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Sam Rubin

President & Chief Executive Officer, Lightpath

Search every verified Sam Rubin interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. Sam Rubin, President and Chief Executive Officer of Lightpath, discussed the company's growth and defense market positioning in an August 2026 interview. He noted that Lightpath's stock had risen over 240% in the past year, with sales doubling in the most recent quarter and backlog tripling, citing customers such as Anduril, Lockheed, and Raytheon. Rubin described the company's infrared optics technology as essential for drone and anti-drone systems, and stated that it does not rely on China for critical materials. He also mentioned ongoing discussions with the Department of Defense regarding potential financial support, though he did not specify the form it might take. Rubin addressed the company's recent equity raises, stating that Lightpath does not raise money for day-to-day operations, and framed the funds as supporting growth. He commented on the competitive landscape for smaller drones, noting that low barriers to entry could make that market highly competitive, while emphasizing Lightpath's unique technology. He also referenced broader defense demand, quoting a customer's remark that "there's no risk of world peace breaking out anytime soon," and pointed to European nations increasing defense spending as a percentage of GDP. Additionally, Rubin discussed Lightpath's involvement in the Next Generation Short-Range Interceptor (NGSI) program, describing it as an innovative replacement for the aging Stinger missile, developed with Lockheed.

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Notable quotes

“So, just like you mentioned Call of Duty and uh and the thermal gun sites, we're all also very familiar with the Stinger missiles. It has been in many movies. Stinger missile is 40 plus years old and cannot be produced anymore and so NGSI is essentially the replacement for the Stinger missile. However, instead of having Raytheon re-engineer the Stinger missile and have more of the same, the army gave Lockheed and us ”

“I think one of our customers said recently you know there's no risk of world peace breaking out anytime soon. So unfortunately for us as citizens of the world, you know, this is just getting worse and worse. And so while defense sentiment in the markets might have been weaker, when you look at the numbers, it's the exact opposite. Europe is now building armies again, percentage of GDP are well above even the 2% Trump”

“We're going to be building a company with hundreds of millions of dollars of revenue, consistent with consistent strong growth, and a real baseline to it that is not just opportunistic by the flavor of geopolitics right now, but it's simply a major player in the world of optics.”

“Our solution, our unique heat seeking solution, which is significantly smaller and cheaper than the older technology of cooled cameras, is now to be considered in every single heat platform. It would be irresponsible of any player not to consider that kind of technology at this point.”

“We had a feeling that the whole situation with critical minerals like germanium and gallium is going to come to a blow at some point. And we had already a core technology of infrared glass that replaces those materials. We just doubled down on that and invested much more heavily.”

“The value of light path, the real value of light path, wasn't in the technology of making a lens. It was in enabling the end application. And once we started focusing on that we realized well we can become much more than just a lens company.”

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