GMS unveils rugged mission computer for small drones, wearables at AUSA
By Dan Taylor for Military Embedded Systems
WASHINGTON, D.C. General Micro Systems (GMS) unveiled the X7 Raptor, a compact open-standards rugged mission computer intended to sell for under $10,000 for high-volume platforms such as swarm uncrewed aerial systems (UAS) and manpack/wearable applications, the company announced in a statement.
Built on the company’s X9 distributed computing architecture, X7 emphasizes modular expansion of compute, memory, I/O, and peripherals to meet tight SWaP budgets and to enable upgrades over time, the statement reads. The unit employs an Intel Xeon W processor with up to 8 cores, 24 MB cache, and supports up to 128 GB of ECC DDR4 via two SODIMMs, the company says.
For I/O, X7 uses two Thunderbolt 4 ports as the internal backbone — each offering 40 Gbps for peripherals and up to four concurrent video streams — and includes dual 1 GigE ports for networking; the Thunderbolt links can deliver up to 100 W to remote modules, according to GMS. The design is aimed at connecting COTS sensors, storage, and displays without adding proprietary interfaces, the statement reads.
GMS cites four-sided RuggedCool thermal management for operation to +75°C and notes the product is backed by 26 patents pending, the company says. The X7 Raptor is available now and is being shown alongside the company’s new XDomain cross-domain systems at AUSA 2025, booth 8407, the statement reads.
