US company Swarmer, Inc., which develops autonomous drone-control platforms, has signed an agreement to acquire certain intellectual property assets from Ukrainian manufacturer of FPV drones and interceptor drones Vataga Drone. This is stated in a press release from Swarmer, Inc.
The agreement, which provides for a cash payment and an equity stake, will grant Swarmer rights to Vataga’s portfolio of intellectual property in hardware and software. It includes FPV drone airframe designs, initiation electronics, ground-control equipment, development tools and manufacturing documentation.
After the deal is signed, Vataga CEO Maksym Melnyk and 14 members of the hardware research and development team will join Swarmer, while Vataga will continue to operate as an independent manufacturing company.
“Integrating combat-proven hardware capabilities into our company enables us to create robust end-to-end solutions that cover every layer of the system. We are pleased to welcome Maksym Melnyk and his talented team of engineers to Swarmer. Our top priority will be scaling the combat use of FPV drones and interceptor drones capable of operating as part of a swarm,” said Swarmer’s President and CEO in the United States, Alex Fink.
Maksym Melnyk said he expects to combine Vataga’s expertise in hardware design with Swarmer’s software capabilities to create full-cycle, end-to-end solutions.
Vataga Drone is a Ukrainian defence technology company founded in 2023 and headquartered in Kyiv. The company designs and manufactures strike FPV drones and its own initiation electronics, and also develops interceptor-drone systems to counter unmanned aerial vehicles. The FPV-10 “Peacemaker” platform has NATO codification and is listed on the Brave1 defence technology marketplace. VTG Spark initiation boards are supplied to other Ukrainian drone manufacturers.
Swarmer is a US defence technology company specialising in software compatible with hardware from different manufacturers. Swarmer’s core areas of activity include autonomous swarm coordination, integration of unmanned systems across different operational domains, and AI-based autonomous control software designed for distributed operations. Swarmer’s technologies were first used in combat operations in Ukraine in April 2024. Swarmer is headquartered in Austin, Texas. The company also has offices and teams in Ukraine, Poland and Estonia. In September, Swarmer, Inc concluded a final agreement to acquire Ukrainian unmanned ground vehicle manufacturer Ratel Robotics.