Skyryse and BAE Systems Australia Partner to Advance Software-Defined Autonomous Flight

Skyryse and BAE Systems Australia have announced a strategic partnership to advance software-defined autonomous flight applications, combining Skyryse's SkyOS universal flight operating system with BAE Systems Australia's Vehicle Management System (VMS). Under the partnership, SkyOS will serve as the preferred flight operating system for joint projects, and the two companies will evaluate the integration of their technologies to pursue government, commercial, and defense opportunities for next-generation rotary and fixed-wing aircraft.

SkyOS replaces conventional mechanical flight control systems with a software-defined architecture that supports piloted, optionally piloted, and autonomous flight within a single certifiable platform. BAE Systems Australia's VMS powers several advanced autonomous platforms across the land and air domains, drawing on more than 40 years of experience developing sovereign autonomy technologies.

Mark Groden, founder and CEO of Skyryse, said, "SkyOS is uniquely positioned because it combines human-rated flight software with autonomous capabilities in a certifiable, software-defined platform. Together with BAE Systems Australia, we're exploring how that foundation can enable the next generation of optionally piloted and autonomous aircraft, including future clean-sheet designs." Andrew Gresham, managing director of defence delivery at BAE Systems Australia, said the partnership builds on the company's autonomy heritage while expanding into the autonomous aircraft market, adding that "Skyryse's software-defined SkyOS and BAE Systems Australia's Vehicle Management System bring complementary capabilities that can help deliver the next generation of optionally piloted and autonomous aircraft for government and commercial customers."

This deal belongs to a wider move by aircraft and vehicle developers to separate flight control software from the airframe, so a single certifiable operating system can be adapted across piloted, optionally piloted, and fully autonomous variants of the same platform. Pairing a flight operating system with an existing vehicle management system is one route into this market: rather than each side building a complete autonomy stack independently, a software specialist supplies the certifiable flight layer while an established contractor supplies domain-proven autonomy and customer relationships in defense and government.

For BAE Systems Australia, the arrangement extends VMS experience built across land and air domains into rotary and fixed-wing aircraft programs, while giving Skyryse a route into government and defense opportunities through an established sovereign-capability supplier. What happens next depends on which specific joint projects the two companies select for integration and how quickly SkyOS moves from a preferred-supplier arrangement to selection on an actual next-generation aircraft program.