US firms unveil autonomous strike aircraft developed at record speed

U.S. defense technology firms Divergent Technologies and Mach Industries unveiled an autonomous strike aircraft prototype named Venom in Los Angeles on February 17, achieving flight readiness in a record 71 days. This rapid development timeline highlights the potential of digital manufacturing and modular engineering to drastically shorten traditional aerospace production cycles, which typically take years. Venom serves as a flight demonstration platform to prove that defense hardware can be designed and produced quickly using software-driven engineering and advanced additive manufacturing techniques. Central to Venom’s accelerated development is Divergent’s Adaptive Production System (DAPS), which replaces complex multi-part assemblies with large, unified structures created through additive manufacturing. This innovation reduces part counts, assembly time, and potential failure points while maintaining structural integrity, enabling aerospace-grade production at speeds comparable to software development. Meanwhile, Mach Industries led the modular system architecture and avionics integration, employing a parallel engineering approach that allowed simultaneous hardware and software development. This method facilitated rapid iteration, testing, and integration of autonomous flight capabilities, further