The U.S.-based defense and industrial technology company said the awards cover work with U.S. Army warfighters. Palladyne AI delivers embodied AI-powered collaborative autonomy solutions, advanced avionics, precision-manufactured components, UAVs and advanced aerospace engineering services.
“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. The company said it enables a single operator to command an entire team of autonomous unmanned systems from multiple manufacturers at the same time.
The capability is described as cross-platform and decentralized. Palladyne AI said it is protected by the company’s patent portfolio.
GuideTech is advancing Gremlin-X, formerly known as Banshee, as a low-cost, reusable Group 2 strike unmanned aircraft system. The platform is designed to give small, dispersed formations an affordable way to engage time-critical targets.
Palladyne AI said Gremlin-X is intended to operate without centralized control, exquisite communications or expendable airframes for each strike. The aircraft is a reusable but attritable multirotor UAV designed to deliver munitions with precision in denied, degraded, intermittent and limited environments.
In operation, Gremlin-X functions as an autonomous loitering munition that can return for reuse. Because the airframe is recovered, the company said the recurring cost per strike is driven mainly by the munition rather than the platform.
Under the contract, Palladyne AI will demonstrate SwarmOS and Gremlin-X during a series of U.S. Army 4th Infantry Division exercises in Colorado and California. The events will evaluate SwarmOS in direct support of 4ID reconnaissance and target acquisition mission requirements.
The demonstrations will use Army-specified platforms through the Android Team Awareness Kit, known as ATAK. ATAK is described in the release as the Army’s widely deployed command-and-control interface.
Palladyne AI also plans to demonstrate SwarmOS, IntelliSwarm and Gremlin-X at Northern Strike 26-2. The company described the event as a major demonstration milestone and a premier Department of War joint exercise involving more than 9,000 participants.
“This contract marks a decisive shift in how the U.S. Army is engaging with autonomous systems, moving from evaluation to funded operational use in the field,” said Doug Dynes, President of Palladyne Aerospace and Defense. “The 4ID experimentation program 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. For Palladyne AI, this will demonstrate our ability to be a trusted supplier of proven autonomy solutions and opens a strong pathway toward programs of record.”
The awards place Palladyne AI’s swarm autonomy software and Gremlin-X UAV into operational validation with Army units. The company said the work is intended to show how autonomous systems can support distributed formations in field conditions.
