Unmanned Systems Incorporated

Unmanned Systems Incorporated, doing business as Albers Aerospace, a veteran-owned small business manufacturer and defense contractor based in McKinney, Texas, operates as a prime contractor on major Air Force and Missile Defense Agency contracts and IDVs (88% of recent awards) with ancillary subcontract work on propulsion and systems engineering programs under General Electric and Vertex Aerospace. The company holds a subsidiary, Defense Research Associates Inc., also veteran-owned.

Albers Aerospace's capability portfolio centers on unmanned aerial and ground systems development, artificial intelligence vision-based guidance, advanced sensor technologies, systems integration, and specialized defense research and development. Recent representative prime work includes an $85.88 million BIG SAFARI definitive contract from the Aeronautical Systems Center (March 2025, firm fixed-price, Fairview, Texas), a $1.54 million SBIR Phase II "MIGHTY MUOOS" contract from the Air Force Research Laboratory for unmanned systems advancement (December 2025, McKinney), a $4.7 million Other Transaction Agreement with the Naval Air Warfare Center for unmanned systems and related services (January 2024), and a $3.68 million delivery order under the Naval Air Systems Command's KRACEn vehicle for corrosion maintenance support (August 2023, Beaufort, South Carolina). The company also holds a $2.61 million Customs and Border Protection contract for software upgrades and equipment refurbishment on uncrewed ground systems (March 2025, Albuquerque, New Mexico, extending through March 2029). Albers Aerospace has executed multiple smaller SBIR Phase I and II awards from the Air Force Research Laboratory for composite optimization, mobile user objective system testing expansion, and AI vision-based guidance development.

Customer concentration is heavily weighted to the Department of the Air Force, which accounts for $46.01 billion in combined potential value across ten awards—predominantly through two massive IDV vehicles established in 2025 and 2026 that dominate the portfolio. The Aeronautical Systems Center (11 awards, $1.21 billion potential value) anchors the Air Force footprint with the BIG SAFARI program. The Department of the Navy contributes $6.11 billion potential value through two awards (Naval Air Systems Command KRACEn vehicle and Naval Air Warfare Center OTA). Five additional agencies (Air Force Research Laboratory, Air Force Lifecycle Management Center, Army Materiel Command RDECOM, Department of Homeland Security Customs and Border Protection, and others) round out a twelve-agency customer base, though their combined potential value is modest relative to the Air Force concentration. The gap between award count and potential-value rankings reflects the outsized ceiling values on the two Air Force IDVs awarded in early 2026.

Albers Aerospace holds four major IDV vehicles. The largest is a $151 billion multiple-award Indefinite Delivery Contract with the Missile Defense Agency titled Scalable Homeland Innovative Enterprise Layered Defense (SHIELD), awarded December 29, 2025, running through December 28, 2035, with an initial delivery order of five hundred dollars issued the same date; work is performed at Huntsville, Alabama. A $1 billion single-award Basic Ordering Agreement under the Aeronautical Systems Center's BIG SAFARI program was awarded March 1, 2026, running through April 30, 2031 (performance in Fairview, Texas). The Eglin Wide Agile Acquisition Contract (EWAAC), a $46 billion multiple-award IDC awarded March 13, 2025 (fourth on-ramp), runs through September 9, 2031; one task order of $1,000 was issued April 7, 2025, at Eglin Air Force Base. A single-award $15 million Indefinite Delivery Contract with Army Materiel Command RDECOM for Mission Systems Flying Test Bed integration was awarded December 11, 2023, running through December 10, 2028, with one task order ($306,278.38) executed against it. Beyond these headline vehicles, Albers Aerospace competes on legacy Air Force IDC vehicles (FA486109DC001 carrying six task orders, $12.6 million combined potential value) and participates in Naval Air Systems Command's NAVAIR Strategic Sourcing for CMMARS vehicle.

Activity trajectory shows acceleration from one award in 2022 to eleven in 2025, then one award in the first quarter of 2026 (the two massive IDVs). The source data spans 2003 to 2026 but concentrates recent activity in 2023–2025. Within the next twenty-four months, three awards totaling $91.1 million in combined potential value reach ultimate completion date, representing recompete exposure concentrated on smaller contract vehicles and task orders rather than the newly awarded SHIELD or BIG SAFARI IDVs.

In its subcontractor role, Albers Aerospace subcontracts to General Electric on Next Generation Adaptive Propulsion (NGAP) Prototyping and Innovative Architecture and Technology (INNATE) engineering programs (January, June, and July 2025), and to Vertex Aerospace LLC on naval aircraft maintenance programs at China Lake and Point Mugu (October 2024) and on parts and materials work (November 2025). The company also subcontracted to the University of Dayton on the Composites, Adhesives, Specialty Technologies and Elastomers Research (COASTER) program (May 2022). Service Contract Inventory data show minimal SCI-reportable prime invoicing (zero dollars across FY2022–FY2024) but subcontractor engagement at 84.8 FTEs in FY2024 and 19.6 FTEs in FY2022 across four and two sub-records respectively, indicating subcontract work is captured in SCI but prime service contracts are either below the $150,000 reporting threshold, classified, or primarily goods-based. Albers Aerospace's prime portfolio emphasizes fixed-price IDVs, definitive contracts, and SBIR awards in the unmanned systems, AI, and advanced aerospace-systems domains rather than reimbursable federal services, which aligns with the SCI pattern of minimal prime invoicing.