Autonomous Weapons
Autonomous Weapons
AI-enabled weapons, autonomous targeting, and lethal autonomy.
About Autonomous Weapons
The Pentagon asked Congress for $54.6 billion for its Defense Autonomous Warfare Group in the 2027 budget. By late October, Congress had written $1 billion of it into bills. The rest was requested through a budget reconciliation package, and no such bill has been enacted.
Uncrewed combat jets are flying. Northrop Grumman said on 3 October that its YFQ-48A Talon Blue had made its first fully autonomous flight over Mojave, California. Airbus and Kratos flew the U740 Valkyrie in Europe for the first time, Airbus said on 12 October, with a person "on the loop", supervising rather than piloting.
Germany has bought AI-guided loitering munitions. The first call-offs, worth about €270 million each, cover 4,300 of Helsing's HX-2 and 2,200 of Stark's Virtus, according to committee papers reported by ESUT. The Bundeswehr can walk away at set milestones if a maker fails to prove performance.
The makers say a person still approves each attack. Swarmer says its swarm software, used in combat in Ukraine since April 2024, does not let drones select targets on their own. Skyborne says the operator approves every engagement by its armed Cerberus MI drone.
Coverage
German AI Firm Helsing Pitches Cheap Interceptor Missiles
No order for the two interceptors has been announced. Germany bought Helsing's HX-2 drone on contracts it can cancel at set milestones.
Congress Backs $1 Billion of the $54.6B DAWG Request
The rest rides on a reconciliation bill that has not passed. Hegseth wants a four-star Autonomous Warfare Command by October 2027.
Airbus Flies Its U740 Valkyrie Combat Drone in Europe
The airframe is Kratos's; Airbus supplies the mission system it says keeps control in Europe. No order is public, and the target is 2029.
Ukraine Keeps the Drone AI UK Firms Train on Its Footage
Up to 12 British firms get free use of Ukraine's battlefield drone data, at their own cost, with £1.25 million later shared by five.
Armed Cerberus Drone Joins the Pentagon's Blue UAS List
Skyborne's drone fires 40mm grenades or shotgun rounds, then lands to reload. The listing clears it for US military buying; no order is public.
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.
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.
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.
Textron and Merlin Propose Pilotless SkyCourier Cargo Drone
The SkyCourier UX removes the cockpit from a certified twin turboprop and hands it to Merlin's autonomy: three tons, 1,000 miles, half-mile airstrips.
Rotron SkyLance Loitering Munition Passes First Tests
Rotron Aerospace completes demonstration tests of SkyLance, a low-cost long-range loitering munition, days after Ondas bought the British firm.
Anduril's Barracuda-500M Deal Sets 3,000 Missiles, No Price
The May agreement sets minimums, not a value. A low-cost cruise missile flew at White Sands in August; the Army did not say whose.
Anduril Raises $5 Billion Series H at a $61 Billion Valuation
The money is for factories. Five months on, the Ohio plant has built its first Fury jet, and Anduril's first missile deliveries are due in 2027.
DZYNE Unveils Blitz, a Mass-Producible Kamikaze Drone
DZYNE's Blitz is a Group 1 one-way attack drone with 80–150 km range, launched in swarms from a BlitzBox container, aimed at Drone Dominance.
Germany, Britain and France Buy Military AI Three Ways
Germany signed loitering-munition frameworks it can cancel, Britain a targeting network and a Palantir partnership, France a sovereign deal with Mistral.
Iraq Unveils SARA 1 Rifle-Mounted Combat Drone
Iraq's National Security Service unveils SARA 1, a quadcopter carrying infantry rifles and thermal cameras for day-and-night fire support.
Ondas Q1 Revenue Jumps 1,065% on Counter-Drone Demand
Ondas reported Q1 revenue of $50.1 million, up 1,065% year on year, and raised full-year guidance to $390 million on a $457 million backlog.
Pentagon Sends Personnel to Ukraine to Study Drone Warfare
Defense Secretary Hegseth confirmed US personnel are in Ukraine studying drone combat tactics, battlefield experience no NATO ally has.
Safran and Baykar Deal Puts French Sensors on TB2 Drones
Safran will fit its Euroflir optronics and navigation systems to Baykar's TB2, replacing the Canadian L3Harris Wescam MX-15.
Anduril Gets $100M to Upgrade Space Surveillance Network
Anduril received a $100.3M contract increase to upgrade the Pentagon's Space Surveillance Network with mesh networking by September 2027.
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
General Atomics
Privately held US defense contractor whose GA-ASI division builds the Predator and Reaper families of large military uncrewed aircraft.
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
Boeing
Boeing is a US aerospace manufacturer with commercial-airplane, defense and space, and fleet-services businesses.
United States
Helsing
Munich defence company building AI software, the HX-2 strike drone, the SG-1 Fathom underwater glider and the CA-1 Europa uncrewed combat jet.
Germany
Palantir Technologies
US software company selling data integration and operational analytics platforms to defense, intelligence and commercial customers.
United States
STARK
Berlin defense company building loitering munitions, uncrewed surface vessels and command software, supplying the Bundeswehr under a 2026 framework.
Germany
Airbus
European aerospace group building commercial aircraft, military aircraft, helicopters, satellites, and uncrewed systems including the Wingman combat drone.
Netherlands
Funding
Growth
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 GroupSeries D
Blackstone, Noteus, Airbus, Advent, BOND, Fidelity Management & Research Company, Wellington Management, A.P. Moller Holding, Elephant Lake Ventures, Balderton, HV Capital
Quantum SystemsUndisclosed
Sequoia Capital, Founders Fund, NATO Innovation Fund, Project A, Air Street Capital, 201 Ventures, Advent, Döpfner Capital
STARKContracts
U.S. Army
L3Harris
Three-year contract from the Army's DEVCOM Aviation & Missile Center to develop a long-range…
U.S. Navy
Boeing
Not-to-exceed IDIQ for system improvements, configuration development, integration, production…
U.S. Army
Raytheon
Counter-drone contracts for components of the LIDS system, built around the KuRFS radar and Coyote…
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…