It took just 71 days for US firms Divergent Technologies and Mach Industries to turn a new strike aircraft concept from the drawing board into a flight-ready prototype.
Mach Industries kicked off development of the “Venom” autonomous aircraft by creating its blueprint, defining key specifications for its capabilities and overall structure.
The company leveraged electronics and software already tested on other aircraft to speed up development and reduce risk of malfunctions.
Meanwhile, Divergent handled the digital design and 3D printing of Venom’s airframe, wings, fuselage, and other control surfaces.
Using its Adaptive Production System (DAPSTM), the California-based firm produced large sections of the aircraft as single pieces, rather than hundreds of smaller parts.
This approach made production faster, cut weight, and improved performance by reducing the number of moving components that need monitoring.
“Going from inception to flight in 71 days is a clear demonstration of what’s possible when DAPSTM is utilized from day one,” Divergent Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer Lukas Czinger said. “This is what production at the speed of relevance looks like.”
Faster Production Lines
Venom is not the first product to benefit from the Divergent-Mach collaboration.
Over an 18-month period, the partnership produced four aircraft prototypes from concept to flight using DAPSTM.
Their work highlights an alternative production process for autonomous defense systems, swapping slow assembly lines for software-driven 3D printing to get prototypes into the field faster.
Czinger stressed that Divergent could scale production further, with the potential to produce thousands of airframes annually.
Neither Divergent nor Mach Industries have revealed technical details of the Venom prototype or when it might officially take flight.
