Texas-based autonomy systems developer Swarmer has collaborated with North Carolina’s Oak Grove Technologies to modernize autonomous drone swarming capabilities for US military training and operations.
The arrangement establishes Oak Grove as the first US defense industry partner to adapt Swarmer’s solution on a native drone platform, integrating advanced pilot software into its Chimera unmanned aerial system (UAS).
Swarmer’s ecosystem includes an artificial intelligence behavioral software, multi-domain control interface, and a zero-trust embedded operating system that maintains secure video and encrypted communication during electronic warfare attacks or GPS disruption.
Meanwhile, Oak Grove’s Chimera family of UAS consists of 5-, 7-, and 10-inch (13-, 18-, and 25-centimeter) variants optimized for missions ranging from covert intelligence and extended-endurance flights to heavy payload transport.
The companies said the integrated capability is intended to support training and operational assessments for the US Department of Defense, the Department of Homeland Security, and allied partners.
“Integrating Swarmer’s technology into our Chimera platform … creates new opportunities to train warfighters with the autonomous capabilities that are urgently needed in current and future operations,” said Mark Gross, CEO at Oak Grove Technologies.
Delivering ‘Compounding Advantage’
The partnership follows an integration and testing campaign conducted in Eastern Europe in late 2025, during which the combined system completed about 100 flights under varying weather conditions to validate capabilities developed for US Special Operations Forces.
Lessons from those demonstrations informed refinements incorporated into production units in early 2026.
According to Swarmer, its autonomous software has also been used in over 100,000 combat missions in Ukraine since April 2024, providing operational data that has shaped the platform’s continued development.
“The volume of data collected from these real-world missions … has given us a compounding advantage that simply can’t be replicated in labs or test ranges,” said Alex Fink, president and US CEO at Swarmer.
“Working with OGT has enabled us to further validate our battle-tested software on their proven US platform, ensuring … operators have access to intelligent autonomous capabilities that are ready to be deployed swiftly when it’s needed the most.”
