Swarmer, Tekmara and Florida International University Explore Autonomous Drone Swarms for Coastal Restoration and Environmental Monitoring
AUSTIN, Texas, July 02, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Swarmer, Inc. ("Swarmer" or the "Company") (NASDAQ:SWMR), a drone autonomy software company whose technology has supported more than 100,000 real-world combat missions in Ukraine since April 2024, today announced a collaboration with Tekmara, a technology company building AI-enabled infrastructure systems for ocean and offshore environments, and Florida International University (FIU) to evaluate the use of autonomous drone swarms for environmental monitoring projects and coastal restoration.
The collaboration will evaluate how autonomous drone systems can support large-scale monitoring, environmental sensing and restoration of mangrove and oyster reef habitats while improving the efficiency, consistency and scalability of environmental data collection across coastal and marine environments.
"Reconstruction is a multibillion-dollar market," said Erik Prince, Swarmer board chairman. "Governments and non-government organizations are generously funding new programs that can restore mangroves, oyster reefs, forests and living shorelines as part of their recovery and reconstruction efforts. The same tools we use to deliver kinetic energy to the enemy may also be useful to repair both man-made and natural disasters."
Globally, oyster reefs are among the most imperiled marine ecosystems. Eighty-five percent of the world’s oyster reefs have been lost due to overharvesting, destructive fishing, pollution and coastal development. Today, coastlines are facing increasing erosion and habitat degradation from extreme weather events and the rise of sea levels from global warming. Oyster reefs and mangrove forests act as living barriers, reduce wave energy, buffer storm surge and prevent shoreline erosion. Replenishing oyster reefs will help to protect millions of lives and save billions of dollars in property damage from coastal disasters every year.
The research project will leverage Aquarius Reef Base, the world's only continuously operating underwater research habitat, operated by FIU. Aquarius provides a unique real-world environment for testing autonomous systems, remote operations and persistent environmental monitoring technologies.
The initiative will also explore how autonomous systems operating across air, surface and underwater domains can be coordinated to support environmental restoration and monitoring missions. Researchers and operators will evaluate the potential for integrated autonomous operations in complex marine environments where traditional approaches can be costly, labor-intensive and difficult to scale.
"We are focused on building an operational infrastructure that enables persistent environmental awareness and scalable coastal resilience," said Todd Kleperis, co-founder of Tekmara. "This initiative is an opportunity to explore how autonomous systems can enhance monitoring, restoration and long-term environmental operations in challenging marine environments."
For more than 30 years, Aquarius Reef Base has served as a research and testing platform for organizations including NASA, NOAA and the U.S. Navy. Its unique offshore location and operational infrastructure provide an opportunity to evaluate emerging autonomous technologies in real-world conditions while supporting scientific research, environmental stewardship and maritime innovation.
"Swarmer was built from the beginning as a dual-purpose autonomy platform," said Alex Fink, President and U.S. CEO of Swarmer. "The same software that enables operators to coordinate large numbers of drones in unforgiving combat environments can also support important commercial and public-sector missions like environmental restoration, wildfire detection, disaster relief, search and rescue, and law enforcement operations. This collaboration demonstrates how Swarmer’s advanced autonomy can help solve real-world challenges well beyond defense applications."
About Swarmer
Swarmer™ is a defense technology company that specializes in vendor-agnostic software which allows one operator to intuitively control hundreds of autonomous platforms in real time. Swarmer’s primary mission areas include autonomous swarm coordination, integration of multi-domain unmanned systems and AI-powered autonomy software for distributed operations. Swarmer is not a drone manufacturer and does not depend on any single platform, supplier or hardware lifecycle. Instead, Swarmer operates at the intelligence layer, developing autonomy, coordination and decision-making software that enables large numbers of low-cost unmanned systems to operate collectively as one coherent, resilient force. Swarmer’s technology has been rigorously validated in real-world kinetic environments and was first deployed in combat operations in Ukraine in April 2024. Since then, it has completed more than 100,000 combat missions, generating terabytes of proprietary data that informs its machine-learning models and enables the replication of advanced pilot performance at scale. Swarmer’s routine use in combat missions generates continuous streams of telemetry, sensor data and operational feedback which are then used to refine performance, increase resilience and accelerate learning. Swarmer has headquarters in Austin, Texas, and maintains operations and teams in Ukraine, Poland and Estonia.
About Tekmara
Tekmara is a technology company building AI-enabled infrastructure systems for ocean, offshore, and remote operational environments. They operate at the convergence of ocean infrastructure, AI and decision systems, edge computing, autonomous operations, and environmental intelligence — bringing together capabilities that have historically existed in separate domains. Tekmara enables resilient, intelligent operations in the world's most demanding environments by delivering infrastructure systems that sense, analyze, and act with minimal human intervention and without dependence on centralized connectivity.
About Florida International University
Florida International University is a top 50 public research university and one of the largest universities in the United States. Based in Miami, FIU is recognized for excellence in environmental resilience, marine and coastal science, engineering, technology development and applied research. Through its Medina Aquarius Program, FIU operates Aquarius Reef Base, the world's only continuously operating underwater research habitat, located within the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. FIU and Tekmara have collaborated to advance the use of artificial intelligence, autonomous systems and real-time environmental monitoring technologies to support ocean research, conservation and maritime innovation.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws, including Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Forward-looking statements include all statements other than statements of historical fact, including statements about Swarmer’s partnership with Tekmara and Florida International University (FIU); the expected benefits of the collaboration; the potential integration Swarmer’s AI models and autonomous systems with hardware provided by Tekmara or FIU; anticipated improvements in marine ecosystems; potential customer adoption; future product development; and the expected performance, capabilities, or commercial availability of any autonomy integration involving Swarmer software with maritime monitoring, restoration and long-term environmental operations.
These forward-looking statements are based on current expectations, assumptions, and beliefs and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied. These risks and uncertainties include, among others: the risk that the memorandum of understanding does not result in a definitive commercial agreement or successful product integration; the availability, quality, legal usability, and continued access to third-party data; the ability of Swarmer’s AI models to use such data effectively; technical, operational, cybersecurity, and data-security risks; risks related to the development, testing, deployment, and customer acceptance of autonomous and unmanned systems; risks related to government procurement processes, defense-sector sales cycles, budget availability, and contract award timing; regulatory, export-control, sanctions, and national-security restrictions; risks related to operations, data collection, and counterparties in or connected to active conflict zones; reputational and ethical considerations related to military applications of AI and autonomy; dependence on third-party partners, suppliers, and customers; competitive developments; and the other risks described in Swarmer’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and Current Reports on Form 8-K.
Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this press release. Swarmer undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future developments, or otherwise, except as required by law.
Contacts:
Investor Relations (Swarmer): SWMR@gateway-grp.com
Media Relations (Swarmer): media@swarmer.tech
Media Relations (Tekmara): kelli@tekmara.com
Media Relations (FIU): jadkins@fiu.edu
