Abraham Bachrach

The DARPA Albatross program aims to develop effective autonomous aircraft soaring capabilities leveraging weather forecast-informed mission planning and real-time onboard exploitation of dynamic environmental conditions to allow autonomous vehicles to fly farther and longer. MORSE Corp is excited to bring solutions to this complex problem, spanning platform integration, autonomy, weather forecasting, mission planning, artificial intelligence, and flight testing. Read more about the Albatross program: https://lnkd.in/d3AEEcKm

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Seeing Systems (YC W26) is building inexpensive autonomous strike drones designed to stay operationally relevant as warfare evolves. By combining true hardware modularity with an agentic control system that lowers cognitive load on operators, they enable faster upgrades, broader adoption, and more than 2x reduction in lifecycle cost. Customers and partners include the Royal Marine Commandos, several other units in the UK, and 4 other NATO forces. They are currently shipping prototypes to Ukraine for iterative feedback. Seeing Systems maintains tight innovation loops by embedding forward-deployed engineers within units, integrating real-world feedback into systems in days, not months. Built by brothers Alex and Matt Le Maitre, they combine previous defense experience across hardware and software with a focus on building the systems our operators actually need. Congrats on the launch Alexander Le Maitre and Matthew Le Maitre! https://lnkd.in/dV6dtvsc

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Autonomous flight – delivered at record speed. Through rapid development and integration, GA-ASI continues to prove speed to flight during a recent demonstration of Shield AI's AI-powered autonomy software aboard our MQ-20 Avenger®. Learn more: https://lnkd.in/eUsZAjXY

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Launched Effect drones are tremendous assets, but their limited range means they need a proven and survivable platform like the Black Hawk to bring them closer to the action and maximize their time on station. Modernizing the Black Hawk is a low-risk, affordable path to meet these and other critical needs that include: Introducing engine upgrades that provide the Black Hawk increased payload, range and capacity to meet the needs of forces in the Indo-Pacific; Integrating on-board drones and launchers, strengthening the Black Hawk’s role as a forward node on the network; and Installing a modular open systems approach, or MOSA, digital backbone, so the Black Hawk can enable forward mission command of launched effects and other uncrewed aircraft. #AAAASummit

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Cool to hear Booz Allen Hamilton’s CEO Horacio Rozanski describe Hivemind as “the operating system for drones”—the software stack powering Shield AI systems and enabling others to build and scale autonomy faster.   Hivemind Enterprise is modular, scalable, and backed by a decade of development, the same autonomy that has flown quadcopters, jets, and V-BAT. If you’re building uncrewed systems, we’re ready to help you deploy autonomy faster than ever.   Full clip: https://lnkd.in/eDtpFF8a Autonomy for the world. The greatest victory requires no war. #AI #Autonomy #UncrewedSystems #DefenseInnovation

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#ICYMI: Video of Firestorm Labs’ modular Tempest drone conducting a successful terminal guidance test at NPS' Joint Interagency Field Experimentation (JIFX) ... "JIFX is important to Firestorm because it allows us access to some airspace that we otherwise don't normally get. Additionally, there's a bunch of partners that also operate at JIFX that really want to work with Firestorm. And we're really excited to be able to work these companies and add their cutting-edge technologies to our Tempest to bolster its capability in the field,” said Rosario Aiello, Firestorm’s integrations group leader. While JIFX at NPS continues to prove its exceptional value on a shoe-string budget by a very innovative team, developing defense critical technologies and hands-on learning for the researchers and students involved, there is great promise to expand operations and impact as the call to action for accelerating drone applications in DOD demands increased access to ready ranges. - Read the full story: https://lnkd.in/ghnFEJyA - JIFX at NPS: https://nps.edu/web/fx US Navy | United States Marine Corps | Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) | Office of Naval Research | Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development and Acquisition | Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering | Firestorm #autonomy #drones #STEMeducation #appliedresearch (Does not constitute endorsement of participating companies in JIFX.)

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Aerodynamic design is fundamental to #aircraft performance, efficiency, and safety. Traditional tools like CFD and wind tunnel testing, while accurate, are often time-consuming and resource-heavy—slowing down early-stage innovation. The ESDU VGK Toolbox offers a faster, more accessible approach. Built on the trusted VGK method, it delivers accurate aerodynamic predictions through a streamlined, user-friendly interface, empowering engineers to make better decisions earlier and accelerate time-to-market. Discover how the ESDU VGK Toolbox is advancing #aerodynamicdesign and reshaping the future of aircraft development here: https://hubs.la/Q03dVFl80 #aerospaceengineering #aerodynamics #digitalengineering #advancedengineering

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The Elytra team is moving full steam ahead with Mission 1 scenario testing. Our crew is running the spacecraft from Mission Control using flight-like data to practice on-orbit vehicle commissioning and payload operations. Mission 1 details here: https://lnkd.in/gxPE5hwR 

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Precision mapping is the foundation of safe, scalable autonomous mobility. Space42 has signed two landmark agreements with Dynamic Map Platform North America (DMP):​ - Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to collaborate on HD mapping standards, international autonomous driving pilots, and joint AI research​ - Long-term agreement to deliver the HD map powering General Motors’ Super Cruise ADAS across the UAE, processed securely on Microsoft Azure's Sovereign Cloud​ ​ Together, these initiatives set a benchmark for road safety, expand autonomous mobility capabilities, and reinforce the UAE’s position as a leader in intelligent transport.​ ​ Swipe to learn more.

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#12DaysofNRL 🚀 Day 2: APIARY 🤖 The U.S. Naval Research Laboratory’s (NRL) Autonomous Planning In-space Assembly Reinforcement-learning free-flYer (APIARY) team successfully used reinforcement learning to control a free-flying robot on the International Space Station! https://lnkd.in/ecRS4sGm #ReinforcementLearning #NASA #Robotics #SpaceExploration #AutonomousSystems #MachineLearning #STEM #DefenseInnovation #ArtificialIntelligence #americasnavy US Navy Office of Naval Research Office of Naval Research Global (ONR Global)

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Haven Demo is now fully integrated and undergoing vibration testing at Vast’s headquarters in Long Beach, CA. Haven Demo will test in orbit critical systems such as compute, power, software, guidance and control, propulsion, radios, ground stations, mission control, and more, for Haven-1, the world’s first commercial space station set to launch in May 2026. This milestone represents months of cross-functional effort in engineering, mission assurance, manufacturing, supply chain, and integration. Each step strengthens our process and readiness for future missions.

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  Touring RLSO 4: Stochastic gradient methods as a sequential decision problem   Continuing my tour of “Reinforcement Learning and Stochastic Optimization” …   Chapter 5 of my RLSO book shows that any stochastic gradient algorithm can be written as a sequential decision problem. The graphic below shows the standard stochastic gradient (for a maximization problem) using a simple Kesten stepsize rule (but this works for any stepsize rule). The rest of the graphic shows the five elements of the universal modeling framework for an SDA using this update.   Note that a “stepsize rule” is a form of policy function approximation (PFA), which is just one of the four classes of policies. Note that all PFAs are parameterized functions that need to be tuned, and the tuning depends on the initial state S_0 (which includes, among other things, the choice of starting point).    If this were a deterministic nonlinear programming problem, we would use a one-dimensional search, which his a form of direct lookahead approximation (DLA).   A potential path for overcoming the need for tuning (which is serious, and often overlooked) would be to devise a stochastic lookahead. Most important is the realization that we should at least think about the other three classes of policies.   Or perhaps we should look into CFAs or VFAs. Fresh thinking about a very old problem.

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