Military Drones
Military Drones
Reconnaissance, strike, and tactical military drone programs.
Coverage
Japan Buys Ukrainian Interceptor Drones From SkyFall
Defence Minister Koizumi named no model, number or price. Japan sends Ukraine no weapons, but now buys one of its anti-Shahed drones.
Navy Orders 30 Medium Drone Ships at About $40M Each
The Navy published an average price, not a total. Saronic, HII and Galliano Marine build ten each, with the first due by September 2027.
Taiwan Coast Guard Reopens NT$783 Million Drone Tender
The first round was voided in August. The 18 drones were meant to reach Taiping Island in the Spratlys by March; bids now close 9 November.
Denmark Registers Four Saildrone Drone Boats Under Its Flag
No binding international safety code covers crewless vessels before 2032, so Denmark's maritime authority and the company set the terms together.
Poland Seeks Interceptor Drones That Can Hit Helicopters
Makers have until 15 October to offer a 20 km interceptor flying 340 km/h or more, or a 4 kg one a soldier can carry.
Navy Drone Boats Stay in Panama to Patrol for Traffickers
Southcom kept Saronic's 24-foot Corsairs after an August exercise and is looking at how such boats could work in the canal.
Tekever Raises $580m a Week After Winning UK Army Drone Deal
The Army deal came by direct award after none of eight bids was suitable. Investigators are still finishing a report on an AR5 crash.
Northrop flies self-funded Talon Blue drone autonomously
The Air Force gave its first combat-drone production contracts to General Atomics and Anduril. Northrop paid for this one itself.
Jet Shaheds Get Past Ukraine's Defenses Four Times as Often
In the Air Force's September daytime reports, 36% of Russia's jet drones were not shot down or jammed, against 9% of the rest.
EagleNXT Delivers Nine Texas-Built eBee Drones to US Army
The eBee line began in Switzerland. EagleNXT now builds US units in Texas, after dropping off the Blue UAS list and getting back on.
Five Loitering Munitions Face EU Field Trials in Portugal
The prize is €1.8 million and no one commits to buying the winner, which the European Defence Agency names only in 2027.
Ukraine Clears 650 New Drone Models for Its Forces in 2026
Cleared means approved for supply, not built or delivered. The ministry has not said how many of any model its forces have received.
Army Picks Vulcan Elements for SkyFoundry Drone Magnets
The Army's own drone line wants fully American magnets. The supplier it chose is still building its plant, on a $620M Pentagon loan.
Pentagon Invites 17 Firms to Test $20,000 Bomber Drones
Four build drones for Ukraine or belong to Ukrainian groups. Each drone must drop 8 kg of munitions and come back for at least 30 missions.
Textron Flies Military Drone Between Virginia Vertiports
The first-ever claim is Textron's own, and the state network the drone was testing is being built for passenger and cargo aircraft.
Pentagon Accepts 12,080 of 30,000 Drone Dominance Drones
Six weeks after the delivery window closed, the programme's own leaderboard shows 12,080 drones accepted, and Gauntlet I winner Skycutter with none.
Wildfire and Gamera Compete to Replace Air Force's Reaper
The Air Force lost 45 Reapers over Iran and wants a $10 million replacement. General Atomics and Swarm Aero revealed their candidates five days apart.
Iran Captures Anduril Dive-LD Drone; CENTCOM Says It Failed
The IRGC showed off a US underwater drone taken near the Strait of Hormuz. CENTCOM says it broke down a day earlier and carried nothing classified.
Canada Orders First Marketplace Drones, Signs Ukraine Deal
Six Canadian firms won up to C$50 million through a Brave1-style marketplace as Carney and Zelenskyy agreed joint drone production. Ukraine gets 30%.
Israel Creates Fourth IDF Branch for Unmanned Systems, AI
Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir ordered a new service branch for drones, robotics and AI, alongside the Ground Forces, Air Force and Navy, to open by December.
Companies
Anduril Industries
US defense technology company building autonomous weapons, counter-UAS, and AI command software, and manufacturing them at its own Arsenal-1 plant in Ohio.
United States
AeroVironment
US manufacturer of small tactical UAS, loitering munitions and counter-UAS systems, transformed in scale by its 2025 acquisition of BlueHalo.
United States
Shield AI
US defense technology company building autonomous flight software and the V-BAT and X-BAT uncrewed aircraft for military customers.
United States
General Atomics
Privately held US defense contractor whose GA-ASI division builds the Predator and Reaper families of large military uncrewed aircraft.
United States
Baykar
Turkish defense company behind the Bayraktar TB2, the most widely exported armed drone of the past decade, now also the owner of Italy's Piaggio Aerospace.
Turkey
Boeing
Boeing is a US aerospace manufacturer with commercial-airplane, defense and space, and fleet-services businesses.
United States
Red Cat Holdings
US defense drone company supplying NDAA-compliant small unmanned systems for military reconnaissance through its Teal Drones subsidiary.
United States
Quantum Systems
German maker of VTOL reconnaissance drones and autonomy software for European and US defense customers, with large-scale deployment in Ukraine.
Germany
Products
Black Hornet 4
Teledyne FLIR
A 70-gram reconnaissance helicopter a single soldier carries and flies, bought by the US Army since 2018 and sold to forces in more than 45 countries.
Teal 2
Red Cat / Teal Drones
A 1.25 kg night-reconnaissance quadcopter on the Blue UAS list, bought by Border Patrol and Air Force security units. DHS scored it lowest of five cleared drones in 2024, and its maker is now selling a successor.
Black Widow
Red Cat / Teal Drones
The US Army's chosen short-range reconnaissance drone, built for rucksack portability and GPS-denied flight — its position rests on winning the SRR program of record rather than on any single specification.
Funding
Series D
UC Investments, Baillie Gifford, Merlyn Advisors, Crescent Cove, Ventura Capital, Iberis Capital
TekeverSeries C
Sequoia Capital, American Strategic Technology Fund, Interlagos, Valor Equity Partners, Allen & Company, Thiel Capital, Spark Capital, Dylan Field
Neros TechnologiesGrowth
Dragoneer Investment Group, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Disruptive, Iconiq, Goldman Sachs Alternatives, JPMorganChase, CPP Investments, General Catalyst, Plural, StepStone
HelsingSeries B
DTCP, British Business Bank, NATO Innovation Fund, Rheinmetall, Inocea Group, HICO, Thesiger Capital Group, BOKA Capital, Supernova Invest, Hakluyt Capital
Kraken Technology GroupContracts
U.S. Navy
Northrop Grumman
Delivery order to retrofit fielded MQ-4C Triton drones with 17 engineering changes for the Navy and…
U.S. Coast Guard
Shield AI
Order 70Z02326F93130011 to add sensors to current and future V-BAT operations, running to 30…
Transportation Security Administration
Dedrone Defense
Split award for fixed and portable counter-drone capability built on a D-Fend EnforceAir2 system…
Federal Emergency Management Agency
Dedrone Defense
Survey, installation, integration, testing and support of a counter-drone sensor suite, task order…
U.S. Navy
Lockheed Martin
Not-to-exceed undefinitized contract for software development and testing of the multi-domain combat…