MANASSAS, Va. — RapidFlight, designer and additive manufacturer of attritable, mission-customized, mass-producible drones, successfully demonstrated its ability to rapidly design, manufacture, and deploy the SPX, an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), to Autonomy Prime specifications in less than 90 days. This was a first deliverable under RapidFlight’s $10 million contract with the U.S. Air Force (USAF) AFWERX Autonomy Prime program. The work under the contract culminated with successful three-day training effort followed by USAF-operated flights at Airlie Airfield in Warrenton, Virginia last month.
This project milestone follows the June 2024 announcement that RapidFlight was tasked with delivering a rapidly customizable, mission oriented, autonomous, fixed-wing UAV to address urgent Department of Defense requirements. The contract positioned RapidFlight as a key partner in the U.S. Air Force’s modernization efforts, leveraging the company’s proprietary AgileAviation process to rapidly design and manufacture mission-ready aircraft.
RapidFlight demonstrated its ability to swiftly deploy SPX, a clean-sheet aircraft, fully designed and manufactured to customer specified mission requirements. RapidFlight then trained USAF personnel in just three days to successfully fly and operate the aircraft. This milestone marks a new chapter for the SPX platform as a deployable asset for the U.S., other DoD customers, and their allies.
“The SPX demo is a testament to the innovation and collaboration achieved at an incredibly fast pace,” said Bennett Steward, AFWERX program manager, discussing the program’s progress. “This approach to rapid and modular UAS design and manufacturing shows promise in enhancing Air Force operations, especially as small UAS technologies become increasingly relevant for military strategies and objectives.”
“This milestone showcases RapidFlight’s ability to deliver superior solutions quickly and to the exacting specifications of ever-evolving national defense needs,” said Mike Uffelman, director of growth at RapidFlight. “The SPX’s compliance with key legislative requirements—2020 NDAA Section 848 and 2023 NDAA Section 817—ensures the USAF is equipped with safe, reliable, and high-performance UAS technology. More importantly, the success of this collaboration demonstrates a new type of workflow between contractor and the military that will enable the US Armed Forces and its allies to more readily respond to evolving unmanned battlefield dynamics.”
About AFWERX
As the innovation arm of the DAF and a directorate within the Air Force Research Laboratory, AFWERX brings cutting-edge American ingenuity from small businesses and start-ups to address the most pressing challenges of the DAF. AFWERX employs approximately 370 military, civilian and contractor personnel at five hubs and sites executing an annual $1.4 billion budget. Since 2019, AFWERX has executed over 6,200 new contracts worth more than $4.7 billion to strengthen the U.S. defense industrial base and drive faster technology transition to operational capability. For more information, visit: www.afwerx.com.
About AFRL
The Air Force Research Laboratory is the primary scientific research and development center for the Department of the Air Force. AFRL plays an integral role in leading the discovery, development, and integration of affordable warfighting technologies for our air, space and cyberspace force. With a workforce of more than 12,500 across nine technology areas and 40 other operations across the globe, AFRL provides a diverse portfolio of science and technology ranging from fundamental to advanced research and technology development. For more information, visit www.afresearchlab.com.
About RapidFlight
Based in Manassas, Virginia, RapidFlight is a design, technology, and additive manufacturing company capable of producing thousands of customized, low-cost, mission-ready, unmanned systems both centrally and at the tactical edge. The company’s proprietary digital design and manufacturing processes, called AgileAviation, and experienced team of industry professionals are setting new standards in aircraft customization and mass manufacturing. RapidFlight addresses the dynamic challenges and stringent timelines critical to national security. For more details, visit www.rapidflight.aero.
