Solutions · Defense

Mission Readiness Starts
with What You Can See.

ATLAS delivers autonomous, ITAR-compliant inspection of military aircraft, spacecraft, and depot infrastructure — 85% time reduction, 87.5% labor reduction, 98% accuracy. Active engagements at NASA KSC and AFRL; DIU evaluation underway for F-35 depot-level inspection.

Request a Capabilities Briefing See engagement pathways

The problem

The readiness crisis
is a maintenance crisis.

Military readiness is in freefall. CV-22 Osprey: 30.45% mission-capable vs. 75% target. Across the DoD, mission-capable rates consistently fall below targets and the root cause is maintenance — specifically, inspection bottlenecks.

The shortage is structural: 40,000 mechanics short in North America by 2028, with the OEM aircraft backlog exceeding 14,000 aircraft and average fleet age at 13.4 years. Manual inspection takes 6+ hours per asset, covers 60-70% of the surface, and depends on a shrinking pool of certified NDT technicians.

Every hour an aircraft spends in inspection is an hour it cannot fly. The readiness gap is not a funding problem. It is a capacity problem.

Source: DataRoom_v2_C/07.Supplementary · DataRoom_v2_C/06.Traction · CV-22 mission-capable rates per DoD readiness reporting

The solution

Autonomous inspection.
Defense-grade security.
Immediate readiness impact.

ATLAS was designed for defense requirements from its first prototype — not retrofitted from a commercial product. Six fused sensor modalities, ITAR compliance, AES-256 encryption, on-device compute that enables classified and disconnected operating environments.

Active engagements: NASA Kennedy Space Center (Artemis-tied spacecraft infrastructure engagement) · Air Force Research Lab (hyperspectral composite-analysis R&D) · Defense Innovation Unit (under evaluation for F-35 depot-level inspection). Demos scheduled with Army Materiel Command, SOCOM, Navy, and USAF over the next six months. Vandenberg support-infrastructure contracts targeted.

Key benefits

Four ways ATLAS moves
the readiness needle.

Operational impact measured against the metrics the DoD actually tracks.

85% Inspection Time Reduction

18-25 min vs. 6+ hrs per airframe

Return aircraft to mission-ready status faster. Reduce maintenance-driven non-mission-capable rates.

98% Defect Detection

6 fused modalities · <3% false positives

Find corrosion, fatigue cracks, battle-damage indicators, and subsurface degradation that visual inspection misses.

Condition-Based Readiness

FAA-aligned audit-ready records

Shift from calendar-based to condition-based maintenance. Predictive-maintenance signals from ATLAS Connect flag aircraft needing attention before they report non-mission-capable.

Workforce Force Multiplier

0.5 FTE per scan · 1 operator, multiple units

Address the 40,000-mechanic shortage without lowering standards. ATLAS augments your existing maintenance teams — not replaces them.

Use cases

Across every platform
the maintenance enterprise touches.

Fighter, transport, rotary, and GSE — same robot, mission-specific sensor configuration.

Use case 01

Tactical Aircraft Inspection

Full exterior scan of fighter airframes in under 20 minutes. Detect fatigue cracking around high-stress areas, corrosion in panel joints, and coating degradation from operational environments.

Use case 02

Mobility Fleet Maintenance

Large-frame transport aircraft inspection with 99.5% surface coverage. Identify structural issues in aging airframes operating beyond original design life.

Use case 03

Helicopter & Tilt-Rotor Inspection

Multi-spectral inspection of complex rotor system geometries, tail boom structures, and airframe surfaces. Six sensors detect vibration-induced fatigue and environmental corrosion.

Use case 04

Ground Support Equipment

Extend ATLAS inspection to hangars, fuel systems, weapons storage facilities, and GSE. Same platform, same sensors, same AI — applied to the full maintenance enterprise.

Security & compliance

Designed for classified
environments.

Every certification and encryption posture you need before procurement asks. Documented, auditable, and air-gappable from day one.

Defense

ITAR Compliant

Meets International Traffic in Arms Regulations requirements for defense programs.

DoD

CMMC Pathway

On track for Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification for DoD contracts.

Security

AES-256 Encryption

All data encrypted at rest and in transit. No unencrypted inspection data leaves the platform.

Classified

Air-Gapped Operation

NVIDIA Jetson AGX Orin edge compute processes all data locally. No cloud dependency. No exfiltration risk.

Export

Secure Data Export

Controlled data transfer to authorized maintenance systems via approved channels.

Aviation

FAA Part 107

Unmanned systems certification for operational environments.

Engagement pathways

How defense organizations
engage with Arachnid.

Five proven pathways — from SOF rapid prototyping to direct prime contractor integration.

Pathway 01

SOFWERX / SOCOM

Special Operations Command applications. Rapid prototyping and evaluation for SOF-specific inspection requirements.

Pathway 02

SpaceWerx / AFWERX

Air Force and Space Force innovation programs. SBIR/STTR pathways for technology transition.

Pathway 03

AFRL

Air Force Research Laboratory collaboration for advanced inspection technology development and validation.

Pathway 04

DIU

Defense Innovation Unit commercial solutions pathway. Accelerated procurement for proven commercial technology.

Pathway 05

Direct Prime / Operator

ATLAS integrates into existing defense maintenance programs without new infrastructure. Vandenberg support-infrastructure contract work targeted. Boeing exploratory — actionable post-FAA approval.

Asset

S-DF3

DoD engagement pathway flowchart

SBIR → STTR → Phase III → OTA · ref DEFENSE_PROGRAMS.md

Procurement ROI

19-day payback. $1.7B / year USAF.
$13.2B 10-year NPV.

Modeled on a 40-aircraft fighter squadron (F-16, F-35, F/A-18) and extrapolated across the USAF fighter inventory of ~2,100 aircraft. Numbers from the SOFWERX whitepaper §5 — DoD procurement analysis.

40-aircraft fighter squadron	Annual cost	Savings vs. baseline	Implementation cost
Manual (baseline)	$45M	—	—
Remote sensing (visual drones)	$19.1M	$25.9M (58%)	$2.8M
ATLAS	$4.0M	$41M (91%)	$2.2M

Payback period: 19 operating days against baseline.

Mission readiness

+15%

Manual: 18% deadline deficiency rate. ATLAS: <3%. Equivalent to 6 additional mission-ready aircraft per 40-aircraft squadron.

Avoided capital expenditure

$480M

6 additional ready aircraft at $80M each — the equivalent of procuring a sixth-of-a-squadron of new airframes, every year, from inspection-readiness alone.

USAF program-wide

$1.7B / yr

~2,100 fighter aircraft. Current annual inspection: $2.1B. ATLAS: $400M. $13.2B 10-year NPV @ 5%.

Multi-platform roadmap

One sensor head.
Every platform the DoD flies.

Phased certification across rotorcraft, tactical, mobility, and strategic platforms. Authority-to-Operate sequence sized to the 2026-2030 procurement window.

Phase 01 · Q1-Q2 2026

Partner Validation

Engagement complete with · FEAM Aero · Embry-Riddle. Target: ≥95% defect detection, <25-min inspection time.

Phase 02 · Q3 2026-Q1 2027

Defense Certification

ITAR registration + DoD cybersecurity authorization with AFRL · DIU. Authority-to-Operate for classified networks. F-16 validation as first defense airframe.

Phase 03 · Q2 2027-2028

Scaled Deployment

Expand to 10+ defense installations · 5+ aircraft types. Target bases: Nellis AFB · Hill AFB · Tinker AFB · NAS Oceana. Success: ≥20% improvement in mission-capable rates.

Phase 04 · 2029-2030

Full Operational Capability

Become standard inspection system across DoD. Expand to allied nations (NATO · AUKUS). Scale: 300+ installations, 2,000+ drones.

Airframe coverage timeline

Today

Narrowbody · widebody · business jets · rotorcraft demos scheduled (Army · SOCOM · Navy · USAF)

2026

F-35 · F/A-18 · C-130 certified · ALIS / CAMS / IMDS integration · F-16 first defense validation

2027+

Heavy cargo · bombers (B-1, B-2, B-21) · NATO / AUKUS partner programs · NAS Oceana / Hill / Tinker / Nellis deployments

Operational envelope

Built to the spec sheet
your procurement team will ask for.

ITAR, MIL-STD, and DoD-cyber requirements designed in from the first prototype — not retrofitted from a commercial product.

EMC

MIL-STD-461

Electromagnetic compatibility for DoD operational environments.

Environmental

−40 °F to 130 °F

Operating envelope from arctic to desert. Rated for ramp-side and indoor-hangar operations.

Deployment

<2 hr rapid deploy

From transport to first scan in under two hours. No facility modifications required.

F-35

ALIS · CAMS · IMDS

Integration with the Autonomic Logistics Information System and standard depot maintenance schedulers.

Materials

Stealth coating verification

Hyperspectral imaging detects low-observable coating integrity issues invisible to visual inspection.

Fasteners

Torque verification

Composite delamination and fastener torque verification — the failure modes that ground entire fleets.

Battle damage

Rapid field assessment

Multi-spectral scan delivers structural integrity report in minutes — critical for sortie-generation tempo.

Origin

USA designed, USA built

Hardware and software developed and operated entirely in the United States.

Next step

Request a capabilities briefing.

Our team holds active clearances and understands your operational requirements. Let us walk you through ATLAS capabilities, compliance posture, and deployment options for your specific platform.

Request a Classified Briefing Download Defense Capabilities Overview

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