Los Angeles, Calif. (April 22, 2026) – Gambit, developer of a hardware-agnostic autonomy orchestration platform for robotic systems, announced it has been awarded two multi-million dollar contracts by the U.S. Air Force to advance adaptive intelligence for autonomous systems. The awards were issued through AFWERX as Phase II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) efforts.

The awards support continued development of Gambit’s adaptive intelligence to enable coordinated operations across distributed autonomous systems in complex, contested, and communications- and GPS-degraded environments, while accelerating work on multi-sensor fusion, adaptive autonomy, and electronic warfare resilience. Together, the efforts reflect a broader shift toward software-driven, AI-native mission capabilities.

Under the SBIR effort, Gambit is advancing capabilities focused on distributed communications and spectrum-aware autonomy. This includes development of intelligent mesh networking approaches that allow autonomous systems to maintain resilient communications while adapting to contested electromagnetic environments. By coordinating both system behavior and communications dynamically, the approach enables operators to sustain mission execution while degrading adversarial capabilities in electronic warfare scenarios.

In parallel, the STTR effort focuses on advancing adaptive opposing force capabilities for counter-UAS development and training. The work centers on creating intelligent, continuously learning autonomous systems that can emulate evolving adversary behaviors, enabling more realistic testing, validation, and operator training. This approach supports more effective evaluation of counter-UAS systems and helps close gaps between development, testing, and real-world operational performance.

Across both efforts, Gambit is advancing its approach to autonomy orchestration, translating operator intent into distributed, real-time execution across heterogeneous systems. Rather than managing individual platforms, operators can direct autonomous systems as they would human teams, enabling coordinated action across air, ground, and maritime domains. This approach allows operators to focus on mission objectives instead of platform control, reducing cognitive load and improving decision-making in complex environments.

As part of this work, Gambit is conducting demonstrations at MITRE’s National Range in Orange, Virginia, executing coordinated multi-aircraft scenarios that span mission planning, launch, and in-flight coordination, and allow operators to interact with the system in realistic conditions.

“At scale, autonomy is not a hardware problem, it’s a coordination problem,” said Josh Giegel, CEO of Gambit. “These efforts are focused on enabling systems to coordinate, adapt, and execute together in contested environments where communications and conditions are constantly changing.”

The efforts are focused on advancing these capabilities toward operational transition in support of Air Force mission needs. As autonomous systems proliferate and mission environments grow more complex, the advantage is shifting from individual platforms to how effectively those systems coordinate. Gambit’s approach is focused on enabling that transition by delivering the adaptive intelligence layer required to orchestrate autonomy at scale.

About Gambit

Gambit Defense is an AI-first software company delivering multi-domain, collaborative, behavior-based intelligence for autonomous systems. Its platform is domain- and platform-agnostic, enabling heterogeneous robotic teams to operate as coordinated units in complex and contested environments. Gambit allows operators to task robotic systems as they would human teammates by defining the mission space and assigning behaviors, while its unifying intelligence layer translates operator intent into distributed, real-time execution across fleets. The intelligence lives at the edge, enabling adaptive, resilient mission execution without increasing operator burden. For more information on Gambit’s solutions or to request an interview with subject matter experts, please contact press@gambit.us.