Ideal Aerosmith
"World Leader in Mission Critical Solutions"
Grand Forks, North Dakota maker founded 1938 of flight motion simulators and rate tables, now building Troublemaker attack drones and a long-range USV.
Ideal Aerosmith is a motion simulation and test equipment manufacturer headquartered in Grand Forks, North Dakota, that in 2026 added a Government Systems division building long-range uncrewed aircraft, an unmanned surface vessel and swarm command-and-control software. The company traces its origin to August 1938, when former airline maintenance staff founded Ideal Laboratory & Tool in Cheyenne, Wyoming, to work on aircraft instruments. It merged with Aerosmith Instrument Company in 1955, was bought by the California holding company Royal Industries in 1959, moved its corporate base to East Grand Forks, Minnesota, in 1984, and opened its current corporate and manufacturing building in Grand Forks in 2009.
The core product range is hardware for testing inertial sensors, guidance systems and avionics. It includes one-, two- and three-axis rate and positioning tables, three- and five-axis hydraulic and electro-hydraulic flight motion simulators, target motion simulators, centrifuges, angular vibration systems, motion controllers, linear and rotary hydraulic actuators, aircraft instrument test equipment and the Trip Guardian non-magnetic positioning tables for downhole tools. Published examples include the 2443HV-HR-1 three-axis hydraulic flight motion simulator, rated at 600 deg/s on its middle and outer axes and 1,000 deg/s on the inner axis with +/-10 arc-second position accuracy, and the 2003VE three-axis rate table with +/-1 arc-second accuracy.
The Government Systems line lists Prairie Hawk, a low-cost long-range uncrewed aircraft for commercial ISR on infrastructure, utilities and logistics; Troublemaker, a low-cost, attritable long-range one-way attack aircraft with a modular payload architecture and a U.S.-based supply chain; Problem Child, a long-range USV of modular fiberglass construction with a configurable payload bay for ISR or electronic warfare; platform-agnostic swarm mission planning and C2 software; and low-cost propulsion systems for uncrewed aircraft. Breaking Defense, as summarised by RobotToday in October 2026, reported Troublemaker's wingspan at 15 feet, its range at more than 750 nautical miles and initial output at two aircraft per week, with a path to 20 per week. The official site publishes no numeric specifications for these vehicles.
The move into uncrewed systems builds on earlier naval work. Ideal Aerosmith received a USD 17 million Office of Naval Research contract for an Expeditionary Mission Support Station, combining special-operations mission planning with a ground station for controlling multiple unmanned aircraft and sensors, and a USD 14.5 million U.S. Navy contract for hardware and software that lets UAS fly simulated missions in the lab. Senator John Hoeven's office reported in 2022 that headcount had grown to 114 from 81 two years earlier.
Alongside products, the company runs an Inertial Test Laboratory offering testing as a service in Phoenix, Arizona, and provides build-to-print contract manufacturing of cable, fixture and mechanical assemblies, electrical, mechanical and software engineering, and life-cycle support including repairs, calibration, field service and system refurbishment. It cites more than 70,000 square feet of engineering, assembly and tooling space, sites in Grand Forks and Phoenix, and business in more than 10 countries. Certifications are ISO 9001:2015, IPC and OSHA SHARP (April 2025). Named customers and partners include Rockwell Collins, which named it Business Services Supplier of the Year in 2012, Halliburton, and Sandia National Laboratories, where a new centrifuge was installed in 2024.
Primary type & automation activities this supplier delivers:
Troublemaker
- Launch Year: 2026
Low-cost, attritable long-range one-way attack uncrewed aircraft with modular payload and U.S. supply chain.
Prairie Hawk
Low-cost long-range uncrewed aircraft for persistent commercial ISR over infrastructure, utilities and logistics.
Problem Child
Long-range unmanned surface vessel of modular fiberglass build with a configurable bay for ISR or EW payloads.
Swarm Mission Planning / C2
Platform-agnostic mission planning and command-and-control software for coordinating multiple uncrewed systems.
More related news
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10
- 11
- 12
-
13
Introduction to Robotics J. J. Craig — RSF Top 10 Robot Education Textbooks · No. 6 RobotToday · Jul 31, 2026
-
14
Probabilistic Robotics Thrun, Burgard & Fox — RSF Top 10 Robot Education Textbooks · No. 7 RobotToday · Jul 31, 2026
-
15
Modern Robotics K. M. Lynch & F. C. Park — RSF Top 10 Robot Education Textbooks · No. 8 RobotToday · Jul 31, 2026
-
16
A Gentle Introduction to ROS Jason M. O’Kane — RSF Top 10 Robot Education Textbooks · No. 9 RobotToday · Jul 31, 2026
- 17
-
18
Industrial Robotics Fundamentals Ross, Fardo & Walach — RSF Top 10 Robot Education Textbooks · No. 4 RobotToday · Jul 30, 2026
-
19
Robotics, Vision and Control Peter Corke — RSF Top 10 Robot Education Textbooks · No. 5 RobotToday · Jul 30, 2026
-
20
ITIL Foundation: ITIL 4 Edition PeopleCert — RSF Top 10 Robot Education Textbooks · No. 2 RobotToday · Jul 29, 2026
Contact Ideal Aerosmith
WEBSITE
https://www.ideal-aerosmith.comPHONE
+1 701 757 3400HEADQUARTERS
United States
Company Facts
Founded
1938
Primary Role
Manufacturer
Company Size
employees 100-500
Primary Region
North America
Annual Sales
-
Funding Stage
-
Funding Total
-
Certifications & Memberships
Keywords
- Ideal Aerosmith
- Inc.
- Ideal Laboratory & Tool (original name
- 1938)
- idealaero.com
- flight motion simulator
- rate table
- one-way attack drone
- long-range uas
- swarm command and control
- inertial test laboratory
- hardware-in-the-loop testing
- centrifuge
- build-to-print
- maritime payload delivery
- Manufacturer
- Software/Algorithm
- Contract Manufacturer
- Custom Manufacturer
- Service Company
