Autonomous Weapons
Autonomous Weapons — Page 2
AI-enabled weapons, autonomous targeting, and lethal autonomy.
Coverage
Coast Guard's Shield AI V-BAT Orders Reach $61M
The Puerto Rico order now runs to December, and new ones cover Guam and sensor upgrades. Insitu's ScanEagle contract ended in June.
Anduril Names Space-Based Interceptor Team for Golden Dome
Five partners for a Space Force prototype deal whose value Anduril has not disclosed. Golden Dome's 2027 money depends on a bill Congress has not passed.
Chinese Firms Still Ship Drone Parts to Iran and Russia: WSJ
Chinese exporters are openly shipping drone engines, batteries and microchips to Iran and Russia despite US sanctions, the WSJ reports.
Bundeswehr Tests AI Drone Swarms with STARK Munitions
Germany's Bundeswehr tested AI-enabled recce-strike drone swarms with STARK's Virtus munition and Minerva C2 software.
Swarmer Logs 100,000 Combat Missions in Ukraine
Ukrainian drone autonomy startup Swarmer has logged over 100,000 real-world combat missions since April 2024, coordinating swarms of up to 690 drones.
Anduril Shows Its Copperhead-500M Underwater Munition at Sea
A 16-second company video claimed internal speed records. No speed figure, customer or contract has been published.
Anduril and Kraken Partner on Unmanned Surface Vessels
Anduril and Kraken partner to develop K5 and K7 unmanned surface vessels for US Navy hybrid fleet programs.
82nd Airborne Trains on Bumblebee V2 Drone Interceptor
Twenty 82nd Airborne paratroopers trained on the Bumblebee V2 counter-drone system at Fort Bragg under a $5.2M award.
Air Force Crews Fly Anduril's YFQ-44A Fury at Edwards
Two months after this April exercise, the Air Force put both Anduril's and General Atomics' drone wingmen into production.
Interceptor Drones Tamed the Shahed; Jet Shaheds Are Harder
Ukraine stopped 90% of drones in March, much of it with cheap interceptors. Against jet Shaheds it stops 55-60%, Zelensky says.
Army Awards AeroVironment $134M for Red Dragon, P550
The US Army has contracted AeroVironment for its Red Dragon one-way attack drone and P550 reconnaissance platform in deals totaling over $134 million.
LUCAS Attack Drones Saw Combat Before Mass Production
Central Command confirmed combat use on 28 February; in March the Pentagon's tech chief said there were only dozens. Shield AI is adding swarming.
PLA Drone Doctrine: Swarms, AI, and Cognitive Collapse
A translated PLA report reveals China's air warfare future: autonomous drone swarms, hypersonic strikes, and AI warfare.
NODA AI Raises $25M for Autonomous Military Systems
NODA AI closed a $25M Series A led by Bessemer to develop an AI orchestration platform integrating autonomous systems across air, land, sea, and space.
UVify Raises $41.7M in Korea's Largest Drone Investment
UVify secured $41.7M from CRIT Ventures and Nexon parent NXC, backing a pivot from drone swarm entertainment into defense and autonomous flight.
The Drone Swarm Threat Is Coming. Counter-UAS Is Not Ready.
Defense experts say armed drone swarms are the next battlefield threat — and the biggest obstacle to countering them is US military bureaucracy.
Anduril's Arsenal-1 Built Its First Fury Jet in July
Anduril says the Ohio line can make 150 a year on three shifts. Production jets wait on 2027 money that Congress has not yet passed.
US Army tests Apache-launched A700 drone in six months
The US Army demonstrated an Apache-launched A700 drone capability developed in under six months.
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…