Aitech Introduces New C165 Rugged Single Board Computer

Fielded air, land, and naval platforms rely heavily on mature VME architectures that remain structurally sound but struggle to absorb modern workloads. To bridge that gap, Aitech unveiled the C165 Rugged 6U VME Single Board Computer during the Air & Space Forces Association Air, Space & Cyber Conference held from September 14–16, 2026, in National Harbor, Maryland at booth MB400. As military programs face increasing pressure to improve performance, strengthen cybersecurity and address component obsolescence, many continue to rely on fielded VME architectures that remain operationally effective but cannot easily absorb the cost, schedule disruption and technical risk of a complete platform redesign. The C165 enables program teams to modernize computing capabilities within existing systems, extending platform life and accelerating technology refresh efforts without requiring migration to a new architecture. Aitech is showcasing the new C165 SBC, along with its mission-ready computing and connectivity solutions that help modernize air, space and defense platforms, at the Air & Space Forces Association Air, Space & Cyber Conference from Sept. 14-16 in National Harbor, Maryland in booth MB400.

Modern Intel Processing Inside Fielded VME Hardware

The C165 reflects Aitech’s commitment to helping customers modernize and sustain mission-critical systems through a combination of proven technology assets, mission-specific engineering expertise and long-term lifecycle support. As a pin-compatible successor to Aitech’s C164 and C163 SBCs, the C165 provides an efficient upgrade path that helps customers manage technology obsolescence while preserving past investments in qualified hardware, software and platform infrastructure.

Defense customrs need practical modernization solutions that improve mission capability while minimizing program risk, said Alex Trigoub, product manager, Aitech.

Trigoub stated that the C165 delivers modern, power-optimized Intel processing, powerful integrated GPU, advanced cybersecurity, versatile I/O and high-capacity secure storage in a rugged 6U VME form factor, allowing customers to enhance performance, address obsolescence challenges and extend the operational life of deployed systems without re-architecting their platforms, while also minimizing upgrade and operational costs.

Expanding Open-Systems Portfolios Across Defense Domains

Aitech announced the new U-C6850 10/40GbE Fully Managed Ethernet Switch/Router on August 18, 2026, in Chatsworth, California, marking its first SOSA-aligned Ethernet Switch/Router and expanding its portfolio of high-speed connectivity solutions for military and aerospace platforms to support a more modular, interoperable and future-ready approach to defense system design. “The new SOSA-aligned U-C6850 Ethernet Switch provides the high-speed networking backbone needed to connect compute resources, sensors and communications systems while supporting the Modular Open Systems Approach (MOSA) architectures defense customers need,said Alex Trigoub, product manager, Aitech. By enabling seamless integration into open architectures, the U-C6850 helps customers modernize legacy platforms with advanced networking technology, accelerate technology insertion and reduce lifecycle risks associated with proprietary systems.”

The U-C6850 is based on an advanced and flexible Layer2/Layer3 (L2/L3) Ethernet switch and packet processor and offers up to 320 Gbps of total switching capacity, through configurations supporting up to 8x 40GbE or 32x 10GbE Ethernet interfaces, for data-intensive defense applications. By enabling high-speed data exchange across compute, sensors and communications networks, the new U-C6850 enables high-speed, low-latency video and data processing capabilities across modern sensor fusion architectures. In addition to its networking performance, the U-C6850 supports SWaP-C optimization by delivering high bandwidth and port density with relatively low power consumption, helping defense contractors and system integrators maximize performance while minimizing size, weight, power and lifecycle costs. The U-C6850 complements the M622 10/40GbE Ethernet Switch/Router on an XMC form factor, giving Aitech customers two available SWaP-C optimized high-speed connectivity form factors depending on the number of required Ethernet ports and the target system architecture: a fully managed Switch/Router on an XMC or a fully managed 3U SOSA-aligned board. The new rugged Ethernet Switch/Router is designed for military and aerospace platforms that rely on fast, reliable movement of data across distributed mission systems and high-performance computing environments where bandwidth and low latency are crucial. On the processing front, Aitech announced the new 3U VPX C530 and SOSA®-aligned 3U VPX U-C5300 GPGPU boards on September 9, 2026, in Chatsworth, California, representing its next-generation of rugged AI GPU accelerators. The new C530 and U-C5300 deliver a substantial leap in AI compute compared to the previous generation, providing significant improvements in AI inference, memory bandwidth, and graphics performance while maintaining compatibility with rugged VPX architectures. Defense platforms generate unprecedented volumes of sensor and video data, and traditional CPU-based mission computers can no longer keep pace with the demands of AI inference, multi-stream HD video processing and advanced sensor fusion. These new AI enabled GPGPU boards provide the rugged, SWaP-optimized heterogeneous computing architecture needed to bring high-performance AI to the edge, enabling faster mission decisions, improved situational awareness and greater operational autonomy. Both boards offer up to 9,728 CUDA cores for parallel processing, 304 Tensor Cores for AI inference and 76 ray-tracing cores for real-time rendering, delivering up to 35.8 TFLOPS of FP32 compute performance and 576 GB/s memory bandwidth to support demanding real-time edge AI workloads.