General Atomics announces investments from Blue Magic Netherlands

General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI) today announced two businesses from the inaugural Blue Magic Netherlands (BMN) event last November that it will invest in: Emergent Swarm Solutions and Saluqi Motors.

"The technologies presented by Emergent and Saluqi really stood out to us, and we're proud to be working with them," said Brad Lunn, managing director for GA-ASI. "I expect several other companies from the Blue Magic Netherlands event to emerge and we hope to make additional announcements in the near future."

At the Blue Magic investment and innovation conference in the Netherlands, GA-ASI and its partners heard pitches from innovative Dutch companies about the technologies they are developing. The event was organized collaboratively between GA-ASI, the Dutch Ministry of Defense, the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs, Brainport Development in Eindhoven, and the Brabant Development Agency (BOM). The key focus areas were Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning, Autonomy, Advanced Materials, Sensors, Advanced Manufacturing, and Space. Close to 50 companies applied, and after reviewing the applications, 16 companies were selected to pitch their capabilities.

GA-ASI selected Emergent Swarm Solutions and Saluqi Motors to make investments after both companies made pitches about their respective technologies at the BMN event and following months of detailed business and technology discussions with the two companies.

Emergent Swarm Solutions develops software solutions for autonomous flight and intelligent, decentralized swarming capabilities for a variety of unmanned vehicles. GA-ASI is partnering with Emergent to develop autonomy skills for its current and future aircraft portfolio.

"It is a pleasure to partner with General Atomics to develop and deploy our autonomy and swarming capabilities on the current and next generation of unmanned aircraft," said Lennart Bult, Co-founder and Managing Director at Emergent Swarm Solutions. "Collaborating with the General Atomics team has been a fantastic experience, and we look forward to delivering advanced capabilities through this partnership."

Saluqi Motors builds high-density motors with integrated electronics that significantly increase power and torque in small packages, which is well-suited for airborne platforms. GA-ASI is partnering with Saluqi to qualify its existing products within the environmental demands of aerospace applications and to develop new products for specific applications.

"We are deeply honored to be selected by GA-ASI from such a strong field of innovative companies," said Matthijs de Haan, CEO at Saluqi Motors. "Our ultra-compact and high-performance motors are engineered to meet the demanding requirements of aerospace applications. This collaboration enables us to further validate our technology and develop new solutions for the defense and aerospace industries."

GA-ASI hosted its first Blue Magic event in 2019 in Belgium, with subsequent events held in 2020, 2021, and 2023. GA-ASI is delivering eight MQ-9A aircraft to the Royal Netherlands Air Force (RNlAF).

(article source: General Atomics / editor: Anton van Rijsbergen)