Applied Energetics, Inc.: Form 10-K for the period ended Dec 31, 2022

Cautionary Note Concerning Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements in this Form 10-K constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Forward-looking statements include all statements that do not relate solely to historical or current facts and can be identified by the use of forward-looking words such as “may,” “believe,” “will,” “expect,” “project,” “anticipate,” “estimates,” “plans,” “strategy,” “target,” “prospects” or “continue,” and words of similar meaning. These forward-looking statements are based on the current plans and expectations of our management and are subject to a number of uncertainties and risks that could significantly affect our current plans and expectations, as well as future results of operations and financial condition and may cause our actual results, performances or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performances or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. This Form 10-K contains important information as to risk factors under Item 1A. Although we believe that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, there can be no assurance that such expectations will prove to have been correct. We do not assume any obligation to update these forward-looking statements to reflect actual results, changes in assumptions, or changes in other factors affecting such forward-looking statements.

Available Information

Applied Energetics, Inc. (“company,” “Applied Energetics,” “AE,” “we,” “our” or “us”) makes available free of charge on its website at www.appliedenergetics.com (http://www.appliedenergetics.com) its Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K, and amendments to those reports filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, as soon as reasonably practical after electronically filing or furnishing such material to the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”).

This report may be read or copied at the SEC’s Public Reference Room at 100 F Street, NE, Room 1580, Washington, DC 20549 or at www.sec.gov (http://www.sec.gov). Information on the operation of the Public Reference Room may be obtained by calling the SEC at 1-800- SEC-0330.

General

Applied Energetics, Inc. is a corporation organized and existing under the laws of the State of Delaware. Our headquarters are located at 9070 S. Rita Road, Suite 1500, Tucson, Arizona, 85747 and our telephone number is (520) 628-7415. Our website is located at www.appliedenergetics.com (http://www.appliedenergetics.com).

Applied Energetics, Inc. specializes in the development and manufacture of advanced high-performance lasers, advanced optical systems, high voltage electronics, and integrated guided energy systems for prospective defense, national security, industrial, biomedical, and scientific customers worldwide.

Technology, Capabilities, and Patents

Applied Energetics, Inc. is recognized as a global leader in developing the next generation optical sources exhibiting ever-increasing output energy, peak power and frequency agility while also providing decreased size, weight, and cost of these systems for customers. Applied Energetics utilizes patented, dual-use technologies to advance critical industries. Leveraging our proprietary fiber-based architecture and wavelength- and pulse-agility capability, our Ultrashort Pulse (“USP™”) technology can enable users to achieve specific effects across different use cases with an unmatched blend of size, weight and power attributes. While initially designed to meet the emerging needs and priorities for the national security community, our directed energy technology also has commercial applications in both the biomedical and advanced manufacturing industries.

The Applied Energetics scientific team is continuously innovating and expanding our patent portfolio to cover these technological breakthroughs and further enhance our suite of solutions for threat disruption for the Department of Defense, the intelligence community, and for commercial, biomedical and space applications with optical sources operating from the deep ultraviolet to the far infrared portions of the electromagnetic spectrum.

Applied Energetics has developed, successfully demonstrated and holds all crucial intellectual property rights to a dynamic directed energy technology called Laser Guided Energy (“LGE®”) and Laser Induced Plasma Channel (“LIPC ®”). LGE and LIPC are technologies that can be used in a new generation of high-tech directed energy systems. The Department of Defense (DOD) previously recognized only two key types of Directed Energy Weapon (“DEW”) technologies, High Energy Lasers (“HEL”), and High-Power Microwave (“HPM”). Neither the HEL nor the HPM intellectual property portfolio is owned by a single entity. The DOD then designated a third DEW technology, LGE. Applied Energetics’ LGE and LIPC technologies are wholly owned by Applied Energetics and protected by one or more of Applied Energetics’ 27 issued patents and 11 Government Sensitive Patent Applications (“GSPA”). These GSPA’s are held under secrecy orders of the US government, providing the company with greatly extended protection rights. The company also has seven pending patent applications and one provisional patent application which is undergoing conversion to its non-provisional form. We continue to file patent applications as we deem appropriate to protect our intellectual property and enhance our competitive advantage.

Applied Energetics’ Directed Energy technologies are vastly different from conventional directed energy systems, i.e. HEL, and HPM. LGE uses Ultrashort Pulse (USP™) laser technology to combine the speed and precision of lasers with the overwhelming impact on targeted threats with high-voltage electricity. A key element of LGE is its novel ability to offer selectable and tunable properties that can help protect non-combatants and combat zone infrastructure. Applied Energetics’ proprietary fiber-based architecture is a key differentiator for our most recent technology demonstrators. Compared with traditional continuous wave laser technologies with their larger footprints, AE’s architecture enables orders of magnitude size-weight-power reductions on all deliverables, creating powerful, dual-use and agile systems that can fit a host of platforms while delivering very high-intensity, ultrashort pulses of light to the required target. This unique directed energy solution allows extremely high peak power and energy, with target and effects tunability, and is effective against a wide variety of potential targets.

Applied Energetics’ unique optical fiber-based laser architectures enable unmatched wavelength agility as well as pulse duration agility. Using innovative and highly specialized frequency shifting techniques, wavelengths can be custom tuned from the deep ultraviolet to the far infrared. In addition, temporal outputs can be adjusted from continuous wave to sub-picoseconds. The technology enables the customer to adjust the lasers’ operating parameters, ultimately creating more flexibility to change wavelength and pulse width. This feature allows for optimization of laser performance for defense or commercial applications.

Our proprietary USP laser technology provides a significantly more compact solution than current continuous wave laser platforms while still delivering high peak power. Continuous wave laser systems are typically used to heat a target and, during continuous illumination, this heat transfer leads to melting or charring of the material. Using continuous wave output powers that now exceed 100 kilowatts (1kW = 1000 watts), it can take anywhere from seconds to minutes to impact a target. By contrast, Applied Energetics has delivered USP lasers to national security users that exceed five terawatts (1 TW = 1 trillion watts) in peak power, with the difference being that this peak power from a USP laser is delivered in a pulse that is less than a trillionth of a second. During this short pulse duration, and having such a high peak intensity, near-instantaneous ablation of the surface of the threat takes place. The net results of our innovative USP approaches are highly effective lasers with mountable footprints that require only a fraction of the size and weight of other directed energy technologies.

As Applied Energetics looks toward the future, our corporate strategic roadmap builds upon the significant value of the company’s USP laser capabilities and key intellectual property, including LGE and LIPC, to offer our prospective partners, co-developers and system integrators a variety of next-generation ultrashort pulse and frequency-agile optical sources, from the ultraviolet to the far infrared portion of the electromagnetic spectrum, to address numerous challenges within the national security, biomedical, and advanced manufacturing market sectors.

Recent Developments

In May 2022, Applied Energetics was awarded a $3.89 million, two-year grant from the Department of the Navy, Office of Naval Research (ONR), to develop an optical system capable of defeating customer-specified threats for integration onto U.S. Marine Corps (USMC) platforms. We were awarded this grant to accelerate the development and testing of Infrared (IR) optical technology with an ultrashort pulse laser (USPL) system. The overall objective is to advance and ruggedize optical technologies that can be fielded on a variety of USMC platforms and are able to operate in harsh conditions.

We also executed a Phase I Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) contract with the U.S. Army on June 2, 2022. The objective of the contract is the delivery of an ultra-broadband infrared (IR) source. Under this contract, Applied Energetics, was to model novel approaches for the eye-safe delivery of ultra-broadband infrared laser pulses to electro-optic sensors. Electro-Optical/Infrared (EO/IR) sensors are imaging systems used for military applications. The STTR program is a federally funded initiative to incorporate small business technological innovation into government supported research and development programs. STTRs require the small business to team with a university or non-profit and are structured in three potential phases. Applied Energetics proposed to partner with the James C. Wyant College of Optical Sciences at the University of Arizona for Phase I. The company completed work on this first phase of the Army STTR and filed the report on January 3, 2023. Prior to the final report filing, AE submitted the Phase II proposal by the submission deadline of December 7, 2022. The Phase II proposals can be up to $1.15 M in contract funding over a 24-month period. Any announcement on the Phase II STTR proposals is estimated by the Army to be released no later than Q2 of 2023.

Effective August 1, 2022, our board of directors appointed Christopher Donaghey, age 50, to serve as Chief Financial and Chief Operating Officer. The company and Mr. Donaghey entered into an Executive Employment Agreement, pursuant to which he is serving for an initial term of four years, with automatic renewal for additional one-year periods thereafter unless either party terminates the agreement. The agreement calls for salary of $350,000 per year, plus standard benefits and eligibility for a bonus at the discretion of the board. The company has also granted Mr. Donaghey additional options to purchase up to 1,000,000 shares of its common stock under its 2018 Incentive Stock Plan, which vest over four years and have an exercise price of $2.36 per share, and Restricted Stock Units representing up to 400,000 shares of the company’s common stock which also vest over four years. The Restricted Stock Units are issued pursuant to a Restricted Stock Unit Agreement, dated as of July 13, 2022. Mr. Donaghey forfeited unvested options to purchase up to 950,000 shares of common stock which he had previously received for service on the company’s Board of Advisors.

Mr. Donaghey is an experienced financial executive with a proven track-record in delivering profitable growth, including extensive experience within the defense industry. He joins Applied Energetics from Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), a defense and government agency technology integrator, where he served as the senior vice president and head of corporate development. In this role, he was responsible for executing the company’s mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and strategic ventures strategy, working closely with the senior management team to support the development and implementation of SAIC’s strategic plan with an emphasis on M&A and external emerging technology investments to complement organic growth strategies and value creation. He joined SAIC in 2017, as senior vice president of finance for SAIC’s operations, and provided strategic leadership and business guidance to the organization. Mr. Donaghey is also a Founder and Executive Board member of the Silicon Valley Defense Group, a non-profit organization whose mission is to create the nexus of pioneering ideas, people, and capital that will unlock new sources of innovation for national security and power the digital evolution of the defense industrial base.

Prior to joining SAIC, Donaghey was vice president of Corporate Strategy and Development for KeyW Corporation, a national security solutions provider for the Intelligence, Cyber and Counterterrorism Communities, where he guided the overall corporate strategy, M&A, and capital markets activities.

Mr. Donaghey was also a senior research analyst for SunTrust Robinson Humphrey Capital Markets where he provided investment advice and insight to institutional investors covering public defense technology, government IT services, and commercial aerospace industries. During his tenure at SunTrust, Donaghey was ranked the number one defense analyst and number two analyst overall for stock selection by Forbes/Starmine in 2005 and was named in the Wall Street Journal Best on the Street survey in 2005, 2008, and 2009.

Mr. Donaghey served in the U.S. Navy Reserve where he provided scientific and technical analysis of missile guidance and control systems and advanced electronics for the Short-Range Ballistic Missile group at the Defense Intelligence Agency’s Missile and Space Intelligence Center. Donaghey earned his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Texas Tech University and served as an officer in the U.S. Navy.

Mr. Donaghey previously served on Applied Energetics’ Board of Advisors since April 30, 2019, providing input into the strategic direction of the company and assistance in building relationships in the defense markets.

Upon the successful examination, and with no opposition, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) officially entered the marks LGE® (Reg. No. 6,289,892) and LIPC ® (Reg. No. 6,316,069) on March 9, 2021, and April 6, 2021, respectively, in the principal register. Applied Energetics has applications pending before the USPTO for the marks USP TM, USPL TM, AERG TM and AE TM and anticipates allowance and/or registration within the next six months. The company also has seven pending patent applications and one provisional patent application which is undergoing conversion to its non-provisional form. We continue to file patent applications as we deem appropriate to protect our intellectual property and enhance our competitive advantage.

In April 2022, we repaid the remaining balance on the Paycheck Protection Program loan, which we took out in 2020. The original loan was in the amount of $132,760, but our compliance with the guidelines set forth by the Small Business Administration regarding use of the proceeds of the loan qualified us for a waiver of a portion of this amount. We had been repaying the remaining balance in monthly installments at an annual interest rate of 1%.

Ongoing Business Development Activities

Over the past few years, we have submitted multiple proposals to, and attended briefings with, various defense and other government agencies who have expressed an interest in our technology and applications. Due to the closures of multiple agencies and work-from-home orders during the Covid-19 pandemic, reviews and funding decisions on these proposals were delayed longer than anticipated as resources were focused on other matters within the government. Since the reopening of proposal reviews and processing, our team has been invited to, and completed, multiple briefings focused on our capabilities and submissions. We intend to continue developing and submitting proposals and to be available to attend on-site briefings to the extent possible. However, this positive action by the agencies could be reversed as Covid remains an ongoing risk. Any changes to reinstate the closures or work-from-home orders could again hamper the ability of the AE team to schedule on-site briefings for our proposals undergoing review.

Two significant pieces of legislation impacted Applied Energetics that were signed by the President on September 30, 2022. The first piece, bill S. 4900, the “SBIR and STTR Extension Act of 2022,” authorizes the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR), Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR), and six related pilot programs through Fiscal Year 2025; requires agencies with an SBIR or STTR program to establish a due diligence program to assess the potential risk posed by program applicants’ foreign ties; requires certain departments and agencies to report on national security risks within their SBIR/STTR programs; and establishes increased minimum performance standards for firms that have won a certain number of awards during a specified period of time.

The other piece of legislation that we have seen multiple times in the past decade is the Continuing Resolution (CR), HR 6833, which was amended three times to provide fiscal year 2023 appropriations to federal agencies through December 30, 2022, for continuing projects and activities of the federal government and includes supplemental appropriations to respond to the Russian military action in Ukraine. This CR provided for a continuation of funding for currently funded programs through December 30, but no new contracts until the 2023 fiscal year appropriations was approved by Congress. This CR allowed for current Applied Energetics programs to continue. The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023 was passed by the US House of Representatives and the US Senate and signed by President Biden on December 29, 2022. A similar situation occurred in the prior year as the US government final fiscal year 2022 appropriations bill was signed into law by President Biden on the night of March 11, 2022 and included increases in areas of particular interest to the company.

Strategic Plan and Analysis

The core of our strategy has been to continue growing our management and science teams with highly qualified individuals. This has driven our recruitment efforts in the areas of R&D, science, modeling and simulation, marketing and finance. We are also contemplating adding members to our Board of Directors and our Board of Advisors. Our board and leadership team have worked to align key innovations with our roadmap to encourage and enable internal filing for a broad, strategic and robust intellectual property portfolio and continue surveying the literature for acquisitions of parallel intellectual property to that end. We also intend to pursue strategic corporate acquisitions in related fields and technology. The company’s management continues to explore any favorable equity financing opportunities.

Our goal with the Applied Energetics Strategic Plan is to increase the energy, peak power and frequency agility of USP optical sources while decreasing the size, weight, and cost of these systems. We are in the process of developing this breadth of very high peak power USP lasers and additional optical sources that have a very broad range of applicability for threat disruption for the Department of Defense, commercial, and biomedical applications, such as biophotonic illumination and imaging. Although the historical market for Applied Energetics’ LGE and USP technology is the U.S. Government, the USP technologies are expected to provide numerous platforms for commercial additive and subtractive manufacturing and biomedical and imaging markets, creating a substantially larger market for our products to address. Since 2020, the Applied Energetics team was able to develop partnership and teaming arrangements with the three leading laser and optics institutes in the United States, namely, the University of Arizona, the University of Central Florida, and the University of Rochester Laboratory for Laser Energetics. Our desire is to work on programs jointly where the strengths of each organization can assist in escalating knowledge and delivery of systems to the government sponsors, and to train the next generation of scientists and engineers to work in the directed energy fields.

Despite the challenges posed by COVID-19, we have continued to execute our business development plans, further our research and development program and submit filings for intellectual property and proposals for grants and contracts. During the past three years, we continued to submit proposals and have been engaged in meetings on a continuous basis with various agencies and departments both remotely and in person in Washington, DC and at various other government facilities. Having received a significant research grant and an STTR contract during the second quarter of 2022, we believe the interest in our technology and applications remains high, and we continue to submit proposals for all appropriate opportunities and share our vision of the disruptive capabilities of USP optical sources for both near- and far-term threats and dual-use commercial applications.

Through our analysis of the market, and in discussions with potential customers, we remain convinced that customers are becoming more receptive and interested in directed energy technologies. According to the US Department of Defense fiscal budgets from 2017 through 2023, its directed energy spending grew from approximately $500 million in 2017 to over $1.695 billion in 2023, an increase of nearly 240%. Market analysis and projections have estimated that this directed energy sector is anticipated to exceed $10.1 billion globally by 2026. We continue to be optimistic about our future and the growing opportunities in directed energy applications, especially since this growth to nearly $1.7 B annually is being accomplished without a recognized Program of Record (POR) for directed energy platforms. Once these technologies are funded in production for a POR, these DOD budgets for DE will grow exponentially larger to support the technology insertion. The Applied Energetics team anticipates a continuation of strong funding for the directed energy community. With our existing patent portfolio, and through further advancements of our technologies, we believe we have the substantial building blocks needed to become a significant and successful developer in our USP and LGE marketplaces.

Market for Our Technology

Directed Energy Systems

Directed energy systems involve the use of directed energy to incapacitate, damage, or destroy enemy equipment, facilities, and assets. Previous to LGE, the only two viable directed energy systems were High Energy Laser (HEL), which uses heat to burn targets and High Power Microwave (HPM) systems, that use electromagnetic energy at specific microwave and radio frequencies to disable electronic systems.

HEL and HPM directed energy technologies have been under development for decades with numerous DoD and other government contractors participating. The unique attributes of directed energy weapon systems —the ability to create precise effects against multiple targets near-instantaneously and at a very low cost per shot—have great potential to help the DoD in addressing future warfare requirements. The DoD invests research and development dollars into directed energy solutions to fill gaps identified by warfighters. For example, in future conflicts with capable enemies possessing large inventories of guided missiles, it may be operationally risky and cost-prohibitive for the U.S. military to continue to rely exclusively on a limited number of kinetic missile interceptors. Such a “missile competition” could allow an adversary to impose costs on U.S. forces by compelling them to intercept each incoming missile with far more expensive kinetic munitions. The DoD has made technological advances in both performance and maturity as a result of many years of research with multiple threat-intercept technologies and has been directed by Congress, in fiscal year 2022 and, again, in fiscal 2023, to increase funding and evaluation of pulsed laser technology in future directed energy platforms.

Applied Energetics utilizes patented, dual-use technologies to advance critical industries. Leveraging our proprietary fiber-based architecture and wavelength- and pulse-agility capability, our ultrashort pulse technology enables users to achieve specific effects across different use cases, with an unmatched blend of size, weight and power attributes. While initially designed to meet the emerging needs and priorities for the national security community, Applied Energetics’ directed energy technology also has commercial applications in both the biomedical and advanced manufacturing industries.

Fiber-Based Laser Architecture

Applied Energetics’ proprietary fiber-based architecture is a key differentiator for our technology. Compared with traditional continuous wave technology with larger footprints, AE’s architecture enables orders of magnitude size-weight-power reductions on all deliverables, creating powerful, dual-use and agile systems that can fit a host of platforms while delivering very high intensity, ultrashort pulses of light to the required target. Using this unique architecture as a laser source for an integrated system can enable Applied Energetics to develop, integrate and deliver a suite of technologies that best meet the needs and requirements of its customers.

Wavelength- and Pulse-Agility

Applied Energetics’ optical fiber-based laser architectures enable unmatched wavelength agility as well as pulse duration agility. Using innovative and highly specialized frequency shifting techniques, wavelengths can be custom tuned from the deep ultraviolet to the far infrared. In addition, temporal outputs can be adjusted from continuous wave to sub-picoseconds. The technology enables the customer to adjust the lasers’ operating parameters, ultimately creating more flexibility to change wavelength and pulse width. This feature allows for optimization of laser performance for defense or commercial applications.

Competition

AE’s Ultrashort Pulse sources, including proprietary LIPC ® based LGE® technology, are unique and can be integrated onto platforms being developed for use by the U.S. Government. Over the past several years, a relatively small number of major defense contractors have received significant funding for directed energy systems development, manufacturing and integration, using continuous wave high energy laser and microwave technologies. These contractors specialize in different directed energy system platforms to respond to a variety of threats. Applied Energetics believes that its pulsed laser systems can be a part of a layered defense solution alongside these other technologies. Although AE competes against other directed energy systems for funding, the uniqueness of our technologies should continue to support their development into weapon platform programs. AE believes that there is renewed U.S. Government interest in directed energy applications and believes that continued development of its USP capabilities and growing interest from all branches of the U.S. armed forces and other government agencies will lead to increases in government spending on directed energy in the coming years. Likewise, there are multiple new threats that must be addressed with unique and emerging technologies, and AE is working diligently to rapidly advance development, demonstration, testing and engineering of the Advanced Ultrashort Pulse lasers throughout the spectrum from the ultraviolet to the far infrared. We believe that USP technologies can rapidly accelerate in magnitude, as a percentage of the federal budget, compared with other technologies over the next several years.

AE’s primary direct USP optical source competition are corporations and contractors supported by foreign governments who may be attempting to develop similar technologies. AE believes that such foreign activity will create additional U.S. Government funding for both USP sources and LGE in order to maintain our country’s lead in pulsed directed-energy systems. Other companies with directed energy capabilities, albeit in continuous wave, microwave and other areas within directed energy, are Raytheon Technologies, Lockheed Martin, Northrup Grumman, Boeing, BAE, nLight, General Atomics, DRS Daylight Solutions and L3Harris Technologies.

Some of AE’s biggest commercial competitors are Trumpf (German), Coherent (US), Thales (France) and IPG (US), all of which are billion-dollar market class companies that have substantially more resources than AE.

Employees

As of March 29, 2023, we had fourteen employees, and we retain another six full- and part-time consultants.

Supplies and Raw Materials

We depend upon the availability of materials and major electro-optical components and the performance of our suppliers. Some of our products require relatively scarce fabricated materials. We generally have not experienced significant difficulties in procuring these necessary materials, components and other supplies for our products. However, the global supply chain continues to struggle toward normalcy following the Covid-19 pandemic. Our inability to procure the necessary optical and fabricated materials, components, electronics and other supplies for our products could negatively affect our results of operations, financial condition and liquidity. In addition, a significant prolonged increase in inflation could negatively impact the cost of materials and components. We continuously monitor potential supply chain issues and work with our suppliers to mitigate delays in our receipt of necessary materials, components and other supplies, and reduce costs, particularly in light of the Covid-19 pandemic’s impact on global supply chain. We also monitor supplier liquidity and work continuously with our supply base to ensure an adequate source of supply and to reduce costs. We pursue cost reductions through a number of mechanisms, including consolidating or re-sourcing our purchases, entering long-term agreements, reducing the number of suppliers, strategic global sourcing and competition among suppliers, and the opportunity to develop and deliver scarce components that have few contracts or suppliers. In some instances, we depend upon a single source of supply, but we are developing multiple sources to mitigate the risk. In some cases, we must comply with specific procurement requirements, which may limit the suppliers and subcontractors we may utilize.

Regulatory Matters

Our business is subject to extensive regulation in the industries we serve. We market our technology to numerous U.S. government agencies and entities, including but not limited to all of the branches of the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) and the Department of Homeland Security. Similar government authorities exist in all of the countries in which we do business.

The U.S. government currently represents all of our current revenues and likely a substantial portion of any projected revenues for the foreseeable future. U.S. government contracts are subject to termination by the government, either for convenience or for default in the event of our failure to perform under the applicable contract. In the case of a termination for convenience, we would normally be entitled to reimbursement for our allowable costs incurred, termination costs and a reasonable profit. If terminated by the government as a result of our default, we could be liable for payments made to us for undelivered goods or services, additional costs the government incurs in acquiring undelivered goods or services from another source and any other damages it suffers.

U.S. government contracts generally are subject to the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), which sets forth policies, procedures and requirements for the acquisition of goods and services by the U.S. government. Defense contracts are additionally subject to the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS). Other applicable laws and regulations apply as well. These regulations impose a broad range of requirements, many of which are unique to government contracting, including various procurement, import and export, security, contract pricing and cost, contract termination and adjustment, audit and product integrity requirements. Failure to comply with these regulations and requirements could result in reductions to the value of contracts, contract modifications or termination, cash withholding on contract payments, forfeiture of profits, and/or the assessment of civil or criminal penalties and fines and could lead to cause-based suspension or debarment from U.S. government contracting or subcontracting for a period of time.

Future results of operations of Applied Energetics involve a number of known and unknown risks and uncertainties. Factors that could affect future operating results and cash flows and cause actual results to vary materially from historical results include, but are not limited to those risks set forth below:

Risk Related to Our Company

Our independent registered public accounting firm has expressed substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern, which may hinder our ability to obtain future financing.

In their report accompanying our financial statements, our independent registered public accounting firm stated that our financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2022 were prepared assuming that we would continue as a going concern, and that they have substantial doubt as to our ability to continue as a going concern. Our auditors have noted that our recurring losses and negative cash flow from operations and the concern that we may incur additional losses due to the reduction in government contract activity raise substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern.

Our business has generated only limited revenues during the past fiscal year, after having no revenue during fiscal 2021, and had a net operating loss during each period.

For the fiscal years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021, we had revenues of $1,307,757 and $0, respectively, and we had net losses of $5,771,642 and $5,425,453, respectively. We can give no assurances that our planned operations will generate revenues in the future or whether any such revenues will result in profitability.

We may need additional financing to fund our operations going forward. If we are unable to obtain additional financing on acceptable terms, we may need to modify or curtail our development plans and operations.

As of December 31, 2022, we had $5,640,308 in available cash and cash equivalents and working capital of $5,329,699. We believe our cash position is sufficient for the next several months, but we may need to raise additional capital in order to fund our operations beyond that. We must allocate funds toward SEC compliance as well as Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA), International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) and other federal regulatory compliance. We also need funds for general and administrative expenses, including salaries, benefits, supplies and equipment, lease expense on our headquarters, accounting, legal, and other professional fees and other miscellaneous expenses. Our failure to secure sufficient financing could render us unable to fund these necessary costs and expenses. We also may require additional funding for research and development before we are able to commercialize our technology. During the 2022 fiscal year, we achieved our capital raising goal, and a portion of the funds for research and development came from government grant/contract awards. We may secure additional government contracts or sub-contracts with larger contractors to fund additional research and development. However, we may need to raise additional funds to supplement these contracts even if we are able to secure them.

Our operating plans and capital requirements are subject to change based on how we determine to proceed with respect to development programs and if we pursue any strategic alternatives. We may raise additional funds through the issuance of equity securities, but such financing may not be available on terms acceptable to us if at all. Any equity financing would cause the percentage ownership by our current stockholders to be diluted, and such dilution may be substantial. Also, any additional equity securities issued may have rights, preferences or privileges senior to those of existing stockholders. If such financing is not available when required or is not available on acceptable terms, we may be required to modify or curtail our operations, which could cause investors to lose the entire amount of their investment.

The ongoing global Covid-19 pandemic has caused unpredictability in capital markets. If this uncertainty continues, it could make it more difficult for companies, including ours, to access capital. It is currently difficult to estimate with any certainty how long the pandemic and resulting curtailment of business will continue, and its effect on capital markets and our ability to raise funds in the future is, accordingly, difficult to quantify.

Risk Related to Our Industry and Business Activities

Economic, geopolitical and other factors beyond our control can affect our business.

Our business, operating results, financial condition and liquidity may be adversely affected by changes in global economic conditions and geopolitical risks, including the inflationary environment in the United States and internationally, commodity prices, supply chain challenges, exchange rates, potential changes in policy positions or priorities, levels of government spending and deficits, the availability and cost of labor, the threat environment, trade policies, political conditions, and other challenges that could affect the global economy. Inflationary pressures have increased labor and material costs at a higher rate higher than in recent years. Due to the nature of our government business, and the customer and supplier contracts within those businesses, we may not be able to increase our contract value or pricing to offset these cost increases, particularly with grants or fixed price contracts. This could adversely affect our operating profits and margins particularly if the increased inflation continues. Similarly, expected increases in interest rates from recent historical lows in the U.S. and in other countries in which we operate could negatively impact financial markets and tighten the availability of, and increase our cost of capital, which could have an adverse effect on our operating results, financial condition and liquidity. Tightening of credit in financial markets also could adversely affect the ability of our customers and suppliers to obtain financing for significant purchases and operations. Similarly, such tightening of credit may adversely affect our supplier base and increase the potential for one or more of our suppliers to experience financial distress or bankruptcy. In addition, geopolitical risks could affect government priorities, budgets and policies, which could impact sales of defense and other products and services.

The Covid pandemic has affected and may continue to affect our supply chain and operations.

The ongoing Covid-19 pandemic has negatively affected our business, supply chains, and operations. As a result of Covid-19, governments, businesses and individuals have taken actions such as instituting closures, lockdowns, quarantines, and travel restrictions and requirements, adopting remote working. Lockdowns and labor shortages resulting from Covid-19, as well as the continuing economic recovery, negatively impacted global supply capabilities. Decreases in the availability of supplies, increases in the cost of supplies, and delivery issues have caused shortages and delays, as well as increased costs, for the procurement of raw materials, components and other supplies required for our performance. The global economic, supply and demand uncertainties caused by Covid-19 remain. Due to the continued effects of Covid-19 and related uncertainty, we expect to continue to experience the challenges described above for an uncertain period of time into the future.

Moreover, if developments in the pandemic limit our workforce or those of our suppliers from working effectively, such business disruptions could hinder our research or otherwise impede our ability to perform on our obligations to customers and may result in increased costs. Developments in the pandemic may affect our ability to hire, develop and retain our talented and diverse workforce, and to maintain our corporate culture. It is critical that we find and train new qualified personnel. The pandemic also may materially impact U.S. government contracts and grants, including changes or shifts in defense spending due to budgetary constraints, the allocation of funds to governmental responses to Covid-19, a failure to complete the government budget process resulting in a Continuing Resolution (CR) or a government shutdown, or delayed or reduced funding of programs.

Although, in the US, hospitalization and death rates have moderated in recent months, the duration of the Covid-19 pandemic remains uncertain. Its future impact depends on developments concerning its scope, severity and duration, the effect of additional variants and whether additional outbreaks of the pandemic will continue to occur, the efficacy, acceptance, distribution and availability of vaccines, new or continued attempts to contain the pandemic’s spread or treat its impact, and governmental, business and individual personal responses (including restrictions and limitations on travel and transportation) among others. Some of the pandemic’s impacts may continue into the future even after the virus itself no longer poses a significant public health risk. Any of these factors, could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition and liquidity.

Changes in US government spending could negatively affect our business.

Substantially all of our current and planned near-term revenues are or may be from US government contracts and grants awarded under various programs, primarily with the Department of Defense (DoD), and, possibly, with intelligence agencies and other departments and agencies. Changes in US government spending for various reasons, including as a result of potential changes in policy positions or priorities, could negatively impact our results of operations, financial condition and liquidity. Our programs are subject to US government policies, budget decisions and appropriation processes which are driven by macroeconomic and geopolitical factors as well as Congress’s ability to enact, and the administration’s willingness to execute, appropriations bills and other legislation. In recent years, the US government has been unable to complete its budget process before the end of its fiscal year, resulting in government shutdowns and Continuing Resolutions emergency funding only at prior-year levels. In addition, failure to raise the debt ceiling could cause the U.S. government to default on debts which it has already incurred. U.S. government spending levels and available program funding are thus hard to estimate in the medium- and long-term. Significant changes in U.S. government spending or changes in U.S. government priorities, policies and requirements could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations, financial condition and liquidity.

We face risks relating to performance of our US government contracts and our ability to secure additional contracts and/or grants.

Our success depends on our ability to complete timely and satisfactory performance on our existing customer projects and to secure additional grants and contracts. Performance delays, cost overruns, technology failures, materials or components shortages, or contract delays, could negatively impact our business prospects, results of operations, financial condition and liquidity. U.S. government contracts generally permit the government to terminate the contract, in whole or in part, without prior notice, at the U.S. government’s convenience or for default based on performance. Correspondingly, subcontracts which we may seek to enter with prime government contractors, may be terminable by the prime contractor upon government termination of the prime contract. We may be unable secure additional contracts to offset any revenues lost as a result of the termination of any such contracts.

Because the funding of U.S. government programs is subject to congressional appropriations made on a fiscal year basis even for multi-year programs, programs are often only partially funded initially and may not continue to be funded in future years. Appropriation bills may be delayed, which may result in delays to funding, the collection of receivables and our contract performance due to lack of authorized funds to procure related products and services. Under certain circumstances, we may use our own funds to meet our customer’s delivery dates or other requirements, and we may not be reimbursed. If appropriations for programs are reduced or delayed, the U.S. government may terminate any contract or subcontract under that program.

The growth of our business depends on the development, application and manufacture of advanced technology and products aimed at achieving challenging goals. New technologies may be untested or unproven and, in some instances, product requirements or specifications need to be developed. This could result in performance difficulties, delays, cost overruns or failures which could require additional resources to address. Any failure to execute timely and effectively on our current programs could hamper future contracting opportunities. We may also need to invest in internal research and development projects in order to achieve certain grants or contracts, as our customers may demand proven concepts and solutions. These expenditures may not pay off if we are not awarded the intended grants or contracts.

Under certain types of government contracts, if we are unable to control costs or if our initial cost estimates are incorrect, our profitability could be negatively affected, particularly under fixed-price development contracts. We may also experience cost underruns which would reduce contract value and related expected revenues, and we may be unable to expand the contract scope or secure additional work to offset the resulting lost revenues. We anticipate that any future contracts for development programs with complex design and technical challenges will typically be cost reimbursable. However, if they are firm fixed price or fixed price incentive contracts, such challenges and unexpected costs increases may impact our results of operations. US government contracts also require compliance with extensive and evolving procurement and other rules and regulations and subject us to potential audits, investigations, and disputes. We may also become involved in programs that are classified by the US government, which have security requirements that place limits on our ability to discuss our performance on these programs, including any risks, disputes and claims.

We may be unable to adequately protect our intellectual property rights, which could affect our ability to sustain the value of such assets.

Protecting our intellectual property rights is critical to our ability to maintain the value of our intellectual property portfolio. We hold a number of United States patents and patent applications, as well as trademarks, and registrations which are necessary and contribute significantly to the preservation of our competitive position in the market. We can offer no assurance that any of these patents or future patent applications and other intellectual property will not be challenged, invalidated or circumvented by third parties. In some instances, we may seek to augment our technology base by licensing the proprietary intellectual property of others, but we may be unable to obtain necessary licenses on commercially reasonable terms. We have entered into confidentiality and invention assignment agreements with employees and consultants and entered into nondisclosure agreements with suppliers, potential job candidates, and appropriate customers so as to limit access to and disclosure of our proprietary information. These measures may not suffice to deter misappropriation or independent third-party development of similar technologies. Based on our current financial condition, we may not have the funds available to enforce and protect our intellectual properties.

We may face claims of infringement of proprietary rights.

There is a risk that a third party may claim our products and technologies infringe on their proprietary rights. Whether or not our products infringe on proprietary rights of third parties, infringement or invalidity claims may be asserted or prosecuted against us and we could incur significant expense in defending them. If any claims or actions are asserted against us, we may not have the funds necessary to defend against such claims. Our failure to do so could adversely affect the value of our intellectual property.

Management has broad discretion over the selection of our business and prospective business opportunities.

Any person who invests in our securities will do so without an opportunity to evaluate the specific merits or risks of our prospective business and business opportunities. As a result, investors will be entirely dependent on the broad discretion and judgment of management in connection with the selection of a prospective business. The business decisions made by our management may not be successful.

We depend on the recruitment and retention of qualified personnel, and failure to attract and retain such personnel could seriously harm our business.

Due to the specialized nature of our businesses, our future performance is highly dependent upon the continued services of our key engineering and scientific personnel. Our prospects for obtaining government contracts or significant commercial contracts depend upon our ability to attract and retain qualified engineering, scientific and manufacturing personnel for our operations. Competition for personnel is intense, and we may not be successful in attracting or retaining qualified personnel. Our failure to compete for these personnel could seriously harm our business, results of operations and financial condition. Additionally, since the majority of our business involves technologies that are classified due to national security reasons, we must hire U.S. Citizens who have the ability to obtain a security clearance. This further reduces our potential labor pool.

Our future success will depend on our ability to develop and commercialize technologies and applications that address the needs of our markets.

Both our defense and commercial markets are characterized by rapidly changing technologies and evolving industry standards. Accordingly, our future performance depends on a number of factors, including our ability to identify emerging technological trends in our target markets; develop and maintain competitive products; enhance our products by improving performance and adding innovative features that differentiate our products from those of our competitors; develop and manufacture and bring products to market on-time and on-budget; and enter into suitable arrangements for volume production of mature products.

We believe that, in order to be competitive in the future, we will need to continue to develop and commercialize technologies and products, which will require the investment of financial and engineering resources. Due to the design complexity of our products, we may in the future experience delays in completing development and introduction on a commercial scale of new products. Any delays could result in increased costs of development, deflect resources from other projects or incur loss of contracts.

In addition, there can be no assurance that the market for our technologies and products will develop or continue to expand as we currently anticipate. The failure of our technology to gain market acceptance could significantly reduce any ability to generate revenue and harm our business. Furthermore, we cannot be sure that our competitors will not develop competing or differing technologies which gain market acceptance in advance of our products. The possibility that our competitors might develop new technology or products might cause our existing technology and products to become obsolete or create significant price competition. If we fail in our new product development and commercialization efforts or our products fail to achieve market acceptance more rapidly than our competitors, our revenue will decline and our business, financial condition and results of operations will be negatively affected.

We heavily depend on key personnel, for the successful execution of our business plan. The loss of one or more key members of our management team could have a material adverse effect on our business prospects.

We are highly dependent upon Gregory J. Quarles, our Chief Executive Officer, Christopher Donaghey, our Chief Financial and Operating Officer, and Stephen McCahon, our Chief Scientist. We depend on Drs. Quarles’s and McCahon’s decades of expertise for the marketing and development of our technology. We also depend upon their global visibility and outreach as well as Mr. Donaghey’s and our directors’ networks of contacts and experience to recruit key talent to the company. We do not have key-man insurance on any of these individuals. Loss of the services of any of these key members of our management team, or of our Board of Directors’ ability to identify and hire key talent, could have a material adverse effect on our business prospects, financial condition and results of operations. Although a key component of our growth strategy is succession planning and hiring additional key personnel, we may be unable to achieve this in the near term given constraints in the labor market and our interest in recruiting highly qualified professionals.

If we are unable to hire additional qualified personnel, our business prospects may suffer.

Our success and achievement of our business plans depend upon our ability to recruit, hire, train and retain additional highly qualified technical and managerial personnel. Competition for qualified employees among high technology companies is intense, and any inability to attract, retain and motivate additional highly skilled employees required for the implementation of our business plans and activities could strongly impact our business. Our inability to attract and retain the necessary technical and managerial personnel and scientific, regulatory and other consultants and advisors could materially damage our business prospects, financial condition and results of operations.

The market for our technology has a limited number of potential customers.

Given the highly specialized nature of our technology, the potential market for our products is limited to a relative few potential customers who tend to allocate significant budgeted amounts to selected projects. Currently, we are marketing our technology and focusing our research and development on the defense sector, in which demand is ultimately determined primarily by the US federal defense budget and the needs and priorities of the Department of Defense and its various agencies. The potential customers in this area are defense agencies for direct contacts and major defense contractors for subcontracts. Thus, the demand for our products depends on their needs for our technology and selecting us for research and development. Although we intend to diversify into other applications for our technology and markets, we cannot be certain that opportunities in those markets will present themselves when we are ready, or that we will otherwise be able, to do so.

Risks Related to Our Securities

We are subject to the penny stock rules adopted by the Securities and Exchange Commission that require brokers to provide extensive disclosure to their customers prior to executing trades in penny stocks. These disclosure requirements, coupled with our status as a former shell company, may cause a reduction in the trading activity of our common stock, and make it difficult for our stockholders to sell their securities.

Rule 3a51-1 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 establishes the definition of a “penny stock,” for purposes relevant to us, as any equity security that has a minimum bid price of less than $5.00 per share or with an exercise price of less than $5.00 per share, subject to a limited number of exceptions which are not available to us. This classification would severely and adversely affect any market liquidity for our common stock.

For any transaction involving a penny stock, unless exempt, the penny stock rules require that a broker or dealer approve a person’s account for transactions in penny stocks and the broker or dealer receive from the investor a written agreement to the transaction setting forth the identity and quantity of the penny stock to be purchased. In order to approve a person’s account for transactions in penny stocks, the broker or dealer must obtain financial information and investment experience and objectives of the person and make a reasonable determination that the transactions in penny stocks are suitable for that person and that that person has sufficient knowledge and experience in financial matters to be capable of evaluating the risks of transactions in penny stocks.

The broker or dealer must also deliver, prior to any transaction in a penny stock, a disclosure schedule prepared by the SEC relating to the penny stock market, which, in highlight form, sets forth:

• The basis on which the broker or dealer made the suitability determination; and
• That the broker or dealer received a signed, written agreement from the investor prior to the transaction

Disclosure also has to be made about the risks of investing in penny stocks in both public offerings and in secondary trading and commission payable to both the broker-dealer and the registered representative, current quotations for the securities and the rights and remedies available to an investor in cases of fraud in penny stock transactions. Finally, monthly statements have to be sent disclosing recent price information for the penny stock held in the account and information on the limited market in penny stocks.

Because of these regulations and restrictions, broker-dealers may not wish to engage in the above-referenced necessary paperwork and disclosures and/or may encounter difficulties in their attempt to sell shares of our common stock, which may affect the ability of selling stockholders or other holders to sell their shares in any secondary market and have the effect of reducing the level of trading activity in any secondary market. These additional sales practice and disclosure requirements could impede the sale of our common stock. In addition, the liquidity for our common stock may decrease, with a corresponding decrease in the price of our common stock. Our common stock, in all probability, will be subject to such penny stock rules and other restrictions for the foreseeable future and our stockholders will, in all likelihood, find it difficult to sell their shares of common stock.

Because we are a former shell company, our stockholders face restrictions on their reliance on rule 144 to sell their shares.

Historically, the SEC staff has taken the position that rule 144 is not available for the resale of securities initially issued by companies that are, or previously were, shell companies, like AE. The SEC has codified and expanded this position in the amendments discussed above by prohibiting the use of rule 144 for resale of securities issued by any shell companies (other than business combination related shell companies) or any issuer that has been at any time previously a shell company. The SEC has provided an important exception to this prohibition, however, if the following conditions are met:

• the issuer of the securities that was formerly a shell company has ceased to be a shell company;
• the issuer of the securities is subject to the reporting requirements of Section 13 or 15(d) of the Exchange Act;
• the issuer of the securities has filed all Exchange Act reports and material required to be filed, as applicable, during the preceding 12 months (or such shorter period that the issuer was required to file such reports and materials), other than Current Reports on Form 8-K; and
• at least one year has elapsed from the time that the issuer filed current comprehensive disclosure with the SEC reflecting its status as an entity that is not a shell company.

We expect that we will be able to meet all of these requirements in the future, but unknown future events and circumstances could change that outcome. As a result, pursuant to rule 144, stockholders who receive our restricted securities in a private placement or a business combination may not be able to sell our shares without registration for up to one year after we have completed the private placement or business combination.

We currently maintain our cash balances at a commercial bank which has been under scrutiny during the recent regulatory concerns over regional bank closures and balance sheet weaknesses, which could jeopardize our cash reserves or access thereto when needed. We maintain a large percentage of our cash balances with Western Alliance Bank which came under scrutiny in March 2023, as two regional banks were closed, and the Treasury Department, Federal Reserve and FDIC had to implement emergency measures to assure depositors at other regional banks that their deposits were safe. At times, our bank balances exceed FDIC limits. As of December 31, 2022, $5,390,308 of our cash balance was uninsured. We continue to monitor our banking arrangement and have taken measures to diversify our cash holdings into interest bearing cash equivalents and auxiliary cash accounts to maximize our insurance coverage. As of March 21, 2023, we had reduced our uninsured deposits to 2,389,257 and continue to explore additional diversification options.

A large number of shares of our common stock could be sold in the market in the near future, which could depress our stock price.

As of March 16, 2023, we had outstanding 211,033,255 shares of common stock. Approximately 100 million of our shares are currently freely trading without restriction under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended. The remaining shares have been held by their holders for over one year and are thus eligible for sale under Rule 144(k) of the Securities Act. Sale of these shares into the market could depress our stock price. Provisions of our corporate charter documents could delay or prevent change of control.

Provisions of our corporate charter documents could delay or prevent change of control.

Our Certificate of Incorporation authorizes our Board of Directors to issue up to 2,000,000 shares of “blank check” preferred stock without stockholder approval, in one or more series and to fix the dividend rights, terms, conversion rights, voting rights, redemption rights and terms, liquidation preferences, and any other rights, preferences, privileges, and restrictions applicable to each new series of preferred stock. In addition, our Certificate of Incorporation divides our board of directors into three classes, serving staggered three-year terms. At least two annual meetings, instead of one, will be required to effect a change in a majority of our board of directors. The designation of preferred stock in the future and the classification of our Board of Directors, could make it difficult for third parties to gain control of our company, prevent or substantially delay a change in control, discourage bids for our common stock at a premium, or otherwise adversely affect the market price of our common stock. Moreover, the holders of our outstanding Series A Preferred Stock have a right to put their shares to the company for an amount equal to the liquidation preference of approximately $340,000 plus unpaid dividends (approximately $332,000 as of December 31, 2022), in the event of a change of control. Such right could hinder our ability to sell our assets or merge with another company.

The redemption and dividend provisions of our outstanding preferred stock are onerous due to our current financial condition.

The company has redeemed substantially all of its outstanding preferred stock. At December 31, 2022, 13,602 shares were outstanding with a liquidation preference of approximately $340,000 and unpaid dividends of $332,000. As of March 1, 2023, the liquidation preference of our outstanding preferred stock plus unpaid dividends thereon was approximately $662,000. If an event occurs that would require us to redeem the preferred stock, we may not have the required cash to do so.

In addition, our annual dividend payment on the preferred stock is approximately $34,000, which will further deplete our cash. We have not paid the dividends commencing with the quarterly dividend due August 1, 2013, and, as a result, the dividend rate has increased to 10% per annum and will remain at that level until such failure no longer continues. These terms may also make it more difficult for us to sell equity securities or complete an acquisition.

The COVID-19 pandemic is slowing the process of applying for and awarding government contracts and could impair our ability to expand our research and development capacity or raise additional funding if needed.

The ongoing global pandemic has caused disruption in certain government contracting processes and procedures and made travel and other necessities for securing such contracts more difficult. In addition, to the extent that any of our personnel or consultants are affected by the virus, this could cause delays or disruption in our research and development program and affect our ability to execute our plan of operations. The pandemic has also caused unpredictability in capital markets. If this uncertainty continues, it could make it more difficult for companies, including ours, to access capital. It is currently difficult to estimate with any certainty how long the pandemic and resulting will continue, and its effect on capital markets and our ability to raise funds in the future is, accordingly, difficult to quantify. The pandemic has also caused unpredictability in the supply chain which could cause delays in our procurement and product development.

Any issuance of additional securities in conjunction with a business or financing opportunity which will result in a dilution of present stockholders’ ownership.

Our certificate of incorporation authorizes the issuance of 500,000,000 shares of common stock. As of March 16, 2023, we have approximately 211,033,255 shares issued and outstanding. If funding opportunities present themselves on favorable terms, we may issue additional shares to fund our business or in connection with our pursuit of new business opportunities and new business operations. To the extent that additional shares of common stock are issued, our stockholders would experience dilution of their respective ownership interests. If we issue shares of common stock in connection with our intent to pursue new business opportunities, a change in control of our company could occur. The issuance of additional shares of common stock may also adversely affect the market price of our common stock, particularly given the historically low trading volume in the market for our common stock.

Effective March 15, 2021, we entered into a Lease Agreement with Campus Research Corporation, for approximately 13,000 rentable square feet of office, laboratory and production space located at the University of Arizona Science and Technology Park at 9070 South Rita Road, Suite 1500, Tucson, AZ. This space is outfitted with a Class 1000 (ISO Class 6) “clean room” and laboratory, office and conference facilities. These facilities are adequate for our current and expected level of operations.

The lease term began May 1, 2021, and ends on April 30, 2026. The base rent is currently $9.2009 per rentable square foot and is set to escalate to $11.4806 in year three, $13.1740 in year four and $14.9306 in year five, plus certain operating expenses and taxes.

Our aggregate rent expense, including common area maintenance costs, was approximately $149,000 and $155,000 for 2022 and 2021, respectively.

See Note 8 to our 2022 Consolidated Financial Statements, which is incorporated herein by reference for information with respect to our lease commitments as of December 31, 2022.

On July 3, 2019, Gusrae, Kaplan & Nusbaum and its partner, Ryan Whalen filed a complaint in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York against the company, its directors, officers, attorneys and a consultant. The action alleged libel, securities fraud and related claims. The company filed a motion to dismiss the complaint on October 24, 2019. On December 13, 2019, Gusrae Kaplan and Mr. Whalen filed an opposition to the company’s motion. On January 10, 2020, the company filed a reply brief. On August 5, 2021, the plaintiffs filed a Notice of Voluntary Dismissal of the action without prejudice.

On January 15, 2021, the company filed a complaint in the United States District Court, Southern District of New York, against Gusrae, Kaplan & Nusbaum and Ryan Whalen for malpractice and breach of New York Rules of Professional Conduct by both parties as former counsel to the company. On May 28, 2021, Gusrae, Kaplan & Nusbaum and Mr. Whalen filed a motion to dismiss the complaint. On June 25, 2021, the company filed an opposition to the motion. On July 13, 2021, Gusrae Kaplan & Nusbaum and Mr. Whalen filed their reply brief. On March 30, 2022, United States Magistrate Judge Debra Freeman signed an order denying the motion of GKN and Mr. Whalen to dismiss the company’s claim for malpractice and for rescission of the shares-for-fees agreement under which GKN and Whalen received shares of the company’s common stock. The motion was partially granted as to the separate claim for violation of NYRPC 1.7 and 1.8 because the court found that it was duplicative of the malpractice claim. The parties are currently engaged in discovery. No trial date has been set.

On September 7, 2021, Gusrae Kaplan & Nusbaum and its partner Ryan Whalen filed a complaint in the New York Supreme Court against the company, its directors, officers, attorneys and a consultant, alleging a single claim for defamation per se based on the same conduct underlying their claim of libel in their voluntarily dismissed federal court action. The company filed a motion to dismiss the complaint on October 29, 2021, to which Gusrae Kaplan & Nusbaum and Mr. Whalen filed their opposition on January 13, 2022, and the company filed its reply brief on February 17, 2022.

On May 23, 2022, the New York Supreme Court held a hearing on the motion to dismiss, and Judge Hagler ruled from the bench, granting all defendants’, including Applied Energetics’, motions to dismiss the claim, in its entirety, with prejudice. While he noted that defendants’ arguments regarding the claim being time-barred and the court lacking personal jurisdiction over certain defendants may have merit, he elected not to rule on those issues as he believed it appropriate to reach the merits. The judge declined to award sanctions requested by the defendants in this claim. The plaintiffs have filed a notice of intent to appeal this dismissal but did not file their actual appeal brief within the required time.

As with any litigation, the company cannot predict the outcome with certainty, but the company expects to provide further updates on the status of the litigation as circumstances warrant.

The company may, from time to time, be involved in legal proceedings arising from the normal course of business.

You should read the following management discussion and analysis (“MD&A”) together with the risk factors set forth in Item 1A and with our audited Consolidated Financial Statements and Notes thereto included elsewhere herein.

Overview

Applied Energetics, Inc., specializes in the development and manufacture of advanced high-performance lasers and optical systems, high voltage electronics, and integrated guided energy systems for prospective defense, national security, industrial, biomedical, and scientific customers worldwide.

Gregory J. Quarles serves as our President and Chief Executive officer and, pursuant to a consulting agreement with an LLC wholly owned by him, Dr. Stephen W. McCahon serves as our Chief Scientist. AE has continued to expand its technical capabilities with the addition of employees, consultants and contractors, and agreements with several of the leading laser and optics universities in the country. The team at Applied Energetics continued to expand during 2022 and into early 2023, with the addition of nine new employees, including its Chief Operating and Financial Officer, one junior and one midlevel scientist, two laser technicians, a part-time senior product development advisor, an engineering project manager, in-house counsel, a finance manager and an executive assistant. AE also works with a team of world-class contractors to strengthen our human resources, compliance, public relations, IT, and technical staff supporting the research and development in the laboratory.

AE owns and protects intellectual property that is integral and necessary for the development of Ultrashort Pulse (“USP™”) Lasers, Laser Guided Energy (“LGE®”) and Direct Discharge Electrical products for military and commercial applications. AE currently owns 27 patents and an additional 11 Government Sensitive Patent Applications (“GSPA”). These GSPA’s are held under secrecy orders of the US government and allow the company greatly extended protection rights, including having no expiration date until such time as they are no longer classified after which they will have the normal 20-year patent protection. The company also has seven pending patent applications and one provisional patent application which is undergoing conversion to its non-provisional form. We continue to file patent applications as we deem appropriate to protect our intellectual property and enhance our competitive advantage.

During the year ended December 31, 2022, our business development efforts began to come to fruition as AE was awarded a research grant by the U.S. Marine Corps and a Phase I STTR contract by the U.S. Army. In May 2022, Applied Energetics was awarded a $3.89 million, two-year grant from the Department of the Navy, Office of Naval Research (ONR), to develop an optical system capable of defeating customer-specified threats for integration onto U.S. Marine Corps (USMC) platforms. We were awarded this grant to accelerate the development and testing of Infrared (IR) optical technology with an ultrashort pulse laser (USPL) system. The overall objective is to advance and ruggedize optical technologies that can be fielded on a variety of USMC platforms and are able to operate in harsh conditions.

We also executed a Phase I Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) contract with the U.S. Army on June 2, 2022. The objective of the contract was the delivery of an ultra-broadband infrared (IR) source. Under this contract, Applied Energetics, modeled novel approaches for the eye-safe delivery of ultra-broadband infrared laser pulses to electro-optic sensors. Electro-Optical/Infrared (EO/IR) sensors are imaging systems used for military applications. The STTR program is a federally funded initiative to incorporate small business technological innovation into government supported research and development programs. STTRs require the small business to team with a university or non-profit and are structured in three potential phases. Applied Energetics proposed to partner with the James C. Wyant College of Optical Sciences at the University of Arizona for Phase I.

We began work on each of these projects and completed the last deliverable under the STTR contract during the year. We anticipate producing all deliverables required under the grant in a successful and timely manner.

Prior to receiving the above-described grant and contract, we had experienced delays in responses to multiple proposals we had submitted to government agencies due to the Covid-19 related closures of these agencies and work-from-home orders across various regions of the United States, as resources were focused on other matters within the government. Since the reopening of proposal reviews and processing, AE’s team has been invited to, and completed, multiple briefings focused on our capabilities and our submissions. However, this positive action by the agencies could be reversed as Covid remains an ongoing risk. Any changes to reinstate the closures or work-from-home orders could again hamper the ability of the AE team to schedule on-site briefings for our proposals undergoing review.

In addition to these review-based delays, the US federal budgets for both 2022 and 2023 were not approved by Congress by the start of the U.S. federal government fiscal year, which is October 1 of the preceding year. In September of 2021 and 2022, Congress passed, and the president signed, continuing resolutions (“CRs”), to extend federal government funding through December 3, 2021, and December 16, 2022, respectively. On December 2, 2021, a second CR was signed into law, extending funded operations through February 18, 2022, and then a third CR was signed on February 17, 2022, extending funding through March 11, 2022. The final appropriations bill was signed into law by President Biden on the night of March 11, 2022. Similarly, on December 16, 2022, a second CR for fiscal 2023 was signed into law, extending funding through December 23, 2022, and on December 22, 2022, a third CR was signed into law, extending funding through December 30, 2022. The final appropriations bill was signed into law on December 29, 2022 and, as in the prior year’s bill, includes increases in areas of particular interest to the company. However, the delays and uncertainty around funding may delay allocation of funds or pose a payment risk for the company under any grants or agreements under which we are already working.

Strategic Plan and Analysis

We plan to continue building our management team with highly qualified individuals. We intend to recruit additional personnel in the areas of R&D, science and simulation, marketing and finance, and, possibly add members to our Board of Directors and our Board of Advisors. We have worked to align key innovations with our roadmap to encourage and enable internal filing for a broad, strategic and robust intellectual property portfolio and continue surveying the literature for acquisitions of parallel intellectual property to that end. We also intend to pursue strategic corporate acquisitions in related fields and technology. We continue to explore any favorable equity financing opportunities.

Our goal with the Applied Energetics Strategic Plan is to increase the energy, peak power and frequency agility of USP optical sources while decreasing the size, weight, and cost of these systems. We are in the process of developing this breadth of very high peak power USP lasers and additional optical sources that have a very broad range of applicability for threat disruption for the Department of Defense, commercial, and biomedical applications such as biophotonic illumination and imaging. Although the historical market for Applied Energetics’ LGE and USP technology is the U.S. Government, the USP technologies are expected to provide numerous platforms for commercial additive and subtractive manufacturing and biomedical and imaging markets, creating a substantially larger market for our products to address. Since 2020, the Applied Energetics team was able to develop partnership and teaming arrangements with the three leading laser and optics institutes in the United States, namely, the University of Arizona, the University of Central Florida, and the University of Rochester Laboratory for Laser Energetics. Our desire is to work on programs jointly where the strengths of each organization can assist in escalating knowledge and delivery of systems to the government sponsors, and to train the next generation of scientists and engineers to work in the directed energy fields.

Despite the challenges posed by COVID-19, we have continued to execute our business development plans, further our research and development program and submit filings for intellectual property and proposals for grants and contracts. During the past two fiscal years, we submitted multiple proposals and have been engaged in meetings on a daily and weekly basis with various agencies and departments both remotely and in person in Washington, DC and at various other government facilities. Having received a significant research grant and an STTR contract during the second quarter of 2022, we believe the interest in our technology and applications remains high, and we continue to submit proposals for all appropriate opportunities and share our vision of the disruptive capabilities of USP optical sources for both near- and far-term threats and dual-use commercial applications.

Through our analysis of the market, and in discussions with potential customers, we remain convinced that customers are becoming more receptive and interested in directed energy technologies. According to the US Department of Defense fiscal budgets from 2017 through 2023, its directed energy spending grew from approximately $500 million in 2017 to over $1.695 billion in 2023, an increase of nearly 240%. Market analysis and projections have estimated that this directed energy sector is anticipated to exceed $10.1 billion globally by 2026. We continue to be optimistic about our future and the growing opportunities in directed energy applications, especially since this growth to nearly $1.7 B annually is being accomplished without a recognized Program of Record (POR) for directed energy platforms. Once these technologies are funded in production for a POR, these DOD budgets for DE will grow exponentially larger to support the technology insertion. The Applied Energetics team anticipates a continuation of strong funding for the directed energy community. With our existing patent portfolio, and through further advancements of our technologies, we believe we have the substantial building blocks needed to become a significant and successful developer in our USP and LGE marketplaces.

Critical Accounting Policies

Use of Estimates

The preparation of consolidated financial statements in conformity with United States generally accepted accounting principles requires management to make estimates, judgments and assumptions that affect the amounts reported in the financial statements and accompanying notes. Management bases its assumptions on historical experiences and on various other inputs and estimates that it believes to be reasonable under the circumstances, the results of which form the basis for making judgments about the carrying values of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. In addition, management considers the basis and methodology used in developing and selecting these estimates, the trends in and amounts of these estimates, specific matters affecting the amount of and changes in these estimates, and any other relevant matters related to these estimates, including significant issues concerning accounting principles and financial statement presentation. Such estimates and assumptions could change in the future as more information becomes known which could impact the amounts reported and disclosed herein.

Share-Based Payments

Stock-based compensation cost is measured at grant date, based on the fair value of the award and is recognized as an expense over the requisite service period.

The fair value of each option grant is estimated at the date of grant using the Black-Scholes-Merton option valuation model. We make the following assumptions relative to this model: (i) the annual dividend yield is zero as we do not pay dividends on our common stock, (ii) the weighted-average expected life is based on a midpoint scenario, where the expected life is determined to be half of the time from grant to expiration, regardless of vesting, (iii) the risk free interest rate is based on the U.S. Treasury security rate for the expected life, and (iv) the volatility is based on the level of fluctuations in our historical share price for a period approximately equal to the weighted-average expected life. We estimate forfeitures when recognizing compensation expense and adjust this estimate over the requisite service period should actual forfeitures differ from such estimates. Changes in estimated forfeitures are recognized through a cumulative adjustment, which is recognized in the period of change and which impacts the amount of unamortized compensation expense to be recognized in future periods.

Income Taxes

Deferred tax assets and liabilities are recognized currently for the future tax consequences attributable to the temporary differences between the financial statement carrying amounts of assets and liabilities and their respective tax basis. Deferred tax assets and liabilities are measured using enacted tax rates in effect for the year in which those temporary differences are expected to be recovered or settled. A valuation allowance is recorded to reduce the carrying amounts of deferred tax assets if it is more likely than not that such assets will not be realized.

Results of Operations

Our consolidated financial information for the years ending December 31, 2022 and 2021 is as follows:

Revenue

Revenue increased by approximately $1,308,000 to approximately $1,308,000 for the year ended December 31, 2022 from zero for the year ended December 31, 2021. Revenues for the 2022 period were from a contract and a grant that we received and commenced performing in June 2022.

Cost of Revenue

Cost of revenue increased by approximately $306,000 to approximately $306,000 for year ended December 31, 2022, from zero during the year ended December 31, 2021. This represents costs directly associated with the contract and grant that company commenced in June 2022.

General and Administrative

General and administrative expenses increased approximately $1,226,700 to $6,130,000 for the year ended December 31, 2022, compared to approximately $4,903,000 for the year ended December 31, 2021, primarily due to a decrease of approximately $24,000 in professional expenses, an increase in salaries and employee benefits of approximately $912,000, in IT costs of approximately $22,000, in depreciation expense of approximately $56,000 and in insurance of $67,000. The remaining increase of approximately $198,000 consists of office supplies, equipment rental, travel, meals and investor relations expenses.

Selling and Marketing

Selling and Marketing expenses increased approximately $4,000 to $321,000 for the year ended December 31, 2022, compared to approximately $317,000 for the year ended December 31, 2021, primarily due to the continuation of business development activities through our Master Services Agreement with Westpark Advisors as well as the addition of other consultants in this field.

Research and Development

Research and development expenses increased approximately $39,000 to $321,000 for the year ended December 31, 2022, compared to approximately $282,000 the year ended December 31, 2021, primarily assets that were placed into service during the last two quarters of 2022 that are actively being used to generate work in progress research and development of the company core technologies.

Other Income/(Expense)

Other income decreased approximately $80,000 to $(2,000) for the year ended December 31, 2022, compared to $77,000 for the year ended December 31. 2021, primarily due to the partial forgiveness of the company’s PPP loan.

Net Loss

Our operations in 2022 resulted in a net loss of approximately $5,772,000, an increase of approximately $346,500 compared to the approximately $5,425,500 net loss for 2021, primarily due to increases in general and administrative and research and development expenses, partially offset by higher revenue and a decrease in selling and marketing expense.

Trend Discussion

During the year ended December 31, 2022, as we received our ONR grant and STTR contract with the Army, we recognized revenues as we performed these services and also recorded related costs. Costs under this grant and contract were amplified by ongoing system-wide supply chain disruptions,resulting primarily from the Covid-19 pandemic, shortages of items like semiconductor chips, and related systemic issues, and general inflation. In particular, micro-electronic and semiconductor chip shortages are still impacting supply chains, and as such, can impact our ability to execute and deliver technology to meet demands of our customers. These costs and supply issues also may affect any internal research and development programs, and we anticipate that they will continue for at least the near term.

Our costs and the timing of our performance under grants and contracts are also affected by trends in the US labor market, particularly, recruiting of scientists and technicians. We are currently onboarding three new employees and expect to continue to hire in the next three quarters. We had observed some limited availability in this market, but in early 2023, this has improved, and we anticipate being able to locate and retain the necessary personnel for the foreseeable future.

Liquidity and Capital Resources

Going Concern

The accompanying financial statements have been prepared on a going concern basis, which contemplates the realization of assets and satisfaction of liabilities in the normal course of business. At December 31, 2022, the company had total current assets of $6,086,231 and total current liabilities of $756,532, resulting in working capital surplus of $5,329,699. At December 31, 2022, we had $5,640,308 of cash and cash equivalents, an increase of $1,977,693 from $3,662,615 at December 31, 2021.

During the year ended December 31, 2022, the net cash outflow from operating activities was $3,929,837. This amount was comprised primarily of our net loss of $5,771,642. This was offset by non-cash stock-based compensation expense of $1,776,140, amortization of future compensation payable of $416,666, amortization of prepaid assets of $221,352, loss on disposal of equipment of $14,540, depreciation and amortization expense of $73,519, and the amortization of right of use assets of $112,613. Additionally, net cash used from changes in assets and liabilities totaled $773,025. This included an increase in accounts receivable $353,149, increase in prepaid and deposits of $270,735, a decrease in accounts payable of $78,412 and a decrease in operating lease liabilities of $76,288. This is offset by an increase in accrued expenses and compensation of $5,499.

During the year ended December 31, 2022, the net cash outflow from investing activities was $74,184. This was for the acquisition of equipment.

During the year ended December 31, 2022, net cash flows from financing activities were $5,981,709. This amount consisted of $175,435 in proceeds on a note payable for insurance premium financing, $19,069 from the exercise of options, and $6,586,198 in proceeds from the issuance and sale of 2,993,727 shares of common stock, to investors in a private placement under Section 4(a)(2) of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, which was offset by $798,988 in conjunction with the monthly repayment of the note for the company’s insurance premium financing and AOS note. The proceeds from a subscription payable represent funding received as part of a pending private placement of equity.

On April 28, 2020, AE was awarded a loan for $132,760 through the Small Business Administration (SBA) Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). The terms of this loan were twenty-four months with a 1% annual interest rate. These funds were issued to cover payroll costs over 8 weeks of May and June 2020. Through the utilization of this PPP loan, AE was able to keep all employees fully engaged during these two months of the pandemic. Accordingly, on July 2, 2021, we received a letter from our bank, via the SBA, approving conversion of $80,593.55 of the loan to a grant. Between January and April 2022, the company fully repaid the balance of the loan in four monthly installments at the 1% annual interest rate and no amounts remain outstanding.

Based on the company’s current business plan, we believe our cash balance as of the date of this report, along with anticipated revenues from our recently received ONR grant and STTR agreement, will be sufficient to meet the company’s anticipated cash requirements for the near term. However, there can be no assurance that the current business plan will be achievable.

The company’s existence is dependent upon management’s ability to develop profitable operations. Management is devoting a significant portion of its efforts to developing additional business and raising capital, as needed, but cannot be certain that these efforts will be successful. Management’s business development efforts may not result in profitable operations. To fund its research and development and marketing efforts, the company’s management continues to explore possible financing opportunities through discussions with investment bankers and private investors. The company may not be successful in its effort to secure additional financing on terms it considers favorable. The accompanying consolidated financial statements do not include any adjustments that might result should the company be unable to continue as a going concern.

Additionally, the Russian military action in Ukraine and related economic sanctions around the globe could impact the company’s ability to source necessary supplies and equipment which could materially and adversely affect its ability to continue as a going concern. In addition, the company’s ability to continue as a going concern may depend on its ability to raise capital which may be impacted by these events, including as a result of increased market volatility, or decreased market liquidity. This may result in third-party financing being unavailable on terms acceptable to the company or at all. The impact of this action and related sanctions on the world economy and the specific impact on the company’s financial position and results of operations are not yet determinable. The financial statements do not include any adjustments that might result from the outcome of this uncertainty.

Budgeting for upcoming expenses and costs of supplies and equipment needed to perform our ONR grant, described under “Recent Developments” above, and any other contracts or grants we receive in the future, requires that we estimate factors such as inflation and geo-political events that affect such expenses and costs. The cost of labor continues to increase across many sectors of the US and global economy which is likely to drive up our general and administrative expenses as well as the cost of personnel working directly and indirectly on our grants and contracts. This aspect of inflation is particularly difficult given the highly skilled nature of this work. Inflation is also likely to impact the price of supplies and materials we must purchase in order to perform grants and contracts, some of which may have been bid on based on cost structures which were submitted during periods of lower inflation. In addition, the war in Ukraine and other related geo-political events have further limited the number of countries from which we can source certain supplies and equipment. These limitations can range from outright prohibitions to strong discouragement based on potentially sensitive information. We continually monitor these events and the markets for needed supplies in order to make the best estimates possible, both in our internal budgeting and in any bids or proposals we submit.

Contractual Obligations:

The following table summarize our contractual obligations and other commercial commitments as of December 31, 2022:

The above table does not include the dividends on our Series A Preferred Stock. Assuming that there is no conversion of the outstanding shares of Series A Preferred Stock into shares of common stock, the dividends are approximately $34,000 each year (approximately $9,000 each quarter).

Leases:

In March 2021, the company signed a five-year lease for an 11,000 usable square foot (13,000 rentable square foot) laboratory/office space in Tucson. The lease term commences May 1, 2021 and ends on April 30, 2026. The base rent is $6.7626 per rentable square foot for year one, and escalates to $9.2009 in year two, $11.4806 in year three, $13.1740 in year four and $14.9306 in year five, plus certain operating expenses and taxes.

Preferred Stock

The Series A Preferred Stock has a liquidation preference of $25.00 per share. The Series A Preferred Stock bears dividends at an initial rate of 6.5% of the liquidation preference per share per annum, which accrues from the date of issuance, and is payable quarterly. We have not paid dividends commencing with the quarterly dividend due August 1, 2013 and, as a result, the dividend rate has increased to 10% per annum and will remain at that level until such failure is cured. Dividends due as of December 31, 2022, and March 11, 2023, were approximately $322,000 and $338,000, respectively.

The holders of the Series A Preferred Stock have a right to put the stock to the company for an aggregate amount equal to the liquidation preference (approximately $340,000) plus unpaid dividends of $331,549 as of December 31, 2022, in the event of a change in control. Dividends are payable in: (i) cash, (ii) shares of our common stock (valued for such purpose at 95% of the weighted average of the last sales prices of our common stock for each of the trading days in the ten trading day period ending on the third trading day prior to the applicable dividend payment date), provided that the issuance and/or resale of all such shares of our common stock are then covered by an effective registration statement or (iii) any combination of the foregoing. As of December 31, 2022, there were 13,602 shares of Series A Preferred Stock outstanding.

Recent Accounting Pronouncements:

Refer to Note 3 of Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for a discussion of recent accounting standards and pronouncements.

Off-Balance Sheet Arrangement:

As of December 31, 2022, we had no significant off-balance sheet arrangements.

In the normal course of business, our financial position is subject to a variety of risks, such as the ability to collect our accounts receivable and the recoverability of the carrying values of our long-term assets. We do not presently enter into any transactions involving derivative financial instruments for risk management or other purposes.

Our available cash balances are deposited in bank demand deposit accounts. Substantially all of our cash flows are derived from our operations within the United States and today we are not subject to market risk associated with changes in foreign exchange rates.

Conclusion Regarding the Effectiveness of Disclosure Controls and Procedures

Our management, with the participation of our Chief Executive Officer and Financial Officer, has evaluated the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures as of December 31, 2022. The term “disclosure controls and procedures,” as defined in Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the “Exchange Act”), means controls and other procedures of a company that are designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed by a company in the reports that it files or submits under the Exchange Act is recorded, processed, summarized and reported, within the time periods specified in the SEC’s rules and forms. Disclosure controls and procedures include, without limitation, controls and procedures designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed by a company in the reports that it files or submits under the Exchange Act is accumulated and communicated to the company’s management, including its chief executive and principal financial officers, as appropriate to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure. Management recognizes that any controls and procedures, no matter how well-designed and operated, can provide only reasonable assurance of achieving their objectives and management necessarily applies its judgment in evaluating the cost-benefit relationship of possible controls and procedures. Based on that evaluation our Chief Executive Officer and Principal Financial Officer concluded that our disclosure controls and procedures were not effective as of December 31, 2022.

Management’s Report on Internal Control over Financial Reporting

Our management is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting, as such term is defined in Rules 13a-15(f) or 15d-15(f) under the Exchange Act. Internal control over financial reporting is a process designed by, or under the supervision of, our chief executive and principal financial officers and effected by our Board of Directors, management and other personnel, to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. Internal control over financial reporting includes those policies and procedures that:

• pertain to the maintenance of records that, in reasonable detail, accurately and fairly reflect the transactions and dispositions of the company’s assets;
• provide reasonable assurance that transactions are recorded as necessary to permit preparation of financial statements in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, and that receipts and expenditures of the company are being made only in accordance with authorizations of the management and directors of the company; and
• provide reasonable assurance regarding prevention or timely detection of unauthorized acquisition, use or disposition of the company’s assets that could have a material effect on the financial statements.

Because of its inherent limitations, internal control over financial reporting may not prevent or detect misstatements. Also, projections of any evaluation of effectiveness to future periods are subject to the risk that controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions, or that the degree of compliance with the policies or procedures may deteriorate.

Our management, including our Chief Financial Officer (“CFO”), has conducted an assessment of the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2022, based on the framework established in Internal Control — Integrated Framework issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (the COSO Framework). This assessment included an evaluation of the design of our internal control over financial reporting and testing of the operational effectiveness of those controls. Based on our assessment under the criteria described above, the CFO has concluded that our internal control over financial reporting was not effective as of December 31, 2022.

This Annual Report on Form 10-K does not include an attestation report of our registered public accounting firm regarding internal controls over financial reporting. Management’s report was not subject to attestation by our registered public accounting firm pursuant to the SEC rules that permit smaller reporting companies to provide only management attestation in annual report on Form 10-K.

Changes in Internal Control Over Financial Reporting

There has been no change in Applied Energetics’ internal control over financial reporting for the quarter ended December 31, 2022, that materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect our internal control over financial reporting.