German defense group Rheinmetall and USA-based Drone operating software company Auterion are to develop a set of standardized software-based components for unmanned drone systems.
A long-term agreement between the two companies aims to create industry standards for controlling and operating unmanned aerial, land, and naval drones. The agreement covers joint product development and sales activities.
The resulting homogeneous operating system is expected to provide military users with a significant advantage.
The Düsseldorf-based Rheinmetall manufactures drones including the Luna NG and Aladin systems used by the German Armed Forces / Bundeswehr that have been deployed in Ukraine for several months.
Dr Timo Haas, chief digital officer at Rheinmetall AG said, “We see over two hundred different aerial unmanned systems in Ukraine. This makes military training very costly and time-consuming, and system interoperability is not guaranteed.
“Co-operation with Auterion and the development of a homogeneous operating system will enable the efficient and scalable deployment of unmanned systems. With our approach, there will be no need for system-dependent user training or system-specific integration into an overall system network in the future”.
Lorenz Meier, CEO of Auterion said, “In the future, drones will be used in large quantities and, like computers and smartphones, they need a common operating system to make this happen.
“AuterionOS allows the customer to combine all drones on a common basis and to integrate different manufacturers into a common architecture. Our software stack has already been tried and tested in operation and thus enables software-defined defense”.
Auterion provides operating systems and apps for aerial, land and naval drones for military and civilian applications. The company has its headquarters in Arlington, Virginia and operates R&D sites in Munich and Zurich.
