Mark Brunner, Merlin's New President, on the Opportunity in Building Autonomy for Any Aircraft

By Mark Brunner, President

Merlin's New President, Who Joined as Chief Revenue Officer in April, Introduces Himself and Outlines His View on the Opportunities Ahead for Merlin

Following my appointment as Merlin's new President on Tuesday,[1] I thought it would make sense to provide some background on the perspective and experience I bring to Merlin's business.

I spent twenty years as a pilot in the U.S. Navy. Since then, I’ve focused on how the U.S. government evaluates and adopts new technology, first at The Cohen Group, then advising U.S. Senator Mark Warner, and most recently building the government businesses at Primer AI and PsiQuantum.[2]

I came to Merlin because it was clear to me that the product and platform the company is building is a game-changing solution to address the challenges facing both military and civilian aviation. I experienced these issues firsthand, both in the cockpit and later from the customer side of the table: the US already has huge fleets of aircraft and the ability to produce more, at scale. Every year, crews are asked to do more. Missions multiply, airspace grows more complex, and the burden compounds across every airframe. Many companies and government entities are pursuing a wide variety of approaches to solving some of these challenges. However, Merlin is focused on something different: building a single, agile system that could meet so many of aviation’s future needs at once. What convinced me to join Merlin, however, was not just the long-term vision. It was how much of Merlin’s progress has been independently verified, including by civil regulators.

So, what does Merlin’s single system - Merlin Pilot - look like in practice? First and foremost, it is being designed to autonomously pilot any aircraft from takeoff to touchdown.[3] In the past month, it flew a Beechcraft King Air C90 for the first time, becoming the fourth distinct airframe flown by Merlin Pilot.

It is also the system at the center of our work as a prime contractor in the U.S. Special Operations Command’s C-130J autonomy program.[4] And in September, Textron Aviation and Merlin showed what a future aircraft built around it could look like: a Cessna SkyCourier concept with no cockpit at all.[5]

From my years on the customer side, I know that these organizations ultimately buy capabilities that meet their needs, not technology for its own sake. That is why what we are building and the progress we have made so far really matter. At the heart of Merlin Pilot is what we call assured autonomy, our approach to bringing the judgment, adaptability and decision-making of a skilled aviator into an autonomous system. By combining advanced AI with aviation-specific reasoning and safety-critical flight controls, we're building a system that can understand its environment, make informed decisions and respond to the unexpected.

So Merlin’s work is about much more than automating flight controls. It's about creating an intelligent, adaptable, trustable pilot that can operate across different aircraft, missions and environments.

Since the company went public in March, the team has completed both the preliminary and critical design reviews on the C-130J program,[6] landed a Caravan autonomously at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh[7], attained Stage of Involvement 3 with New Zealand's civil aviation regulator[8], for two core Merlin Pilot components - and flown an autonomous takeoff, landing and in-flight re-plan for state and federal officials in Texas.[9]

I believe these kinds of public demonstrations - which are scrutinized by demanding regulators, customers and other stakeholders, and all of which are made possible by ground-breaking technical work, represent critical progress against defined standards. Speaking from experience, in this industry, this type of technical, regulatory and customer momentum is what I believe leads to revenue.

My job as President is to help turn that evidence into programs and capabilities for our customers, and after six months here I am even more convinced of the opportunity.

Forward-Looking Statements

This post contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements other than statements of historical fact should be considered forward-looking statements, including without limitation, Merlin’s belief that independently verified progress will lead to revenue and customer programs; and the anticipated benefits and future development of Merlin’s autonomous flight technology generally. These forward-looking statements are based on our current expectations, assumptions, and projections about future events and trends. These forward-looking statements are neither promises nor guarantees, but involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements, including without limitation the risks and uncertainties detailed under the section entitled "Risk Factors" of our final prospectus, dated May 13, 2026, filed with the SEC on May 13, 2026, and our subsequently filed Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, which are available from the SEC. Except as required by applicable law, we undertake no obligation to update any of these forward-looking statements after the date of this press release.