Military Drones
Military Drones — Page 4
Reconnaissance, strike, and tactical military drone programs.
Coverage

Red Cat Holdings: 172% Growth, 35x Price-to-Sales
Red Cat Holdings posted 172% revenue growth on Black Widow drone sales, but trades at 35x price-to-sales against an industry average of 4.6x.

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.

Ukraine Signs 11 Drone Deals as Arms Exports Slowly Begin
The deals are frameworks with secret terms. Export rules took effect in July, but the fast track was slow to issue its first permits.

Arcanus's Beyond Vision Licence Is Still Only a Term Sheet
Six months on, no definitive deal to build the Portuguese drones in Canada has been announced. Arcanus's order claims are its own.

EU and Ukraine Launch €100M BraveTech Weapons Program
The EU and Ukraine's Brave1 platform launched BraveTech EU, a €100M initiative to fast-track combat-tested weapons.

Firestorm Labs Raises $82M for Containerized Drone Factories
Firestorm Labs closes an $82M Series B to expand its xCell containerized drone manufacturing platform, backed by Lockheed Martin and In-Q-Tel.

Red Cat to Deliver 173 Black Widow Drones to Japan
Red Cat Holdings wins ATLA contract to supply 173 Black Widow sUAS to Japan Ground Self-Defense Force under FY2026 procurement.

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.

AeroVironment Gets $14.6M Army Contract for VAPOR CLE Drones
AeroVironment secured a $14.6M US Army contract for its VAPOR CLE electric VTOL drone under the CoLvl DR SUAS Tranche 2 program for Brigade Combat Teams.

Shield AI Selected for Navy's $800M V-BAT ISR Contract Pool
Shield AI will compete for up to $800M in Navy ISR task orders using its V-BAT VTOL drone.

Volatus Aerospace Wins CAD $2.1M NATO Training Contract
Volatus Aerospace won a CAD $2.1M contract to deliver drone training for security forces at a NATO-allied ministry.

Aero Velocity Partners on Mobile Drone Launch Vehicle
Aero Velocity and AC Future are jointly developing a mobile drone launch platform for U.S. military ISR and electronic warfare missions.

AEVEX Trades 23% Below Its $20 IPO Price Six Months On
Revenue has doubled and guidance is up $100 million, but the stock fell from a $40 peak in May. Its BlackSea shares are worth far less than agreed.

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.

Draganfly Lands AFSOC Deal for Flex FPV Drones and Training
Draganfly secured a partnership with Air Force Special Operations Command to deliver Flex FPV drones and operator training.

EU Commits €1.07B to Drone and C-UAS Defence Projects
The EU approved €1.07B for 57 defence projects under the European Defence Fund, with major funding for drones and C-UAS.

Netherlands Commits €248M to Drone Production for Ukraine
The Netherlands will fund €248M in drone production for Ukraine, covering Dutch-made and Ukrainian-made UAVs.

Skydio Says Air Forces Central Ordered $9M of Docked Drones
The order for Dock and X10 base-security drones is Skydio's announcement; the Air Force has published nothing, and the Dock is not on the Blue UAS list.
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
Quantum Systems
German maker of VTOL reconnaissance drones and autonomy software for European and US defense customers, with large-scale deployment in Ukraine.
Germany
Red Cat Holdings
US defense drone company supplying NDAA-compliant small unmanned systems for military reconnaissance through its Teal Drones subsidiary.
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
General Atomics
Privately held US defense contractor whose GA-ASI division builds the Predator and Reaper families of large military uncrewed aircraft.
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
Neros Technologies
US manufacturer of low-cost first-person-view attack drones and counter-UAS interceptors, built around a domestic supply chain outside Chinese components.
United States
RTX Corporation
RTX is a US aerospace and defense company formed from the 2020 Raytheon–United Technologies merger, run as Collins Aerospace, Pratt & Whitney and Raytheon.
United States
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 Aerial
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 Aerial
The US Army's chosen short-range reconnaissance drone, built for rucksack portability and contested airspace — 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
Swedish Defence Materiel Administration (FMV)
Saildrone
A year-long maritime surveillance service for the Swedish Navy in the Baltic Sea: four Saildrone…
U.S. Special Operations Command
Tekever
Purchase of Tekever drone systems after validation and acceptance testing; the number, model and…
U.S. Army
L3Harris
Three-year contract from the Army's DEVCOM Aviation & Missile Center to develop a long-range…
Powerus
Unusual Machines
Purchase order from Powerus Corporation for US-made drone components (motors, batteries, cameras and…
U.S. Navy
Boeing
Not-to-exceed IDIQ for system improvements, configuration development, integration, production…