Funded by the Office of Special Warfare and facilitated by the Army’s Pathway for Innovation and Technology with a $7M DEVCOM GVSC co-investment, Army FUZE marks the inaugural award under Public Law 119-83, validating the transition pipeline and accelerating silent, frictionless magnetic gear systems for next-generation combat platforms.
The Pipeline: From xTech Discovery to Enduring Capability
FluxWorks entered the defense ecosystem in 2024 as an xTechPrime winner, capturing a $1.9 million follow-on Direct to Phase II SBIR to mature its breakthrough contactless magnetic gear drive systems. The company’s patented technology, originally invented for space applications as Celestial Gear™, replaces traditional mechanical gear teeth with engineered magnetic fields to transmit torque. This frictionless architecture eliminates wear and lubrication while delivering whisper-quiet acoustic stealth and inherent overload protection—allowing the drivetrain to harmlessly slip and re-engage without catastrophic failure. "We entered offering a component," Dr. Bryton Praslicka, FluxWorks Founder and CEO noted. "Army evaluators assessed it at the platform level: weight, cooling overhead, sustainment, range. We exited with a compact, integrated magnetically geared drive, the (MG)³." This feedback, combined with early integrator engagement, was critical in designing a system for the specific demands of the warfighter.
Strategic Scale: The $7M Breakthrough Co-Investment
This deliberate progression culminated in a historic acquisition milestone under Public Law 119-83: FluxWorks securing the first-ever Army Strategic Breakthrough Award. The award was crucially funded by the Office of Special Warfare (OSW), facilitated by the Army FUZE Strategic Integration Program and the Army's Pathway for Innovation and Technology (PIT), and executed as a $7 million joint co-investment with the U.S. Army DEVCOM Ground Vehicle Systems Center (GVSC). This landmark initiative bridges the defense "Valley of Death" by pairing private venture capital with direct programmatic pull to scale domestic production and integrate magnetic drive systems onto autonomous combat and tactical ground vehicles.
"The Strategic Breakthrough Award represents a fundamental shift in how the Army transitions critical dual-use technology from early prototypes to enduring capability," said Nicole Fox, Strategic Integration Program Manager at Army FUZE. "FluxWorks’ progression through the Army FUZE pipeline— from xTech discovery to SBIR maturation and now a $7 million co-investment funded by OSW and managed through GVSC—proves that we can effectively bridge the Valley of Death. This award establishes a scalable model for fielding high-impact innovations at the speed of relevance."
Fox emphasized that this milestone signals a broader transformation for commercial partnerships across the defense industrial base: "To small businesses and private capital partners: the Army is open for business at commercial speed. The Strategic Breakthrough authority gives us the exact tool needed to match non-SBIR and venture dollars 1:1, de-risking high-TRL capabilities and guaranteeing programmatic pull. FluxWorks is the first of many success stories showing that the Army’s Pathway for Innovation and Technology is actively accelerating defense transition."
Operational Impact for the Warfighter
For autonomous and tactical ground vehicles, the magnetic gear drive offers game-changing advantages in survivability and sustainment. Its acoustic signature is a key differentiator; unlike mechanical gears that grow louder under load, magnetic gear noise falls as load rises, providing a widening stealth advantage when a platform is working its hardest.
"Our mission at Army FUZE is simple: identify game-changing commercial technologies and clear a direct runway for them into the hands of the warfighter," Fox added. "By scaling FluxWorks’ contactless magnetic drive systems with funding from partners like OSW, we are tackling real-world operational friction—drastically reducing maintenance burdens, eliminating mechanical failure points, and enhancing vehicle survivability for autonomous ground platforms. The Strategic Breakthrough pathway ensures that breakthrough engineering doesn't stall in testing, but scales into production." Nicole Fox stated.
FluxWorks’ journey exemplifies the power of a synchronized defense innovation ecosystem. By progressing systematically through xTech discovery, SBIR maturation, and the first-ever inaugural $7M Strategic Breakthrough Award, FluxWorks and DEVCOM GVSC have demonstrated how targeted acquisition authorities under PL 119-83, combined with Army FUZE integration, can help eliminate the defense "Valley of Death." Their contactless magnetic gear drive system is a benchmark dual-use capability—delivering quiet, rugged, low-maintenance performance to the warfighter while also transforming commercial motion control.
Social Sharing