Jamie Bennet 
- AeroVironment and Applied Intuition have entered into a strategic partnership to bolster collaborative autonomous uncrewed military systems
- The strategic teaming agreement involves the integration of Applied Intuition’s Acuity ISR/Strike software into AeroVironment’s Mayhem 10
- The partnership comes after the companies completed a demonstration of the Mayhem 10 autonomous launched effects system
AeroVironment announced Wednesday that it has entered into a strategic teaming agreement with Applied Intuition aimed at advancing collaborative autonomy for uncrewed military systems.
What Is the Goal of the Partnership?
Under the partnership, the two companies plan to integrate Applied Intuition’s Acuity ISR/Strike software into AV’s Mayhem 10 launched effects system. The technology integration aims to give the U.S. military and allied forces the ability to run coordinated “hunter-killer” and swarm missions using multiple Mayhem 10 systems operating together in contested battlefield conditions. Under the planned setup, a single human operator would oversee teams of the launched effects systems as they autonomously locate, track, and engage tactical targets.
Aligning with the U.S. Army’s Launched Effects program, the partnership has been structured so the underlying software can be applied across launched effects systems of varying range classes — short, medium and long range.
A demonstration was recently completed in which several Mayhem 10 systems showed off collaborative autonomy behaviors, including the ability to synchronize actions, operate as a swarm and adjust to different threat scenarios. AV said the demonstration validated its technology’s integration with that of Applied Intuition’s.
What Is Mayhem 10?
AV’s Mayhem 10 next-generation autonomous launched effects system is a single platform for kinetic and non-kinetic missions across air, ground and sea domains. Building on AV’s Switchblade loitering munitions systems, Mayhem 10 features a modular open architecture that lets operators reconfigure it for ISR, electronic warfare, communications relay or precision-strike roles without changing the air vehicle.
The system can carry a 10-pound payload, fly over 100 kilometers, stay airborne for more than 50 minutes. Its AI-driven autonomy is built to operate in GPS-denied, electronically contested environments with resistance to jamming and spoofing.
What Is Acuity ISR/Strike?
Applied Intuition’s Acuity ISR/Strike is a platform-agnostic autonomy software, built to let launched effects and other uncrewed systems sense their surroundings, make decisions and act as a coordinated group in contested environments while a human operator retains oversight. The software is designed to support autonomous target detection, teaming across multiple agents and on-the-fly mission adjustments.
