Sleek, next-generation autonomous aircraft lined the floor-to-ceiling windows of Quantum Systems’ new Huntsville office on Friday.

The Vector AI and Reliant may look like something from the future, but the technology is very much here and now.

“We’re going to center all of our counter-UAS efforts here in Huntsville,” CEO Dave Sharpin said. “We’re just starting out in that area.”

The company welcomed guests to HQ @ Upland Park for a ribbon-cutting and an update from Sharpin about what comes next in Huntsville.

Versions of the company’s technology have been operating in Ukraine since shortly after Russia’s invasion, where the demands of an active battlefield changed how Quantum Systems develops, modifies and delivers autonomous systems.

Now the global defense technology company, valued at roughly $8 billion after a $1.2 billion funding round this summer, is bringing those lessons to Huntsville, closer to two major U.S. customers: the Army and FBI.

The Huntsville site will initially house about 10 to 15 engineers and support personnel, but Sharpin has bigger plans. In addition to concentrating the company’s counter-UAS efforts here, he told 256 Today he could eventually see counter-UAS interceptors, including the company’s SkyRanger system, produced in Huntsville.

Founded in Germany, Quantum Systems began with aerial unmanned systems and has expanded into autonomous ground and maritime systems, along with the software and artificial intelligence that connect them.

Its U.S. growth initially centered on Southern California, where the company operates a large production and integration facility. Huntsville marks the next phase, built around proximity to customers and the defense ecosystem surrounding Redstone Arsenal.

“I always had the vision that we couldn’t just be a California company,” Sharpin told 256 Today. “We had to have different locations that were close to our customers.”

That proximity allows engineers to get feedback directly from the people using their systems and respond quickly, Sharpin said, whether the feedback is “good, bad or indifferent.”

City of Huntsville External Relations Officer Zach McGovern said Quantum Systems is joining a concentration of defense and technology expertise built around Redstone Arsenal and Cummings Research Park.

“There’s a synergy here,” McGovern said. “You were joining that center of excellence with Quantum Systems.”

Richard Bigoney with the Huntsville/Madison County Chamber said the new office represents more than an investment in the city.

“This office is not just an investment in Huntsville, it’s an investment in our defense, our homeland security,” Bigoney said. “It’s in support of the warfighter.”

Lessons from the battlefield

Pentagon leaders have repeatedly called for getting new technology into warfighters’ hands faster. Sharpin said real-world battlefield conditions have taught Quantum Systems firsthand what operating at that speed requires.

Sharpin said the company entered Ukraine shortly after the Russian invasion and now has approximately 3,000 systems there.

“There the turnover rate is really high,” he said. “We have to deliver, modify, deliver again.”

Sharpin said that relentless cycle reshaped how the company engineers, produces and delivers its technology.

“That’s really changed our company in a big way, in a way that we wouldn’t have changed if that hadn’t happened,” he said. “That rapid cycle is what we’re using for the Army today.”

In March, Quantum Systems received an Army contract tied to its mid-range reconnaissance program. Sharpin said the company built 88 systems and delivered them all by the end of July under the initial contract.

Moving quickly also means ensuring new technology can communicate with systems already on the battlefield.

Sharpin pointed to recent work during Project Convergence at the National Training Center, where Quantum Systems integrated its MOSAIC software with other platforms in a matter of months.

“Today, you have to be able to interface with these other systems,” he said. “You can’t be closed off.”

Room to grow

Sharpin noted that Quantum Systems’ Southern California operation began with just two employees five years ago before expanding into a much larger operation. The new Huntsville office looks familiar.

“This is almost exactly the same size office we started in in Southern California,” he said.

For all the attention commanded by the autonomous aircraft lining the office windows, Sharpin said the technology ultimately serves a much more fundamental mission.

Many Quantum Systems employees, including Sharpin, are former service members. Sharpin served in the Air Force in communications and cryptography.

“A lot of us are former service members who take what we do to heart,” he said. “It’s about warfighters completing the mission safely.”

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