PyroGenesis Canada Inc. announced that the Company has received an order for three (3) waste-destructing plasma torches from the US Navy's shipbuilder, Newport News Shipbuilding. The three plasma torches ordered are for the USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier, the largest and most technologically advanced warship ever built, valued at approximately $13 billion. The plasma torches are to be used in PyroGenesis' proprietary Plasma Arc Waste Destruction System ("PAWDS") that the Company previously built and delivered to the US Navy.

The USS Gerald R. Ford conducted its maiden mission in fall 2022, during which the ship tested operational systems on board, including the Company's PAWDS. Following the mission's successful completion, Newport News Shipbuilding - the sole designer and builder of US Navy aircraft carriers - ordered the three additional plasma torches as well as ancillary components. The value of these new orders is approximately CAD 700,800 (USD 507,500).

Final delivery is scheduled for Third Quarter 2023. As previously reported, the Company's PAWDS is now in full operation on the newly launched USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier - the first of four carriers the US Navy have contracted to have the Company's PAWDS system on board. In addition to the contracts for the USS Gerald R. Ford and USS John F. Kennedy, a further two-ship build contract with the US Navy was awarded to the Company in 2020, for $11.5 million, for the USS Enterprise and USS Doris Miller.

The USS Enterprise began construction in 2022 with a launch expected in 2028; the USS Doris Miller will follow. The PAWDS is a compact, all-electric waste management system for combustible waste, designed for each of the first four Ford-class aircraft carriers scheduled to be built - the first new generation of carriers designed in 40 years . The PAWDS can eliminate more than 400 pounds of diverse trash material per hour, including the plastic that traditional ship waste systems cannot not destroy.

PAWDS reduces ships' trash - plastic, paper, food, and wood - to vapor, a key aspect, as without a waste destruction system of this caliber, ships would be forced to reduce operations, returning to port to off-load trash5. Land-based systems based on the PAWDS marine design - known as SPARC - are also offered by PyroGenesis as a land-based solution to waste management problems. The Company recorded its first SPARC sale recently when it announced a contract awarded by a New Zealand product stewardship organization undertaking the destruction of hazardous synthetic refrigerants.