Palladyne AI has secured two US Army contracts to research, develop and operationally validate its SwarmOS autonomous swarm software and Gremlin-X reusable UAV across multiple operational exercises.
Palladyne AI has been awarded a pair of contracts to research, develop and operationally validate SwarmOS and Gremlin-X with US Army warfighters, competitively selected under the Army’s Disruptive Applications Broad Agency Announcement.
“The hardest problem in autonomous systems isn’t making one platform smart, it’s making heterogeneous platforms from different manufacturers collaborate intelligently without dependence on centralized infrastructure that adversaries can target and defeat,” said Dr Denis Garagic, Chief Technology Officer and Principal Investigator, Palladyne AI. “We solved that. SwarmOS operates on edge hardware in the field in degraded and denied communications environments. These contracts take that proven capability into Army operational validation.”
SwarmOS is Palladyne AI’s edge AI autonomy and collaborative autonomy software stack that enables a single operator to command an entire team of autonomous unmanned systems from multiple manufacturers simultaneously – a cross-platform, decentralised capability protected by Palladyne AI’s patent portfolio.
GuideTech is advancing Gremlin-X (formerly Banshee) as a low-cost, reusable Group 2 strike UAS designed to provide small, dispersed formations with an affordable means to engage time-critical targets without requiring centralised control, exquisite communications or expendable airframes per strike.
Gremlin-X is a reusable but attritable multirotor UAV designed to deliver munitions with precision in denied, degraded, intermittent and limited (DDIL) environments. In operation, Gremlin-X is an autonomous loitering munition that can return for reuse. Because the airframe is recovered, recurring cost per strike is driven primarily by the munition rather than the platform, a meaningful advantage over traditional loitering munitions.
Under the contract, Palladyne AI will demonstrate SwarmOS and Gremlin-X across a series of US Army 4th Infantry Division (4ID) exercises in Colorado and California. These engagements will evaluate SwarmOS in direct support of 4ID Reconnaissance and Target Acquisition mission requirements, operating on Army-specified platforms via the Android Team Awareness Kit (ATAK), the Army’s widely deployed command-and-control interface.
Northern Strike 26-2 represents another major demonstration milestone of the company’s capabilities. Palladyne AI will demonstrate SwarmOS, IntelliSwarm and Gremlin-X at this premier Department of War joint exercise, involving more than 9,000 participants.
“This contract marks a decisive shift in how the US Army is engaging with autonomous systems, moving from evaluation to funded operational use in the field,” said Doug Dynes, President, Palladyne Aerospace and Defense. “The 4ID experimentation programme puts our technology directly in the hands of warfighters across multiple venues and mission sets. Northern Strike 26-2 will bring that validation into a joint exercise environment for the first time.”
