Everything’s bigger in Texas, especially the explosions.
On Monday, Aeon, an Austin-based smart missile startup, announced in an exclusive release to Tectonic that it has successfully completed all-up live-fire tests of its Zeus missile platform for the US Army Transformation and Training Command (T2COM) and the Army Applications Lab (AAL) ahead of schedule. Talk about moving fast and breaking things.
(Ae)On a roll: Aeon’s blown up (pun intended) since its founding in 2023. The startup, led by CEO Naweed Tahmas, is on a mission to make missiles more software-defined and versatile.
Their flagship product is the Zeus advanced tactical weapon system, which runs on Aeon’s ODIN targeting software:
- Zeus offers automatic threat identification, persistent tracking, and minimal-smoke “modern propellant.”
- Aeon says Zeus is compatible with current systems, supports shoulder-fire, multi-launch, and vehicle-mount configurations, and can be remotely operated and deployed on ATAK.
- Aeon’s ODIN threat identification and targeting software can be quickly updated to adapt to new capabilities, threats, and countermeasures.
- Aeon’s tech is all vertically integrated, meaning they design and mix their own propellant, use their own rocket motors, and make Zeus’s fuze, flight computers, control system, and other components in-house.
Big boom: The recent live-fire test was carried out under an Army Applications Lab and Transformation and Training Command (T2COM) contract Aeon received in April to develop a modular payload and an electronic safe and arm device (ESAD)—a safety mechanism that prevents a rocket from accidentally detonating—for Zeus.
The value of the contract wasn’t disclosed, but it’s safe to say Aeon made the most of it.
- The missile maker teamed up with Global Technical Systems (GTS) to integrate a GTS warhead onto Zeus, which was tested at GTS’ Defense Munitions Proving Ground.
- Aeon also developed and tested a new patented modular payload system for Zeus, and worked with the Army DEVCOM Armaments Center and Aviation and Missiles Center on the ESAD and fuze.
- Aeon says they built the integrated package and showed it off to the Army T2COM Deputy Commanding General, the Army Applications Laboratory, and the Army DEVCOM Aviation & Missile Center at an undisclosed date, way ahead of schedule.
“During this rapid testing campaign, we successfully validated an all-up arming and firing chain built from production-representative hardware: Motors, fuze and electronics, and a scalable warhead built with GTS that tore through multiple plates of steel,” the company told Tectonic in a statement. “The test used production-representative hardware, not prototypes, because innovation only matters if you can build it repeatedly and [it can] be used on the battlefield.”
It sounds like Tahmas is feeling pretty good about what his team showed the Army, and how fast they did it. “Aeon accomplished in months what many companies take years to even start,” he told Tectonic. “We’re vertically integrated, move fast, and ship hardware ahead of schedule because our team has decades of experience building some of the world’s most advanced missile systems.”