Aiming to bring composites capabilities in-house, Archer has acquired a Southern California manufacturing facility from Mission Critical Composites. Source | Archer

Archer (Santa Clara, Calif., U.S.) announces two acquisitions aimed at accelerating the development of its next-generation defense aircraft:

•  a patent portfolio and critical employees from Overair, a spin-off of Karem Aircraft, and
• key composites manufacturing assets and an approximately 60,000-square-foot manufacturing facility from Mission Critical Composites, a specialized defense composite manufacturer in Huntington Beach, Calif.

These acquisitions build on Archer’s December 2024 announcement of a strategic partnership with Anduril to co-develop hybrid, autonomous, vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) military aircraft, followed by $1.3 billion in capital raised to pursue both defense and commercial opportunities. Since its December announcement, Archer says it continues to see growing demand from major allied defense programs worldwide.

The acquired Mission Critical Composites facility enables Archer to bring core composite fabrication capabilities in-house, supporting its defense program needs for rapid prototyping and iteration. Karem Aircraft developed and manufactured advanced fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft focused on the use of high-efficiency tiltrotors (including Overair’s Butterfly prototype). 

Archer says that both acquisitions come on the heels of a recent announcement of a budget request allocation by the Pentagon of $13.4 billion for autonomous military systems. 

Adam Goldstein, founder and CEO of Archer, says, “The Administration has made it clear: Leading in advanced aviation in both commercial and defense is a national priority. These acquisitions are part of our commitment — we’re working to accelerate our product development to meet our country’s needs.”