Swarmer, Inc. (NASDAQ: SWMR), a drone autonomy software company, announced a collaboration with Tekmara and Florida International University (FIU) to evaluate the use of autonomous drone swarms for coastal restoration and environmental monitoring, according to a press release.

The collaboration will assess how autonomous drone systems can support monitoring, environmental sensing and restoration of mangrove and oyster reef habitats. The research will also explore coordinating autonomous systems across air, surface and underwater domains for environmental missions.

The project will use Aquarius Reef Base, an underwater research habitat operated by FIU within the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, which the press release describes as the only continuously operating underwater research habitat in the world. The facility has previously served as a testing platform for NASA, NOAA and the U.S. Navy.

"We are focused on building an operational infrastructure that enables persistent environmental awareness and scalable coastal resilience," said Todd Kleperis, co-founder of Tekmara.

Swarmer board chairman Erik Prince noted that governments and non-governmental organizations are funding programs to restore mangroves, oyster reefs and living shorelines. "The same tools we use to deliver kinetic energy to the enemy may also be useful to repair both man-made and natural disasters," Prince said.

Swarmer president Alex Fink said the company's autonomy software, which he described as a dual-purpose platform, can support commercial and public-sector applications including environmental restoration, wildfire detection, disaster relief and search and rescue.

Swarmer states its technology has supported more than 100,000 combat missions in Ukraine since April 2024. The company is headquartered in Austin, Texas, and maintains operations in Ukraine, Poland and Estonia.

The press release notes the collaboration is currently in an evaluation phase and does not confirm any definitive commercial agreement.