestone of production readiness, which is a significant milestone for Kopin and our fab-light strategy, which supports the need for a U.S. DoD-approved deposition source for this technology. This highly-customized display will run concurrently with the current AMLCD offering within pilot helmets for several years, potentially doubling our revenue in that application space.



Our monochrome micro-LED product for cockpit heads-up display applications will also enter its next phase of production shortly as well. Now turning to our armored vehicle program. As discussed previously, the set 4 upgrade was canceled. However, we reaffirm that our weapon sight program will continue as planned and be added to previous upgrade packages and new developments alike. We are pleased to report that production approval process for PPAP program continues to progress on schedule, and we are now receiving early forecast for production demands from General Dynamics. We're unable to share these early volume estimates due to the sensitivities of that program. However, the outlook is starting to form to our original expectations. As a reminder, Kopin will supply 4 integrated weapon sight systems per vehicle. The system sells for over $10,000 each. And our understanding is that there will be -- that there are over 10,000 vehicles in service today. We expect to retrofit 10% to 20% of these vehicles while also being designed into new versions, also making this a significant revenue generation program for many years to come.



We've also increased our presence in the medical and biomedical space with design wins at the world's most advanced laboratories, universities and hospitals, which are using our ferroelectric liquid crystal in silicon displays as we announced previously. Our CR3 headset also began to receive interest as we are now supporting production orders for customers who are putting the product through their testing and through their paces. We are hopeful to announce a new strategic partner in this space later on this year, which will greatly accelerate our go-to-market plans and product adoption. Lastly, I spoke about our star missile replacement order, which is significant for Kopin, and there are several other opportunities like it. We understand the U.S. Army will seek to replenish and replace over 100,000 missiles. And we believe that they may also refresh the launching systems for other surface-to-air project isles, which are active opportunities we are pursuing, both in the United States and in NATO countries.



Over the long-term, we believe Kopin has the technology, product solutions, customers and confirm contracts to grow yearly revenues to $100 million or beyond. We are now deeply embedded within several U.S. and NATO countries Department of Defense programs that have multiyear demands of reoccurring revenue scheduled out to 2030 in some programs. We have a strong pipeline of qualified opportunities, newly received research and development orders, and a solid production contract, which offers a clear line of sight to increase revenue in 2024 over 2023, while setting the expectation for further double-digit revenue increases in 2025 compared to this year with the aim to achieve and sustain over $100 million in yearly revenue in the next 3 years or so. I'll now turn the call over to our CFO, Rich Sneider, to review our results from the second quarter in further detail. Over to you, Rich.

R
Richard Sneider
executive

Thank you, Michael. Turning to our financial results for the second quarter. Total revenues for Q2 2024 were $12.3 million versus $10.5 million for the prior year, an 18% increase year-over-year. Product revenues for the second quarter ended June 29, 2024, were $11.1 million compared to $6 million in the second quarter of July 1, 2023. The increase in product revenues as a result of higher defense product revenues, which increased by $5.4 million year-over-year. In the second quarter of 2024, funded research and development revenues were $1.2 million, a decrease of $2.7 million as compared to Q2 2023 due to the completion of several programs. Fossil product revenues for the second quarter of 2024 was $8.7 million or 79% of product revenues compared to $5.7 million or 95% of net product revenues for the second quarter of 2023.



The decrease in cost of product revenues was the result of a decrease in expected program costs because of lower estimate of rework costs. We estimate that the lower estimated rework cost improved gross margins by approximately $1.3 million for the 3 months ended June 29, 2024. R&D expenses for the second quarter of 2024 were $1.8 million compared to $3.1 million in the year ago quarter. This was primarily due to a decrease in funded R&D expense of approximately $1.5 million on U.S. defense programs that we previously noted were completed, partially offset by an increase of $200,000 in internal R&D expense for process improvement. SG&A expenses were $7.3 million in the second quarter of 2024 compared to $6.5 million in the second quarter of 2023. The increase was primarily due to an increase in legal fees of $1.2 million, partially offset by a decrease in credit loss expense of $200,000.



Total legal fees associated with blue radios expense in the fourth quarter of 2024 and 2023 were $3.1 million and $1.9 million, respectively. Other expense includes approximately $700,000 and $3.3 million of impairment losses on equity investments for the second quarter of 2024 and 2023. Turning to the bottom line. The net loss for the second quarter of 2024 was $5.9 million or $0.05 per share compared to a net loss of $8.2 million or $0.07 per share for the second quarter of '23. The amounts discussed above are based on current estimates, and listeners should review our Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 29, 2024, for any possible changes, and of course, in the additional filings. And with that, I'll turn the call back over to Michael for closing remarks.

M
Michael Murray
executive

As evidenced in our second quarter, our focus remains strengthening our record order book, pushing on time and full rates higher, cost controls and making the strategic investments in products and people, which in the aggregate will improve cash flow and provide long-term sustainable profitability and growth. We are focusing on bringing our customers up the value chain to gain more share of their system and spending. Furthermore, we continue to add new strategic partners and customers to work with and remain focused on new opportunities and projects which support our strategic plan. To this end and due to our focus upon application-specific strategies, our qualified opportunity pipeline has now grown exponentially in the past few quarters due to the recent geopolitical issues and increased sovereign and foreign NATO spending. We expect to continue to add new customers, partners and projects, which will not only add to our order book, but fuel larger returns in the future, as these new projects move into full rate production.



I'd like to thank everyone for your time today and for showing interest in Kopin. I'd like to thank our employees, customers and stakeholders for their continued hard work, support and dedication. And with that, operator, we'll now offer time to take some questions.

Operator

We will now begin the question-and-answer session. [Operator Instructions]. At this time, we will pause momentarily to assemble our roster. Our first question comes from Jaeson Schmidt of Lake Street.

J
Jaeson Schmidt
analyst

Congrats on the really strong momentum in Q2. That's really where I want to start. I mean, obviously, defense was up strongly. Curious if that strength was broad-based or driven by 1 or 2 programs?

M
Michael Murray
executive

Great question. And thanks, Jaeson, and thank you for your write-up recently. Well done. It was across the Board really. Our thermal weapons program obviously, leads the way in terms of total revenue. However, we have seen increases across the defense market, whether it's weapon sights or projectile thermal imagers and eyepieces to rotary wing and fixed wing orders. So, we see across the defense marketplace an increase in spending. And for Kopin, I think one of the big things to take away from this call is now we're getting more interest and focus from European companies and customers, and we're very much in those conversations now, and that spending will be significant. So, it's across the board.

J
Jaeson Schmidt
analyst

Okay. Perfect. And then looking at sort of the gross margin line, obviously, a nice snapback here in Q2. How should we think about gross margin trending the rest of this year?

R
Richard Sneider
executive

It should continue to trend up. So, I think you have to adjust the current gross margin by the 1.3. As you know or maybe you don't, in our military products, we use a percent completion. And so, when we have to figure out the total cost of program, we estimate rework costs and so on. But as Michael indicated, our quality has gone up significantly over the last 12 months, rework costs have come down leading gross margin expansion. And you do get somewhat of a little catch-up as you lower your estimates on a total contract. So, that's why we gave you the number, the $1.3 billion, the little catch-up in there. So, you really ought to deduct that, start from that point and then move forward and they should continue to expand.

J
Jaeson Schmidt
analyst

Got you. And then just last one for me, and I'll jump back into queue. Just a clarification on your commentary regarding Q3. Did I hear correctly that you think it could be up sequentially?

M
Michael Murray
executive

We do.

Operator

The next question comes from Glenn Mattson of Ladenburg Thalmann.

G
Glenn Mattson
analyst

Congrats on a great quarter. First, you mentioned the IVAS strategy, you talked about the night vision goggle piece. I think in the past, you talked about having completed that product and shifted -- or shipped it for testing and we're kind of starting to get a feel for uptake and whatnot. Can you give us any expansion on that? Has there been any feedback yet from the purchasers?

M
Michael Murray
executive

Sure. So, we have 2 different partners -- 3 actually, different partners for that technology, which we call IVAS, now to recap. It's a daytime product as well as a nighttime product for night vision goggles. And we partnered with a company called Wilcox Industries, who owns about, I think, 60% of the U.S. DoD helmet market. And I think they're pretty significant worldwide actually. So, we partnered with them. We're working with them to productize those 2 technologies as well as another partner, and the U.S. Army. So, that's ongoing, Glenn. We do have a feedback loop that we're listening to and developing those technologies for production. We do expect them to enter production in 2025, and we believe we'll have immediate revenue.



How much revenue we're still trying to figure out because this is a new entrance. But the key point here is that this technology will work with what the soldier has in their pack and on their head today. So, there's no new adoption rate that needs to happen in terms of connectivity or what have you. So, it's a pure SAM or serviceable available market entrant that we can have revenue for next year.

G
Glenn Mattson
analyst

Great. That's helpful. Curious on the armored vehicle program, the PPAP that you're working through. I believe in the past; you've alluded to either on prior calls or in maybe product MODs or something. But along the way you talked about the ability to use that technology for consumer applications in the auto space in particular. Maybe perhaps can you expand on that and just give us an update?

M
Michael Murray
executive

Sure. Great question. So yes, we have received inbound requests from 2 electric vehicle manufacturers here in the United States that are looking for a very high refresh rate liquid-crystal in silicon device that's automotive-qualified. And that's what we developed for General Dynamics under the PPAP program. What a PPAP is, is basically an automotive quality standard that you need to have for any moving vehicle in the United States. But once you have it, Glenn, you can then sell that product into other automotive applications. Now, we're not signaling that we're going to get into the automotive market right now, but we will have an automotive qualified ferroelectric, liquid crystal on silicon device available for sale, and we're getting pulled from the market to have conversations about it. And it will be automotive qualified. So, it's something we're monitoring. We are getting some inbound customer requests to have conversations for an in-cabin application for liquid crystal on silicon. So, it's something that we're considering very carefully.



But the one thing I will say in automotive, in my experience from analog devices, you have to have great quality, just like in defense, you have to have great quality. That is how you make money in automotive and defense. And we're gaining confidence that, that's something that we could potentially do in the future. So, a great question. I hope that helps.

G
Glenn Mattson
analyst

Yes, very helpful. One more product one, and then a quick model on, but the product one on the 3D AOI and some of the other industrial stuff. -- that's been -- market has been down for a while for you guys now? Is there outlook for a bounce back there at some point?

M
Michael Murray
executive

Yes, due to the geopolitical issues in China specifically, where many of our top 3D AOI customers are as well as Korea. The geopolitical issues with Chips act and EVs moving around has really hurt that business. We do see it rebounding shortly and marginally, quite frankly. But we also have been working on a new product to introduce into that market. That's a little bit lower cost that I think will put us in a better position to gain more traction. And we're also seeing some uptick in Europe from the 3D AOI customers there. So right now, as we sit here today, the 3D AOI market for us is somewhat de minimis. So, anything that we have next year is just complete upside for the company at this point.

G
Glenn Mattson
analyst

Great. It's helpful. And Rich, just quick on the sales and marketing, what should we model now post the trial? I had a number -- I thought the expense is going to come down a little faster. But what should we think about now that all that kind of noise is -- we're moving through that or whatever?

R
Richard Sneider
executive

So, this, we hope, knock on wood, is the last -- this being Q3, the last tough quarter of expense. We mentioned before, we filed motion 50, whatever they call to the judge, explaining why we think that the verdict doesn't make any sense. And so, all of that work has been done in July and August. And now we're just waiting for the judge. And depending on how that goes, we may or may not appeal. If it goes our favor, obviously, we won't. I'm told the actual fuel process is very inexpensive relative to the amounts that we've been spending. So, we think once we get through this month, again, knock on wood, the expense should drop dramatically.

G
Glenn Mattson
analyst

And assuming no legal, what would the sales and marketing number be if you had nothing or ballpark?

R
Richard Sneider
executive

Yes. So, as I mentioned in my prepared remarks, in the second quarter of 2024, we spent $3.1 million. We had $3.1 million of expense associated with the blue radios.

Operator

Next question comes from Matt Sharon of Stifel.

V
Victor Santiago
analyst

This is Victor on for Matt. Just to follow up actually on the Blue Radios lawsuit. Do you still plan to fund any damages through the sale of assets or IP? And so, kind of how is that process going?

M
Michael Murray
executive

Yes. So, we are actively pursuing sales of some of our assets specific to investments that we have in other firms. We have made pretty significant progress in that area with signed term sheets, et cetera, but we don't have cash in the bank just yet. So, we're not reporting on it. But we are making some pretty good progress there. And it's several million dollars. But again, until the cash is in the bank, we're not going to report on it, but we are making progress.

V
Victor Santiago
analyst

Got it. And then just on the consumer segment, it looked like you guys didn't record any revenue in the quarter. Should we just continue to expect a little to no contribution through the year? And also, I guess, what kind of drove the revenue in the quarter?

M
Michael Murray
executive

So, consumer, I think, is going to be de minimis throughout this year. We are going to see some sample orders, I believe, in the next couple of quarters. And then we are negotiating in a couple of areas, some funded research and development with consumer companies, and that takes a long time, taking much longer than we expected on the consumer front, but we are working with several multinational companies to develop those potential contracts for funded research and development specifically.

Operator

Our next question comes from Kevin Dede of HE Wainwright.

K
Kevin Dede
analyst

Can you hear me?

R
Richard Sneider
executive

No, you're fading out.

K
Kevin Dede
analyst

Yes, that's what I was afraid of. Sure. I think the thing that's most curious to me is the Abrams cancellation. I was wondering if you understood why and whether or not there might be a replacement behind it?

M
Michael Murray
executive

Well, so for us, Kevin, the SEP 4 upgrade was canceled by the U.S. Army. And there are several reasons why, but essentially, our program will still continue. The reason why our program will continue is the Kopin weapon site reduces size, weight, cost and improves lethality. So, our program will continue, but the SEP 4 upgrade was canceled, I think, due to feedback from the folks in Ukraine, some of the other issues that, that armored vehicle is going through and also the request from the Army to have a new version of that vehicle by 2030, which we're also engaged on right now. So, our weapon site will still continue, but that upgrade package has been canceled, and our product will be available through the other upgrade packages as well as for the new vehicle program that we're expecting to see out in 2030. So, we continue on, but the step 4 upgrade was canceled just due to feedback from customers.

K
Kevin Dede
analyst

I appreciate the color. Michael. And have they offered you development money for that? Or is that pretty much a shelf product to at this point?

M
Michael Murray
executive

If I understood your question, Kevin, you're coming in and out. But yes, the current contract that we have with Lockheed is a development contract, and we're developing the eyepiece for the launcher under that contract. Production will follow thereafter. The development contract is around $1.5 million, roughly speaking.

Operator

Our next question comes from Jeffrey Bernstein of Silverberg Bernstein Capital.

J
Jeffrey Bernstein
analyst

Is a nice progress in the quarter here. Just a couple of quick follow-ups. On the medical side, I think it sounded like you were talking about having a larger distribution partner coming in. Can you just flesh out what you were saying there?

M
Michael Murray
executive

Sure. So, our go-to-market strategy is very unique in that market. We can't expel our own resources to call on hospitals and surgeons and what have you. So, our go-to-market strategy is we're going to partner with a very large market leader in that space that already instruments surgeons, and they're basically going to white label our CR3 headset and sell as their own. So, we have active negotiations ongoing right now. We're at the term sheet level. We're hopeful to announce that this year. And that partner, I think, is either 1 or 2 in that marketplace from a standpoint of overall revenue and market penetration. So that's our go-to-market strategy there for the simple fact that we don't want to expel our own resources to call on hospitals and surgeons, and what have you. So, we'll have a partner that is already in that space and has a delivery channel and distribution channel, and they'll white label our technology and sell through. So, we're hopeful to have that announcement very shortly.

J
Jeffrey Bernstein
analyst

Fantastic. That's great. And then I just wanted to clarify on the F-35. Can you just talk about the sequence of what's going on there with the advanced displays that you're developing? And I think you talked about it resulting in a larger revenue opportunity. I just wanted you to flesh that out.

M
Michael Murray
executive

Sure. So, it's basically 4 lines of technology. Our first, everyone knows we ship our current AMLCD technology into the helmet. We announced finally that we are now production-ready and entering the last phase, which is production of our OLED display, and that is something that we've been working on for many years. And Kopin was the only company that was able to actually meet the requirements and the full specification for that application. So very proud of the team, and also the transition to our U.S. DoD friendly deposition partner took over 1.5 years. So great job by that team. So, those 2 lines of business will continue to run concurrently for several years, at least 3, we believe, or more. Also, we have our micro-LED line of business that we're bringing up in terms of our monochrome display, which is now also reaching the production readiness level that goes into a different application within the aircraft.



And then we still have ambitions around our micro-LED color program, albeit that we're struggling with that currently as is everybody in the world to create a very strong color micro-LED. So those are the 4 lines of business, microdisplays for our fixed-wing aircraft, whether it's F-35 or not, those technologies are being uptake into other planes, by the way. We're seeing some planes in the U.K. and NATO countries that are also up taking that technology through our great customer in Collins and others. So that's where we're at with that business.

J
Jeffrey Bernstein
analyst

Got you. And then the revenue increase is part of the addition of a new application within the airframe?

M
Michael Murray
executive

Exactly right. Yes. So, we have our helmet business, and we also have a heads-up display light engine, which is the micro-LED. So, it basically compounds, if you think of it that way, our current LCD business will continue to ship OLED filters on top of that micro-LED, on top of that, and they seem to be around the same amount of revenue per year of around $3.5 million per year. So, if you do that simple math, you're into the $6 million to $9 million mark per year starting next year for that application space.

J
Jeffrey Bernstein
analyst

Got you. Okay. And then just wanted to see if you could provide any additional detail on the rotary craft helmet, which also took quite a while to get to production, I guess, but it sounds like you're in production now.

M
Michael Murray
executive

We are. In some cases, there are other programs that we're developing for our customer Elbit. As you can imagine, Elbit has been distracted of late of what's going on within Israel. So that program is behind for that reason only, but we do see them catching up, and we are in active negotiations to bring that technology to market and into production. And there are several other iterations of display architecture for rotary wing specifically being the Chinook and the Apache that we are working with Elbit on. So, we wish them all the best, and hopefully, they're safe. And we look forward to working with them, getting that into production over the course of the second half year.

Operator

This concludes our question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Michael Murray, CEO, for any closing remarks.

M
Michael Murray
executive

Thank you, folks. Thank you for your questions, your interest and your focus on Kopin. We look forward to delivering our results in the second half year. And we hope you all have a great day. Thank you for joining.

Operator

The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.

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