A · Defense
Attritable by design
Structural airframes and swarm-capable systems, where the airframe has to be cheap enough to lose and good enough to fly.
Patent pending
Albuquerque, New Mexico
Nothing bolted on.
Structure. Electromagnetic function. Manufacturing that scales. One material, molded as one part.
Contact →
Fig. 00
Pieces of carbon fiber, some bundled, some loose. No weave, no layup, no fixed direction. Pressed into a single shape.
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01 / The trade
Every composite makes you choose. Performance or cost. Strength or speed. Build the structure, then bolt on everything it can't do by itself: the shielding, the brackets, the fasteners, the coatings. DARC collapses that trade.
02 / Origin
It started
with a shift knob.
Albuquerque is hard on parts. High desert, high altitude, relentless sun. DARC began there as an idea: carbon fiber car parts that could stand up to it, and that were easier to make.
The first real part was a shift knob, pressed in one shot from a single charge of material, with the threaded insert molded inside. No weld lines. No machining. No glue.
Then the material started showing more than we'd asked of it. It was strong for its weight. It conducted. It kept its strength in every direction. We took the idea and our early research to New Mexico's national laboratories, and developed DARC with them. A car part turned into a platform.
Demonstrated part
Molded DARC shift knob with integral threaded insert
03 / The material
D·A·R·C
Early development sample
Fig. 03 · Early sample panel. Surface finish not representative of current parts.Move to inspect
A quasi-isotropic matrix built from short, discontinuous carbon fiber. It is engineered to process at scale, without the autoclave that defines conventional composites.
Woven carbon is strong in the directions you lay it up and weak in the others. DARC has no weave. The fibers land in every orientation, so the part carries load in every direction, and you can mold it into shapes a laminate can't follow.
0
g/cm³
Density. About half that of aluminum.
>0×
vs. aluminum
Flexural specific strength in early tests.
0
press cycle
Net shape from the mold. Inserts go in during molding.
0
autoclaves
No layup, no vacuum bagging, no autoclave queue.
- AQuasi-isotropic. Strength in every direction, freedom in every shape.
- BConductive by design. EMI shielding and ESD capability are built into the matrix, eliminating secondary foils, coatings and plating. UV protection is designed in as well, with weathering tests pending.
- CMolds net shape with integral threaded inserts in a single cycle, and is designed to take metallic hardware and grounding points the same way. Replaces secondary drilling, tapping and bonding.
- DRF and EM behavior independently characterized by a third-party test lab.
04 / Process
Charge to part.
Four moves.
- 01
Charge
A measured charge of DARC goes into a matched metal tool.
- 02
Press
The tool closes. Fiber and resin flow together to fill the tool.
- 03
Cure
The closed tool moves to the oven to cure, with inserts already in place. The press is free for the next part.
- 04
Demold
Net shape out of the mold. Minimal trimming. Ready for integration.
No layup. No autoclave. Presses keep pressing while ovens cure, so output scales with tools, not presses.
Have a part in mind?
Contact →
05 / Platform
Concept render · Not flight hardware
U1Concept
DARC airframe concept · Rendered design, not a built product
A
Two molded halves, bonded. A clamshell airframe: two structures joined with adhesive. A popular comparable airframe uses 13 panels and 32 fasteners.
B
Shaped for flow, not for a laminate. Organic curves that woven carbon can't follow.
C
Designed around off-the-shelf hardware. Motors, props and electronics drop in.
D
Built to be expendable. Airframe economics for attritable fleets.
000/192
U1 · Studio views
Concept renders. A design direction for what DARC makes possible, not flight hardware.
06 / Why it matters
Six reasons one part
beats an assembly.
- 01
Strong
Carries load in every direction, not just along a weave.
- 02
Light
Every gram out of the structure is a gram back for payload, range or margin.
- 03
Moldable
Complex geometry, near net shape, inserts molded in, one press cycle.
- 04
Collapses the BOM
One molded part replaces brackets, fasteners, sub-assemblies and add-on shielding.
- 05
Collapses labor
No layup, no autoclave, no post-machining, no assembly steps.
- 06
Made in the USA
Developed in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and built for a domestic supply chain.
07 / Applications
Where one material
changes the math.
B · Space
Every gram counts
Lightweight structure built for demanding environments, with electromagnetic function in the part itself.
C · Automotive
Where it started
Performance and motorsport components with carbon character and one-shot manufacturing.
D · Industrial
High-value parts
Enclosures, housings and components that need strength, conductivity and durability without a bill of materials to match.
08 / Founders
Three builders.
One material.
DB
Dan Brockett
Co-Founder · Operations & Supply Chain
Manages North American distribution for an automotive parts brand, with a background in professional Formula Drift competition and two seasons as a TV presenter. Leads operations, channel logistics and people, and brings a large following in the automotive community.
MG
Matt Gassner
Co-Founder · Strategy & Commercialization
Directs corporate strategy, institutional partnerships and economic modeling. Background in energy commodities trading, financial risk management and quantitative analysis. Leads the laboratory collaborations and commercial growth.
JS
Jerry Stratton
Co-Founder · Tooling & Manufacturing
Machinist and toolmaker leading mold design and composite fabrication. NAVSEA Level 1 certified, with deep precision machining experience, including hardware fabrication for NASA's Mars Cube One program and CAD design for architectural metalwork at a major Los Angeles museum.
09 / Ecosystem
Built in New Mexico.
Backed by it too.
- GrantNM Science & Technology Business Startup Grant recipient
- VerifiedRF & EM characterization, independently verified
- R&DActive research collaborations with New Mexico research institutions
10 / Technical partnerships
Build it in one piece.
Stronger, lighter, conductive, or simply faster to build. If your part could use any one of those, we want to hear about it.