Boeing sells three aerospace units to Archer for $200M+ annual revenue

Archer Aviation announced Monday that it is acquiring three Boeing subsidiaries: Wisk Aero, SkyGrid, and Insitu. The transaction is expected to close by the end of 2026, subject to regulatory and other closing conditions, and will add more than $200 million in annual revenue to Archer. The three companies collectively operate across 35 countries and have nearly two million flight hours.

Insitu, based in Bingen, Washington, is the centerpiece of the defense-focused portion of the deal. Founded in 1994 and acquired by Boeing in 2008 for about $400 million, Insitu designs and manufactures unmanned aircraft systems for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance. The company has built and deployed more than 3,500 unmanned aircraft and supports military customers in 35 countries. Its portfolio includes small unmanned aircraft systems, vertical-takeoff-and-landing capabilities, and software for military intelligence and surveillance. The company's ScanEagle system has logged over 1.6 million combat flight hours. Insitu operates offices in the U.S., Australia, the U.K., and the United Arab Emirates.

Wisk Aero, based in Mountain View, California, was formed in 2019 as a joint venture between Boeing and Kitty Hawk Corp. The company raised $450 million from Boeing in 2022 and has since developed autonomous electric aircraft. Wisk has designed, built and flown six generations of its eVTOL air taxi systems and conducted more than 1,700 flight tests, with the company completing the first flight of its Generation 6 autonomous, all-electric eVTOL last year. SkyGrid, based in Austin, Texas, provides software for managing automated airspace and coordinating aircraft integration. Archer plans to combine these capabilities with its own artificial intelligence platform, ZEE, which the company describes as a foundation model for aerospace and defense applications.

The deal also restructures Boeing's relationship with these technologies. As part of the transaction, Boeing will take a stake in Archer and enter into a collaboration and technology-sharing agreement. Boeing will receive class A shares in Archer worth approximately 19.75%. After the transaction closes, Boeing's shares will amount to a roughly 16.5% ownership stake in Archer. Boeing will also retain access to Wisk's core autonomous flight technology for use in its current and future commercial and defense aircraft. Brian Yutko, Boeing's vice president of Commercial Airplanes Product Development, said the deal "allows Wisk, SkyGrid and Insitu to accelerate capability development and time to market while ensuring Boeing capitalizes on its investments in these technologies over the past two decades through continued development in our core businesses." Archer founder and CEO Adam Goldstein called it "a watershed moment for Archer and the future of physical AI in aerospace and defense," describing the transaction as "the next big step forward in becoming a diversified platform, rapidly growing our revenue base and bringing scale to our business." Archer shares soared more than 7 percent in Monday trading following the announcement.