A Dayton small business is partnering with the state's largest university to support the development of flying cars for the U.S. military.
Tangram Flex, a software integration company based in downtown Dayton, has been awarded a Small Business Technology Transfer Phase II contract. The firm will join forces with Ohio State University in Columbus to assist the Air Force Research Laboratory and the Air Force Agility Prime efforts for flying cars.
The contract is a follow-on to the Commoditized Confidence Through Software Assurance effort that was announced in December.
The use of unmanned aerial systems (UAS) in the commercial and defense sectors is growing exponentially. While new capabilities for UAS are becoming available at an ever-increasing cadence, the ability to integrate new software into existing systems presents serious risks of exposing cyber vulnerabilities.
The U.S. Air Force is responding to these challenges in order to maintain air superiority. In this Phase II effort, Tangram Flex will support the Air Force with solutions to streamline the analysis and testing capabilities for UAS and electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) vehicle systems. The solutions designed by Tangram Flex in partnership with Ohio State will provide high confidence in the correctness, safety and cyber security of UAS and eVTOL vehicle systems, the company says.
"Tangram Flex is dedicated to building technology that enables our customers to rapidly integrate new capabilities with high levels of confidence," Tangram Flex CEO Ricky Peters said. "Our engineering team develops cutting-edge solutions in support of the Air Force. I'm incredibly proud of our team's skills and the code generation technologies we have built that empower our customers to engage in the next frontier of software-driven innovation."
Tangram Flex simplifies software integration for mission-critical defense systems. The firm combines engineering expertise with its Component Software Integration Platform product — Tangram Pro — to arm engineers with customized toolkits for meeting mission needs.
Tangram's staff of nearly 70 employees have experience from the U.S. Department of Defense, Fortune 50 companies and software startups. In addition to its Dayton headquarters, the company has satellite offices in Arlington, Virginia and Fort Walton Beach, Florida.
