Lockheed Martin has announced a collaboration between its advanced development arm, Skunk Works, and Israeli drone manufacturer XTEND, aimed at integrating XTEND’s XOS operating system into Skunk Works’ MDCX command-and-control platform. As part of the partnership, the two companies conducted an operational pilot in which a large drone carried a smaller drone into the operational area, deployed it for a tactical mission, and enabled seamless control of both platforms through a single system operated by one user. The demonstration underscores a fundamental shift in how modern militaries design and operate unmanned systems on the battlefield.

To understand the significance of the move, it must be viewed in the broader context of the Pentagon’s evolving command-and-control doctrine. In recent years, the U.S. Department of Defense has been advancing the JADC2 concept—short for Joint All-Domain Command and Control—designed to connect all branches of the military, across all domains, into a single, continuous command network. The core idea is that every sensor, of any type, can contribute to a shared operational picture, enabling rapid decision-making and coordinated action even in contested environments marked by jamming and electronic warfare.

Skunk Works plays a central role in translating such concepts into operational systems. As Lockheed Martin’s advanced innovation and development division, it operates as a semi-autonomous unit and has been responsible for breakthrough defense technologies for decades. In recent years, Skunk Works has expanded its focus beyond platforms and airframes toward software, artificial intelligence, and command-and-control layers that connect multiple systems into a single coordinated force.

XTEND as a Tactical Control Layer: Linking Large and Small Drones

Skunk Works’ MDCX platform is designed as a multi-domain command-and-control layer that integrates sensors, manned and unmanned platforms, and diverse data sources into a single interface. MC-MDCX—the configuration into which XTEND’s operating system was integrated—is specifically intended to manage platforms from different categories, such as a large drone and a small tactical drone, within a single mission flow, without requiring control to be handed off between operators.

This is where XTEND comes in. While the company is best known as a manufacturer of tactical drones, its core technology lies not in the airframe itself but in the operating system developed to control it. XTEND’s XOS is designed to enable intuitive and precise control of tactical drones in complex operational environments, while reducing operator cognitive load and shortening training time. Accordingly, the collaboration with Lockheed Martin is primarily focused on software rather than on a specific drone platform, and on how this tactical control layer integrates into broader command-and-control architectures.

XTEND’s XOS is integrated within Skunk Works’ MDCX command-and-control platform, which serves as the top-level control layer in Lockheed Martin’s multi-domain C2 experiments. Within this framework, XOS functions as the operating layer for the small tactical drone, creating a continuous interface between the operation of the larger aerial platform and the deployment of the smaller drone. The integration allows a single operator to manage transitions between platforms within the same mission context, without switching between separate systems or losing operational awareness—reducing cognitive burden and minimizing real-time points of failure.

The operational need to combine large and small drones has become increasingly evident in recent years. Small drones are inexpensive, precise, and difficult to detect, but limited in range and endurance. Larger drones can travel long distances, loiter for extended periods, and serve as carrier platforms, but are more expensive and more conspicuous. Combining the two enables deep penetration and the deployment of low-cost, precise effectors at the right place and time—provided the command-and-control system can support such integration.

Another Layer in a Deepening Relationship with the U.S. Military

While Skunk Works remains an innovation laboratory rather than a full-scale acquisition program, a successful maturation of the concept could eventually see XTEND’s control system embedded at the heart of U.S. military command-and-control architectures. In this context, the collaboration with Lockheed Martin represents another step in XTEND’s deepening ties with the U.S. military, which already makes extensive use of the company’s solutions. XTEND supplies the U.S. Army with thousands of drones, operates a manufacturing facility in the United States, and is developing advanced capabilities for the simultaneous control of multiple drones, in line with the military’s transition toward autonomous and multi-platform formations.

The fact that Lockheed Martin—one of the Pentagon’s most significant defense contractors—is integrating XTEND’s software layer into an advanced command-and-control platform points to a deeper level of integration between the company’s Israeli-developed technology and the U.S. operational ecosystem, as well as alignment with the emerging drone strategy of the U.S. Army.