OSHKOSH, Wis. — Oshkosh Defense and Silicon Valley-based autonomous aircraft startup Grid Aero today announced a strategic partnership to make production-ready autonomous modular payload aircraft technology.
The collaboration is designed to address the Department of Defense's demand for resilient, autonomous aircraft solutions in contested environments by pairing Grid Aero’s aircraft design with Oshkosh’s manufacturing expertise, supply chain and ability to industrialize complex defense systems at scale.
Grid Aero develops autonomous modular payload aircraft for contested and austere operations. The company brings modular airframe architecture that can be rapidly configured, adapted and scaled across emerging missions to address critical defense challenges.
Under the partnership, Oshkosh Defense will work with Grid Aero on design for manufacturability, production planning, supply chain optimization and building Lifter aircraft, its "pickup truck of the skies," at scale.
The collaboration will leverage Oshkosh’s Wisconsin-based manufacturing infrastructure, workforce expertise and production capacity to establish advanced autonomous systems manufacturing capability.
“This partnership represents a new model for defense innovation, bringing Silicon Valley’s transformative technology development together with the Midwest’s unmatched manufacturing capability,” said Logan Jones, chief growth officer of Oshkosh Defense.
Grid Aero was founded a little more than two years ago by former VP of engineering at Xwing and Joby Aviation engineer, Arthur Dubois (CEO), former Wisk engineer Chinmay Patel (CTO) and Northrop Grumman veteran Brandon Florian (CCO).
“We designed our Lifter aircraft platform to bend the cost curve for long-range airpower. It is simple, rugged, piston-powered and built from ubiquitous materials, borrowing as much from military trucks as from traditional aircraft,” said Arthur Dubois. “That is what makes Oshkosh the right partner. Their manufacturing expertise and defense experience let us build at the quality, cost and scale that today’s customers require.”
Affordable mass is a top Defense Department priority. The Pentagon has called for low-cost, Group 4 and 5 unmanned aircraft it can buy in quantity, produce at scale and adapt across missions as payloads change.
Initial work under the partnership focuses on production engineering, design for manufacturing and customer engagement to demonstrate production-ready autonomous logistics aircraft to defense customers.
In August, Oshkosh Corporation hosted Pete Hegseth to show the Secretary of Defense how the defense contractor's employees, advanced manufacturing capabilities and industrial capacity support the Department of Defense's strategic priorities.
