DARPA Lift Challenge Portal

A&M SIM LLC provides real-time, high-fidelity UAV simulation and test capabilities to support heavy-lift VTOL / drone teams from early design through flight testing. Our core contribution is a digital-twin simulation environment that can ingest real-time or scenario-based weather (wind, gusts, turbulence, temperature, pressure, precipitation) and evaluate aircraft performance and control robustness under realistic conditions.

Airframe and propulsion system design, structural optimization, and payload integration concepts.

CR Flight designs and manufactures high-power-density electric motors for UAV propulsion. We provide custom motor architectures optimized for high torque, thermal management, and continuous power required for heavy-lift VTOL and fixed-wing platforms, including prototyping and production hardware

DAYTON-GRANGER (DG) is a global leader in the design and manufacture of airborne COM/NAV Antennas, Electrostatic Protection and Lightning Protection products. DG provides original equipment to nearly all airframe manufacturers. DG’s broad range of antennas includes antennas for all types of aircraft.

Synthetic design and mission datasets, plus open-source generators, to support early-stage trade-space exploration for the DARPA Lift Challenge. DBbun provides fully synthetic VTOL design spaces and large-scale mission simulations focused on extreme payload ratios (>4× vehicle weight), endurance, and robustness. These resources help teams rapidly explore, compare, and stress- test hypothetical aircraft concepts before committing to hardware. Datasets (Hugging Face): https://huggingface.co/datasets/DBbun/DARPA_Lift_2026 Source code (GitHub): https://github.com/DBbun/dbbun-darpa-lift

Aircraft Engineering Design Services, Propulsion Optimization, Testing, Prototyping.

We are willing to loan out our ultra-high power to weight ratio internal combustion engines (ICE) to competitors at zero cost. This frees up competitor resources to be applied for other components of their drones.

Donations and Technical know-how.

UAS, GCS, Payloads, Batteries, accessories.

iKey, LTD (Austin, TX, founded 1989) manufactures rugged, industrial-grade keyboards and peripherals for harsh and mobile environments. Assembled in the USA, products serve Fortune 500 clients in over 100 countries. Key Features: • Durability: IP65/IP67/NEMA 4X-rated; stainless steel or ABS polycarbonate housings. • Sealed & Sanitizable: Silicone keypads resist water, dust, chemicals; antimicrobial for medical use. • Backlighting: Red or NVIS-compliant green for low-light (military/public safety). • Connectivity: USB, PS/2, Bluetooth; rechargeable, dual-mode options. • Customization: 350+ models, 17 languages, glove-friendly keys, OEM integration. Product Types: • Desktop/Panel-Mount: e.g., DT-1000 (full-size, stainless). • Mobile/Vehicle: e.g., BT-80 (Bluetooth, forklift-ready). • Specialized: Medical, military (e.g., FT-88-911-TP), OEM (e.g., for Toughbooks).

Supercritical CO2 Turbine and Turbine Design Services to generate power.

We have a 30-acre limited access test facility that replicates an urban environment for teams to test and validate their new designs. Our team has extensive experience with drone flight testing. Additional resources available are Battery Lab, which provides battery cell and module testing, ten wind tunnels for aerodynamic testing.

A certified small business with 20 years of financial and program management to the FAA with strong acquisitions experience.

Robust and cost-effective electrolytic hydrogen production technology able to work with intermittent power and natural water of sea-water with impurities making it highly valuable for remote and inhospitable environments. The generated hydrogen is expected to be usable for lighter than air drone concepts as well as a power source for long duration endurance drones running on hydrogen fuel cells.

We own and operate a 80+ acre private UAS Test Range 20 miles outside of Kingman, AZ. It is in Class G Airspace and remote. Perfect for testing new designs. The Test Range is a registered UAS Test Site with the FAA, and is designated as "53AZ". The range is open 24/7 with lighted runways for flying in the cover of darkness.

3D printers that can make parts with a better strength-to-weight and strength-to-stiffness ratio than 6061-T6 at a tenth of the cost, currently onboarding with multiple primes as a tier 1 OEM, and development partner.

Go-to-Market, Business Development, Fundraising Support.

Battery pack modules with requisite power density requirements.

We offer PteroSim as a PX4 and ArduPilot-compatible simulation platform for deterministic SIL and HIL testing of multirotor and VTOL autonomy. PteroSim enables MAVLink-level validation of mission logic, payload operations, and control behavior under configurable weather conditions, including wind, gusts, turbulence, and atmospheric disturbances, as well as sensor noise and degradation. The platform is designed for reproducible testing, rapid iteration, and pre-field evaluation of autonomy stacks, helping teams reduce real-world test hours and technical risk.

We offer high-performance propulsion hardware and precision engineering services tailored for heavy-lift UAS. Our primary offering is the 'Active-Cooling Propulsion Pod,' which includes: Custom-Machined 2806.5 Motors: NDAA/DFARS-compliant motors featuring proprietary 3-axis CNC-machined centrifugal cooling vanes to prevent thermal throttling during 110lb+ lift maneuvers. Precision Airframe Components: Rapid prototyping of ultra-lightweight, honeycombed aluminum hubs, motor mounts, and arm connectors using our in-house Syil X7 CNC infrastructure. Bench Testing & Validation: Access to aerospace-grade 'L-Arm' thrust stands for high-fidelity data collection, including thrust-to-power curves and thermal mapping. On-Site Technical Support: For teams testing or competing in the Huntsville/Redstone Arsenal region, we offer 24-hour turnaround on hardware repairs and design iterations.

We specialize in critical product design for the defense, aerospace and medical device industries. We can offer custom PCB design, testing and fabrication. As well as custom mechanical design, prototyping, materials/composites knowledge, soft goods and manufacturing. We have active clearances, ITAR registered, and are CMMC Level 2 compliant.

Services: https://x.com/e_seahorse, https://seascope-technologies-8l50p73.gamma.site/

With a perimeter of 114 nautical miles, Skyway Range encompasses 1,200 square miles of urban/rural testing conditions with diverse topography and infrastructure. Combined with the unmatched proximity to Tulsa's city center and Tulsa International Airport’s Class C airspace, Skyway Range offers more than the typical test range. This unique flexibility gives companies the ability to demonstrate safety, security, and performance in a variety of conditions - enabling adaptation to new regulations and use cases. With 300+ flying days per year and advanced indoor weather testing capabilities provided by WindShape, the Skyway Range offers an unmatched breadth of testing capabilities for UAS and AAM companies.

Sixdof Space specializes in high-speed optical positioning systems that use infrared beacons to provide real-time position and orientation data. Sixdof’s technology integrates seamlessly with OEM hardware and can significantly enhance precision landing capabilities. We are offering our development kit which includes: One Kipa Sensor Unit, Shale beacon driver board with four low-powered beacons (7m) and four high-powered beacons (20m), Sixdof Falcon SDK, Check out our website for more details: www.sixdofspace.com.

We are contributing vision-language-model guided guidance, navigation, and control software originally developed for autonomous satellite operations in microgravity. For this competition, the software is being repurposed and adapted to control terrestrial drones, leveraging the same perception-driven closed-loop autonomy to operate under uncertain and degraded sensing conditions.

We offer expertise in designing, building, and testing bespoke turbomachinery for novel applications, including microturbines and unique blade designs. We also have extensive experience with autonomous vehicles, including UAVs, EVTOL battery and motor design, and testing. We have existing test facilities in these areas to help our clients achieve their R&D goals on-time and on-budget.

Long-range wireless telemetry and video streaming.

We are prepared to offer competitors access to our library of over 18,000 publications, papers and presentations since 1943 on topics pertaining to vertical flight. We also have the evtol aircraft directory at evtol.news and the aircraft directory at https://vertipedia.vtol.org/aircraft.

BVLOS control software.

Design and manufacturing.

Custom battery packs and thermal management systems.