Tiberius Aerospace, the modern defense technology company building next-generation weapon systems and AI-powered defense solutions for the United States, United Kingdom, and allied nations, today announced that Invictus is moving from laboratory investigation into formal engineering and Test & Evaluation (T&E) development, marking a major step towards fielding its next-generation long-range precision strike system.
The transition moves Invictus beyond exploratory laboratory development into a structured engineering program that formally tests propulsion, flight performance, guidance, platform integration, and manufacturability. Direct-connect testing of the Invictus ramjet engine is already underway at Purdue’s Zucrow Laboratories, where the engine has demonstrated excellent operability using Jet-A across all conditions tested to date.
Invictus is a tube-launched, multi-mission system designed for integration across multiple platforms and domains. Its architecture supports launch from vertical launch systems and autonomous vehicles operating across land and sea, giving warfighters greater flexibility in delivering long-range precision effects.
The program is advancing against an increasingly urgent strategic challenge: the need for the United States and its allies to rebuild long-range precision strike capacity faster than traditional defense production can replenish it. The US Army used all of its stockpile of ATACMS and Precision Strike Missiles virtually during the five-month conflict with Iran, intensifying concerns about readiness for future contingencies. Across Europe, Western missile inventories are also under growing pressure, pushing NATO governments and manufacturers to accelerate production and rebuild stockpiles.
Invictus is being designed to address both capability and capacity, combining long-range precision with an architecture built for adaptability and scale. The Invictus-200 will pair a ramjet with an integral booster to reach speeds up to Mach 3 and deliver precision strikes out to 200 kilometers, with a 5.5-meter CEP depending on the guidance configuration. Its 10–15 kilogram payload capacity and modular, open architecture will let the system adapt to different missions and evolve as operational requirements change.
“The move into formal engineering, testing and evaluation is a major step toward turning Invictus from a promising technology into a deployable capability,” said Chad Steelberg, Founder and CEO of Tiberius Aerospace. “We are designing Invictus around cost-effective lethality from the outset, maximizing the combat effect delivered for every dollar spent by simplifying the weapon, engineering it for high-volume production, and building in an open architecture that can evolve without replacing the entire system. That matters because the challenge for the United States and NATO is not simply building another exquisite long-range weapon; it is fielding enough lethal capability, at a cost we can sustain. Invictus is being built as a multi-mission, tube-launched system capable of delivering precision effects across multiple domains. Range matters and lethality matters, but if you cannot afford to field it at scale, it does not solve the problem.”
At the heart of Invictus’ development is GRAIL, Tiberius Aerospace’s AI-powered platform for developing, evaluating, and scaling next-generation weapon systems. Tiberius Aerospace used GRAIL Effects to model Invictus against specific targets and realistic operating conditions, assessing mission effectiveness alongside cost, readiness, sustainment, and supply-chain constraints. This analysis will optimize Invictus for cost-effective lethality, delivering a 10x cost-lethality score by maximizing the operational effect delivered for the resources required to produce and field the system. GRAIL Effects also applies TELS, the Target Effective Lethality Score, to assess how effectively a weapon neutralizes a specific target, helping identify overmatch, underperformance, and mission fit so the right effect can be matched to the right target.
The same GRAIL approach informs Invictus’ manufacturing model. Through GRAIL Agility, Tiberius Aerospace can connect program requirements with domestic and allied suppliers capable of producing components and systems, supporting a broader and more resilient industrial base. Invictus is being engineered with a simplified architecture and fewer parts to support cost-effective, high-volume production rather than reliance on a narrow, highly concentrated supply chain. Its modular architecture also allows guidance, payload, and mission capabilities to be upgraded over time without requiring a redesign of the entire weapon system, extending Invictus’ relevance as threats and technologies change.
Invictus will bring together long-range precision, multi-domain flexibility, cost-effective lethality and scalable production in a weapon designed not only for today’s operational requirements, but for continuous adaptation throughout its service life.
