Stratom
Table of Contents

⚠ Disclaimer: This entry may be incomplete, out of date, or inaccurate. It is AI-maintained on a best-effort basis. Do not rely on it as a sole source — verify claims independently using the sources listed below.

Summary

Stratom, Inc. is a privately held, Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) headquartered in Louisville, Colorado (Boulder metro area), founded in 2001 to develop autonomous ground vehicles and robotic systems for defense and commercial logistics customers. The company builds unmanned cargo-handling and refueling robots — the Autonomous Pallet Loader (APL), eXpeditionary Cargo Loader (XCL), and RAPID autonomous refueling/recharging/liquid-transfer system — alongside the Summit off-road autonomy platform and toolkits (Kobra, ASP, Route Clearance) that add manipulation and payload capability to third-party unmanned ground vehicles. Its customers span the US Army, Air Force, Marine Corps, and Navy, as well as commercial distribution and aviation clients.

Key Facts

  • Founded: 2001
  • HQ: 331 S. 104th St, Suite 235, Louisville, CO 80027 (Boulder metro area)
  • Type: Private; Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB); HUBZone Small Business Concern
  • Certifications: ISO 9001:2015 registered
  • Business model: Integrator / platform developer — unmanned ground vehicles, autonomy software, and robotic payload/toolkit systems for defense and commercial logistics
  • Primary markets: US Department of Defense (Army, Air Force, Marine Corps, Navy); commercial distribution and aviation ground support
  • Value Chain Layer: Integrator, with platform-OEM elements (Summit autonomy kit, APL/XCL/RAPID hardware)

What It Is / How It Works

Stratom’s product line centers on removing soldiers and warehouse/ramp workers from repetitive, hazardous material-handling tasks. The Autonomous Pallet Loader (APL) and eXpeditionary Cargo Loader (XCL) are robotic material-handling systems for military logistics — XCL was demonstrated loading cargo onto a C-130 for Air Force tactical airlift operations in May 2026. RAPID (Robotic Autonomous Fueling, Recharging and liquid transfer) automates hazardous liquid transfer — refueling and recharging unmanned systems and vehicles without direct human contact with fuel lines. The Summit off-road autonomy platform is a retrofit autonomy kit intended to convert conventional or purpose-built ground vehicles into unmanned platforms for resupply and route-clearance missions. Stratom also sells accessory toolkits — the Kobra Tool and Payload Kit, ASP Toolkit, and Route Clearance Toolkit — that add manipulator arms and mission payloads to existing UGVs such as those historically built by iRobot/Endeavor Robotics and QinetiQ, both listed among its clients.

Stratom’s engineering approach for newer defense programs is built around a Modular Open Systems Approach (MOSA) and Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE), intended to keep its robotic platforms upgradeable and interoperable with prime-contractor systems rather than locking customers into a single vendor’s proprietary stack.

Notable Developments

  • 2026-04-29: Awarded US Army contract to develop the Autonomous Decontamination System (ADS) — a robotic platform for remote/semi-autonomous/fully autonomous CBRN (chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear) vehicle washdown, intended to keep soldiers at standoff distance from contaminated equipment; developed under Project Vista (bridging SBIR/OTA-funded small business tech into fielded Army capability); potential Joint Force (Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps) applications noted.
  • 2026-05-11: Successfully demonstrated the eXpeditionary Cargo Loader (XCL) for US Air Force tactical airlift operations (C-130 cargo capacity increase) and secured a follow-on contract for additional units.
  • 2025-04-15: Selected by the US Air Force as part of the Enterprise-Wide Agile Acquisition Contract (EWAAC), a multiple-award IDIQ vehicle with a $46 billion ceiling running through 2031, covering weapons-related capability development.
  • 2022-08-16: Awarded a US Army contract to develop a standalone Perimeter Safety for Autonomous Vehicles (P-SAV) system for the Robotic Combat Vehicle-Light (RCV-L) program.
  • 2009: Received the DoD Mentor-Protégé Program’s Nunn-Perry Award.

Key People

Mark Gordon — President & CEO

  • Role: President and CEO; oversees strategic direction, robotics R&D, and program execution
  • LinkedIn: Not found via public search — verify directly on Stratom’s leadership page
  • Career: Decades of experience in federal government/DoD robotics R&D, engineering, and program management; prior experience across Fortune 500 manufacturing/operations/engineering roles; holds multiple robotics patents
  • Boards: Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI); National Advanced Mobility Consortium (NAMC)

Sara Blackmer — Senior VP, Corporate Strategy

  • Role: Corporate strategy, business development, and strategic partnerships
  • LinkedIn: Not found via public search
  • Background: Retired US Air Force lieutenant colonel (aircraft maintenance officer); recognized by DBusiness Magazine’s “Powered by Women” and Crain’s “Notable Women in Tech”
  • Boards: Robotics Technology Consortium (RTC); National Advanced Mobility Consortium (NAMC); Oakland University School of Engineering and Computer Science advisory board

Ryan DelGizzi — Vice President of Engineering / Principal Robotics Engineer

  • Role: Systems integration and engineering leadership across Stratom’s UGV programs, including XR-P low-level software, USMC Self-Propelled Robotic Pallet (SPRP), the Army GVSC AGVR effort, and the Autonomous Ground Resupply UAV Landing Platform and Docking Station (LPDS) program
  • LinkedIn: Not found via public search

Thomas Steen, Ph.D. — Senior Director of Engineering

  • Role: Leads Stratom’s advanced technology product development team; systems architecture and requirements development for robotics/unmanned vehicle programs
  • LinkedIn: Not found via public search

People — Last Reviewed: 2026-07-26

Supply Chain Position

Value Chain Layer: Integrator with platform-OEM elements. Stratom does not appear to manufacture its own motors, batteries, or sensors at scale; it integrates COTS robotics components (actuators, sensors, compute) into mission-specific UGV and cargo-handling systems, similar in structural position to Textron Systems and QinetiQ/Endeavor Robotics in the defense UGV segment (see Ground Drones supply chain table), though at a much smaller company scale (SDVOSB small business vs. large prime).

Claim Verification

Claim: US Air Force EWAAC IDIQ has a $46 billion ceiling

Status: Verified (ceiling value; Stratom’s specific task-order share not disclosed)

Supporting sources:

Summary: The $46B figure is the ceiling value of the multi-award IDIQ vehicle as a whole, not a dollar commitment to Stratom specifically. IDIQ ceiling values represent maximum potential contract value across all awardees and task orders, not guaranteed revenue — a common pattern across defense press releases that should not be read as Stratom’s expected revenue.

Sources

← prev