It seems like anywhere autonomy is involved, Applied Intuition finds a way to wiggle in. This time, it’s with defense tech heavyweight AV (FKA AeroVironment).
The $15B autonomy software startup announced this morning that it’s teaming up with AV to integrate its Acuity ISR/Strike swarming software into the latter’s Mayhem 10 “launched effects” (fancy term for networked loitering munition) to enable “autonomous collaborative hunter-killer and swarm operations in contested environments.”
AV said the partnership “directly supports” the Army’s Launched Effects program, which is “designed to autonomously or semi-autonomously deliver effects as a single LE or as a member of a team,” according to the service.
- Applied also demoed its autonomy software with AEVEX’s Atlas Group 2 LE during an exercise with the Army last Fall, where the software autonomously managed swarms and teaming with soldiers to “identify, relay, initiate and carry out desired mission objectives.” Open relationship. Very California.
Family function: AV’s Mayhem 10, unveiled in April, is the newest member of the company’s family of multi-mission UAVs, but is “like a sister” to its ever-popular Switchblade 400 loitering munition (and, conveniently, uses a lot of the same hardware), AV’s SVP of Loitering Munitions Brian Young told Tectonic.
- The Mayhem 10 weighs about 29 pounds and has a 10-pound payload capacity. It’s designed to be modular and adaptable to ISR, comms, and EW systems, but it’s really built for precision strike. It can carry a number of warheads, including the Javelin Multi-Purpose warhead to “definitely [make it] anti-armor” and “a tank killer,” Young said.
- It can be launched from air, ground, or sea-based platforms and has a range of about 100km, a cruising speed of 80mph, and a “dash” speed of over 120mph.
- It’s built to operate autonomously through AV’s AV_Halo COMMAND battle management and C2 software, and—surprise surprise—they worked with Applied Intuition on autonomy and swarming testing during its development.
Buzz and boom: On the Applied Intuition side of the equation, the company is integrating its Acuity ISR/Strike software into the Mayhem 10.
- The software is Applied’s autonomy kit that enables “launched effects and other unmanned systems to perceive, decide, and act collaboratively in contested environments with operator oversight.”
- It’s focused on supporting autonomous target detection, coordinated teaming, and real-time adaptation and re-tasking and can “run directly integrated on the platform or through a GPU-based product we provide to our customers,” an Applied spokesperson told Tectonic.
- For those concerned about the dystopian future of killer flying robots (who isn’t?), the software is also designed to “maintain meaningful human control,” the company added.
The combo deal was put to the test in a recent demo, where it executed “collaborative autonomy behaviors, demonstrating how multiple Mayhem 10 launched effects systems can synchronize, swarm and adapt to different threats” under the control of a single operator.
“Modern warfare demands trusted systems that can think, coordinate, and adapt faster than the adversary,” Applied GM Jason Brown said in a statement. “Acuity ISR/Strike enables intelligent swarms that share targeting data in real-time, dynamically adjust to threats, and execute missions that would be impossible for individual platforms.”
Sounds scary. Glad they’re on our side.
