By Matt George, Founder and CEO

Today we announced that Merlin has signed a memorandum of understanding with Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) to advance the development, integration, and certification of AI-powered autonomy for commercial cargo aircraft. The non-binding agreement initiates a phased engagement, including joint market exploration, engineering collaboration, regulatory preparation, and initial platform selection to lay the groundwork for a definitive commercial agreement and a structured path toward civil certification. 

For Merlin, this collaboration is about more than technology. It's about partnering with one of the world's most respected aerospace companies to work toward shaping the future of cargo aviation. IAI brings decades of experience designing, certifying, modifying, and maintaining aircraft. The company is also a global leader in passenger-to-freighter conversions, working closely with many of the world's largest cargo operators and lessors. That combination of engineering expertise, certification experience, and deep relationships across the commercial cargo ecosystem makes IAI an ideal collaborator as we work to introduce autonomous capabilities to the aircraft that move goods around the world every day.

The collaboration is also intended to advance Condor, the product family we are developing for large, multi-crew aircraft, with the goal of enabling Merlin Pilot to work alongside pilots in real-time to extend crew capabilities and scale operations beyond the limits of the traditional model. 

Further, it builds on the momentum we established with our recently announced collaboration with World Star Aviation, a leading cargo aircraft lessor. Together, these relationships reflect our belief that bringing autonomy to market requires close collaboration across the aviation ecosystem, from aircraft owners and operators to OEMs, regulators, and certification authorities.

We're seeing growing recognition across the industry that autonomy can extend what pilots can do so that aviation is safer and more efficient. As global cargo demand continues to rise, operators face increasing pressure from pilot shortages, higher operating costs, and aging fleets. AI-powered autonomy has the potential to help address these challenges.

The timing couldn't be more important. Boeing forecasts that the global fleet of large freighter aircraft will grow from roughly 2,340 aircraft today to nearly 3,900 over the next two decades, requiring more than 2,800 new production and conversion deliveries. At the same time, the aviation industry continues to face a significant pilot shortage, creating long-term operational constraints for cargo carriers worldwide.

Passenger-to-freighter conversions present a unique opportunity to introduce next-generation technology into converted commercial cargo airframes that the global cargo market actually flies. As a global leader in those conversions, IAI is uniquely positioned to help explore how autonomy can become part of that evolution.

Merlin Pilot has already demonstrated hundreds of autonomous flights across multiple aircraft platforms and is being designed to work alongside pilots from takeoff to touchdown, managing aircraft systems, monitoring the environment, and handling routine communications so crews can focus on the decisions where human judgment matters most.

Condor is the first named product we are working to build on the Merlin Pilot platform, and our collaboration with IAI represents a meaningful step on the path toward bringing autonomy to commercial cargo aviation. There's still important engineering, certification, and regulatory work ahead, but collaborations like this are how the future of autonomous flight becomes reality.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements other than statements of historical fact should be considered forward-looking statements, including without limitation statements regarding the anticipated development, integration, and certification activities under the MoU with IAI; the scope, timeline, and commercial potential of the collaborations with IAI and World Star Aviation; the planned extension of the Merlin Pilot autonomy core to Part 25 commercial cargo aircraft and other platforms; the anticipated pathway to a definitive commercial agreement and civil certification; and Merlin’s strategy and ability to bring certifiable autonomy to commercial aviation markets. These forward-looking statements are based on our current expectations, assumptions, and projections about future events and trends. These forward-looking statements are neither promises nor guarantees, but involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements, including without limitation the risks and uncertainties detailed under the section entitled “Risk Factors”; of our final prospectus, dated May 13, 2026, filed with the SEC on May 13, 2026, and in our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed with the SEC on May 15, 2026. Except as required by applicable law, we undertake no obligation to update any of these forward-looking statements after the date of this press release.