PARALLAX DEFENSE CORP.

Protecting Bridge Erection Boats

From Low-Cost Drone Threats

DIU Commercialization Fellowship | May 2026

UC Berkeley Hacking for Defense

PARALLAX DEFENSE CORP.

The Team

Daeva Indrakumar

Engineering Lead

U of Georgia, Sophomore

Fluid Dynamics / Aerospace

ADVISORS

Joel Mjolsness

UC Berkeley

Skydeck Advisor

US Army, Colonel (Ret.)

Scott Nisbet

UC Berkeley

Gateway Accelerator

Prof. Oguzhan Aygoren

UC Berkeley, Haas

Director, Institute for Bus Innovation

Prof. Simo Makiharju

UC Berkeley, ME

Director, FLOW Lab

Erik Leklem

H4D Mentor

Regional Ops Dir,

US Def Sec Coop U

Joshua Armah

Artificial Intelligence Expert/Advisor

Benjamin Parker

Computer Science & Mathematics

U of Georgia, Junior

Justin Parry

Electrical Engineering

U of Georgia, Senior

Derek Whitley

CTO

US Navy Veteran

PhD, Complex Systems & Cognitive Science

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PARALLAX DEFENSE CORP.

About Parallax

Low-cost, active counter-UAS — validated by the 1st Infantry Division

Founded out of UC Berkeley’s Hacking for Defense program, Parallax addresses a critical and unmet capability gap at the company level: small UAS threats against exposed military assets during high-risk operations.

Existing intercept solutions cost hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars per engagement; our novel active defeat mechanism inverts that equation with near-zero-cost ammunition.

UC BERKELEY

Hacking for Defense origin

100+ INTERVIEWS

Operator and SME validation

FORT RILEY, KS

Field demo with 175th MRBC, 1st ID

PARALLAX DEFENSE CORP.

Berkeley SkyDeck Pad-13

Batch 22 • Selected Spring 2026

Pad 13 is Berkeley SkyDeck’s incubator program for early-stage UC-affiliated startups, providing access to the SkyDeck advisor network, Berkeley faculty, in-kind resource partners, and a direct pipeline to the SkyDeck Cohort accelerator. Parallax was selected for Batch 22 from a competitive global applicant pool.

3,500

Applicants

70

Selected

$750K+

In-kind resources & partner credits

900+ advisors • 500K+ Berkeley alumni network • Pipeline to SkyDeck Cohort accelerator

1931

1942

Cold War

Today

1931

The Rad Lab

Ernest O. Lawrence founded Berkeley's Radiation Laboratory and invented the cyclotron — Nobel Prize, 1939. The birthplace of U.S. "big science."

1942

Manhattan Project

Oppenheimer's 1942 summer study at Berkeley laid out the fission bomb design. Seaborg discovered plutonium on campus; Lawrence's work enabled Oak Ridge.

STEWARDSHIP

Three National Labs

UC founded and managed Lawrence Berkeley, Lawrence Livermore, and Los Alamos — central to U.S. deterrence and national security R&D.

TODAY

H4D & Parallax

Berkeley hosts Hacking for Defense, the DIU-sponsored program that launched Parallax. The latest chapter in a long tradition.

16 elements discovered at Berkeley · including plutonium, berkelium, californium, lawrencium, seaborgium

UC Berkeley: Nearly A Century of Service to National Security

WHAT IS HACKING FOR DEFENSE?

The Program

A national security innovation program now run at 70+ universities.

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UC Berkeley's program is led by Prof. Janet Napolitano.

Teams of students are matched with a real DoW problem sponsor to apply Lean Startup methodology to national security challenges.

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THE PROBLEM

ZERO

Organic counter-UAS capability

at company level

$400K+

Cost of existing intercept

solutions per engagement

BEBs

Exposed on water during

wet gap crossings

Ukraine has demonstrated the devastating impact of small drones on river crossing operations. U.S. MRBC units face the same vulnerability today.

OUR PROCESS

Echelons of the Military

All

HOW WE GOT HERE

01

Problem Framing

Sponsored by CPT Drummond & LTC Floyd, 5th Engineer BN, 1ID.

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Mission: protect BEBs during wet gap crossings.

02

100+ Stakeholder Interviews

Soldiers, officers, defense

contractors, acquisition experts, fluid dynamics researchers.

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Operator-validated requirements.

03

Solution Development

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Novel fluid-based active defeat mechanism concept developed

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Designed for MRBC operational environment.

04

Fort Riley Field Test

3D-printed drone shells suspended from firefighting ladder truck.

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Shot from truck-mounted nozzle.

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Proof-of-concept validated.

OUR SOLUTION: TORRENT

A Novel Fluid-Based Active Defeat Mechanism

• Using the native operational environment as the defeat mechanism
• AI-powered targeting scope for precise engagement
• Detection-agnostic — integrates with any cueing source (radar, acoustic, RF, optical)
• Near-zero cost per engagement
• No magazine depth limits — continuous defeat capability
• No EW required — effective against fiber-optic and RF-dark threats

COST ASYMMETRY

INVERSION

Enemy drone cost

~$500

Missile intercept

$400K+

Our defeat cost

~$0

FIELD TEST VIDEO: April 15, 2026, Fort Riley, KS

FIELD TEST: April 15, 2026, Fort Riley, KS

PROOF OF CONCEPT: VALIDATED

• Uses the crew's operational environment as the defeat mechanism
• Detection-agnostic
• AI-powered targeting scope (to be integrated)
• Near-zero cost per engagement vs. $400K+ for existing intercept solutions
• No magazine depth limits — continuous defeat capability
• No EW required — effective against fiber-optic and RF-dark threats

FIELD TEST: April 15, 2026, Fort Riley, KS

SUMMER 2026: TECHNICAL EXECUTION

Four parallel workstreams converging to integrated field demonstration in October 2026

01 • DETECT & CUE

AI Targeting Integration

Partner: Zero Mark

• Computer-vision UAS detection & tracking
• Real-time trajectory & lead-prediction
• Standardized cueing interface for sensor source agnosticism

02 • POINT

Autonomous Aiming Platform

In-house mechatronics

• Two-axis (pan/tilt) servo-driven gimbal
• Closed-loop slew-to-cue from targeting layer
• Sub-degree pointing accuracy; reaction-time budget < 1 s

03 • DELIVER

Specialized Nozzle Design

Partner: UC Berkeley FLOW Lab

• CFD-driven geometry optimization with Prof. Makiharju
• Maximize stream coherence & momentum at engagement range
• Empirical validation in controlled flow tests

04 • ORCHESTRATE

Fire Control Software

Proprietary Parallax IP

• Embedded firing-logic bridging sense → effect
• Stream-flight ballistics & firing-solution compute
• Safety interlocks, ROE enforcement, modular sensor APIs

OCTOBER 2026 • INTEGRATED FIELD DEMONSTRATION

End-to-end kill chain validation: detect → cue → aim → defeat — live drone targets, integrated system

DEPLOYMENT PATHWAY

NOW

Proof of Concept

Apr–Jun 2026

• Fort Riley test complete
• IP secured (C-corp formed)
• SkyDeck Pad 13 (accepted)
• On-boat BEB demo
• SBIR Phase I application

PHASE 1

Prototype

Jun–Oct 2026

• Integrated pump + AI scope prototype
• DIU Commercialization Fellowship
• JIATF-401 engagement
• OTA prototype contract

PHASE 2

Validation

Oct 2026–Apr 2027

• Live drone testing at Fort Riley
• NTC rotation observation
• Engineer Regiment TTP draft
• Brigade CO endorsement

PHASE 3

Fielding

2027–2028

• Initial fielding to 175th MRBC
• Protection WfF adoption brief
• Army-wide MRBC acquisition
• SBIR Phase II → Phase III

FUNDING PATHWAY

Army SBIR Phase I

Up to $250K

Now

Counter-UAS topic; LTC Floyd support letter

DIU Commercialization Fellowship

$20–50K

May 7 deadline

Prototyping budget + stipend; H4D/DIU pipeline

GPC / ONS (Unit)

Up to $250K

Immediate

Fastest path; CPT Drummond's unit can execute

JIATF-401

Up to $50M

Post-demo

DoW's lead C-UAS org

SBIR Phase II / OTA

Up to $2M

2026–2027

Post Phase I; prototype to production pathway

Questions?

info@parallaxdefense.us