XTI Aerospace and Valkyrie AI announce Vanguard Platform advancing TriFan 600 next-generation VTOL aircraft for commercial and defense applications

XTI Aerospace, Inc., advancing scalable vertical flight technologies, and Valkyrie Sciences, a leader in enterprise solutions by the integration of artificial intelligence and advanced materials, announced the Vanguard Platform, an intelligent technology system for the next generation of vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft. The Vanguard Platform will apply Valkyrie's experience with graphene and composite materials, battery technology, and smart systems architecture to XTI's Tri Fan 600 program.

The alliance between XTI and Valkyrie includes a strategic investment by XTI in Valkyrie as well as a services agreement between XTI and Valkyrie Intelligence. The collaboration expands upon Valkyrie Founder Charlie Burgoyne's service on XTI's Corporate Advisory Board, announced in July 2025. Mr. Burgoyne has served as the applied sciences advisor to several military and intelligence commands, where he contributed his expertise to decisions of national importance. His extensive experience deploying real-world application of AI comes from his leadership roles in government, industry and academia. Notable contributions include his work at LANL, DOE, DARPA, NASA, CENTCOM, SOCOM, and other various organizations. Valkyrie has earned industry recognition from a leading global automotive manufacturer for its mesh network design. Valkyrie's experience in mesh intelligence, development of digital-twin systems for Fortune 100 companies and supporting racing operations provides a foundation of capabilities for leveraging the Vanguard Platform to advance capabilities of the XTI TriFan 600 aircraft.

"This alliance supports our technology-first objectives at the leading edge of emerging aerospace technologies," said Scott Pomeroy, CEO of XTI Aerospace. "Applied AI will be one of the most significant differentiators in this next era of aerospace and defense. Valkyrie's expertise will assist us in accelerating opportunities across our portfolio, from vertical flight to unmanned systems and beyond; we believe this is a first-of-its-kind approach."

"The Vanguard Platform, combining Valkyrie's applied AI technology for aerospace and XTI's VTOL engineering, is designed to streamline aircraft development," added Charlie Burgoyne, CEO of Valkyrie. "Central to this vision is Valkyrie's work to develop the Vanguard chassis, which integrates Valkyrie's distributed mesh intelligence—a networked, onboard computing framework intended to enable real-time coordination across aircraft systems. Production methods and engineering processes will emphasize lean, data-driven development across both teams and opportunities for integrating intelligent systems directly into aerospace hardware. We could not be more enthusiastic about our shared vision with Scott and the team at XTI."

For more information regarding XTI's $2 million strategic investment, please see the Company's Current Report on Form 8-K to be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

ThinkEquity acted as advisor with respect to the transaction.