Archer acquires Overair’s assets, composites factory to boost defense activity

Archer Aviation has completed the acquisition of a number of assets to boost its activity in the field of defense, the company reported on August 7, 2025. 

These include a patent portfolio from Overair, a spin-off of California-based Karem Aircraft.  

At this stage, it is unclear what the implications of this sale will be for Overair’s own advanced air mobility program and whether this is a full takeover.  

Over the last few years, Overair has been developing its own quad tiltrotor eVTOL, called Butterfly, the first prototype of which was assembled in 2023. Indeed, in its press release, Archer refers to the advanced, high-efficiency tiltrotors developed by Overair. Archer has also confirmed the hiring of several key employees from Overair in connection with this acquisition. 

In parallel to the Overair deal, Archer has also acquired, for an undisclosed sum, a 60,000 square ft (5,574 sq. meter) composites manufacturing facility in Southern California from Mission Critical Composites, a firm specializing in defense composite manufacturing. Archer has stated that the purpose of this acquisition is to boost its in-house composite production capabilities, in order to accelerate its prototype development and testing processes. 

This announcement reinforces the broader pivot among advanced air mobility companies towards the defense sector, capitalizing on the Pentagon’s $13.4 billion budget allocation for autonomous military systems.  

In December 2024, Anduril partnered with Anduril Industries, and in July 2025, its competitor Joby followed suit in a similar agreement with L3Harris, another large defense technology contractor. The post Archer acquires Overair’s assets, composites factory to boost defense activity appeared first on AeroTime.

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