AG3 Labs
"Built to be destroyed. Designed to train. Made in America."
Novi, Michigan drone maker incorporated 2024 by MSU alumni; builds attritable Ember target drones and won USD 350,000 in the Army xTechCounter Strike contest.
AG3 Labs is a defense technology company in Novi, Michigan, that builds low-cost, attritable autonomous drones for military training, threat emulation and tactical use, marketed under the line "Built to be destroyed. Designed to train. Made in America." It was incorporated in late 2024 by Gavin Gardner, Gryson Gardner, Ryan Atkinson and Matt Atkinson, and grew out of the founders' undergraduate research on autonomous drones at Michigan State University, where it was named Student Startup of the Year and is supported by the Burgess Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation.
Its aircraft are Group 1 unmanned aircraft systems. Ember is an attritable target drone that reproduces adversary behaviour such as FPV swarms, coordinated formations and variable approach profiles; a single operator can launch up to 15 drones from a tablet, choosing flight aggressiveness and an operating area. Spade, listed as coming soon, is an FPV dual-use trainer that progresses from position mode to full acro flight on one airframe, can also fly as a target, and carries a payload rail for EO, IR or RF emitter payloads. Anvil, a heavy-lift ISR and logistics platform, is in development. RACK is a ruggedised, containerised transport and launch pod holding five or more drones together with the ground station and batteries, set up in under five minutes on any vehicle.
Software and networking tie the fleet together. FORGE handles mission planning, fleet management, swarm coordination and real-time telemetry and integrates with existing government command-and-control systems; FLUX is a mesh-networking node that can be fitted to compatible airframes, including third-party drones; HELM is the ground control station, and an FPV kit supplies goggles and controller. Two bundles are listed as fielded: Red Air (Ember, FORGE, FLUX and HELM) for threat emulation, and a Training bundle built around Spade.
In November 2025 AG3 Labs won USD 350,000 as one of four global winners of the US Army xTechCounter Strike competition, after a two-week final evaluation in Germany during which it flew threat-simulating drones to train soldiers of the 52nd Air Defense Artillery Brigade. It holds a 10-year G-TEAD Master Business Agreement that gives Department of Defense customers a procurement route, and demonstrated its systems at the National Guard-led Northern Strike exercise. Its website displays logos of the US Army, SOCOM, DEVCOM GVSC, the US Marines, the Michigan National Guard, Echodyne and Overland AI without stating the nature of each relationship.
Primary type & automation activities this supplier delivers:
Ember
Attritable Group 1 target drone that emulates adversary FPV swarms and formations for air-defense training.
Spade
FPV dual-use trainer drone that progresses from position mode to full acro and can fly as a target.
FORGE
Mission command software for planning, fleet management, swarm coordination and live telemetry.
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Company Facts
Founded
2024
Primary Role
Manufacturer
Company Size
-
Primary Region
North America
Annual Sales
-
Funding Stage
Grant / Non-profit
Funding Total
-
