Archer agrees to acquire Boeing’s Wisk, Insitu and SkyGrid
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Archer Aviation has agreed to acquire Boeing’s autonomy subsidiaries Wisk Aero, Insitu and SkyGrid, the companies announced on August 10. The deal gives Archer a profitable defense business with over $200 million in annual revenue and Boeing an undisclosed equity stake in the electric aircraft developer. The transaction comes exactly three years after Boeing settled a trade secrets lawsuit with Archer.
The Deal
Archer Aviation signed definitive agreements on August 10, 2026 to acquire Wisk Aero, Insitu, and SkyGrid from Boeing. Financial terms were not disclosed, but Boeing will receive an equity stake in Archer, according to a Form 8-K filed with the SEC. The transaction marks a major expansion for Archer into autonomous and uncrewed systems, and it comes three years to the day after the companies settled a lawsuit over alleged trade secret theft. Archer CEO Adam Goldstein called it a “watershed moment” for physical AI in aerospace.
Insitu’s Defense Business
Insitu, founded in 1994 and acquired by Boeing in 2008, manufactures the ScanEagle and Integrator surveillance drones used by 35 nations, including the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps. The Bingen, Washington-based company is profitable, generating over $200 million in annual revenue with more than 3,500 uncrewed aircraft systems fielded. Insitu’s revenue and international footprint (offices in the U.S., Australia, UK, UAE) give Archer an immediate foothold in the defense market, contrasting with Archer’s own Thunder military variant, which is not expected to fly until 2027.
Autonomy Technology Integration
Wisk brings 1,700+ eVTOL flight tests across six generations of design, plus autonomous flight computers, sensors, and radar. SkyGrid, a Wisk subsidiary since June 2025, supplies ground-based air traffic management software. Archer plans to feed data from nearly 2 million combined flight hours into ZEE, its aviation foundation model, to create an end-to-end physical AI platform. Boeing will retain access to Wisk’s core autonomous technology for its own commercial and defense aircraft under a technology-sharing arrangement, while maintaining exposure through its Archer stake.
What's Next
The deal is subject to regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions. It remains unclear how quickly Archer can integrate the three businesses and whether the consolidation will accelerate its commercial and defense timelines.
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Archer agrees to acquire Boeing’s Wisk, Insitu and SkyGrid
