Many startups are making drones. Some are making missiles. Few are making mid-size drones that fire missiles. On Monday, Aeon and Delta Black announced in an exclusive release to Tectonic that they’re partnering to fill that gap by adding Aeon’s software-defined Zeus missiles onto Delta Black’s RAIDER 330 Group 3 drone.
(Ae)On Fire: Aeon, founded in 2023 and led by CEO Naweed Tahmas, is on a mission to make missiles modular and software-focused. They have two mythology-inspired main offerings, Zeus and ODIN:
- Zeus features 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.
- It runs on Aeon’s ODIN autonomous threat identification and targeting software, which Aeon says can be updated to adapt to new capabilities, threats, and countermeasures.
- Aeon recently teamed up with X-Bow Systems to jointly design, develop, and produce new missiles, and partnered with webAI last week to add Zeus to webAI’s Field AI distributed system. That’ll help the missile software learn and share insights locally.
Big and bad: Delta Black, meanwhile, launched last year and is led by Clay Kroschel, a former Shield Al exec and Marine Corps vet. The company is developing a Group 3 drone called the RAIDER 330.
Originally designed for ISR, the RAIDER is getting a big-time missile makeover with Aeon’s Zeus:
- Delta Black calls the RAIDER a hybrid-electric VTOL platform “designed to deliver Group 4 capabilities in a Group 3 footprint—at a Group 2 cost.”
- The RAIDER, according to Delta Black, has a 1,600 nautical mile range, over 28 hours of endurance, and a payload capacity of over 100 pounds, which Aeon says is enough to initially carry four Zeus missiles.
- Work has already started on integrating Zeus onto the RAIDER, and the companies are set to show it off at AUSA in a few weeks.
Making missiles modern: Most of the missile systems in today’s arsenal are pretty darn old, and they were definitely not designed to be software-defined, updated, and integrated with drones. Aeon and Delta Black’s partnership is looking to close that gap and make drones lethal (two of the Pentagon’s favorite words, we’ll note).
According to Aeon, the joint product will be designed to provide UAS to special operations and expeditionary units that need both ISR and strike capabilities, offering quick and unmanned targeting, engagement, and organic close air support capability to forward operating base commanders and frontline units.
“The RAIDER’s payload flexibility means we can rack Zeus missiles in volume to provide real firepower to unmanned systems in a way that’s affordable, adaptable, and ready now to deliver precision mass,” Aeon CEO Naweed Tahmas told Tectonic in a statement. “Our goal is clear: deliver scalable precision strike from a trusted, unmanned platform.”