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Amidst selling off its classics to fund a new supercar, McLaren recently looked to the skies for inspiration for future vehicle design, and was greeted with a tip of the wing from aerospace company Lockheed Martin. The British luxury automaker has announced that it will partner with Skunk Works, Lockheed’s Advanced Development Program, “to explore futuristic design methods.” For what project exactly is unclear, but the basic logic here is that if it’s good enough for a fighter flying faster than the speed of sound tens of thousands of feet in the air, it might also be useful for a luxury crossover cruising down a highway.

McLaren says that the “pioneering software sets the parameters for high-speed systems more accurately and swiftly than traditional design methods,” and that it plans to see how the technology might be “employed commercially in the automotive design world.”  

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Since its first commission in 1940, Lockheed’s special division has been responsible for the design of famous American planes like the F-22 Raptor, F-35 Lightning, and U-2 spy plane.