Auterion, Airlogix Launch AI Strike Drone Venture

Europe’s drone chessboard just gained a new power move.

At the Munich Security Conference, Germany’s Auterion and Ukraine’s Airlogix announced a joint venture to mass produce autonomous strike drones for Ukraine and NATO allies, as Militarnyi reported.

Not prototypes. Not pilot programs. Production scale systems designed for real war. And Ukraine has already placed orders in the thousands.

A European Drone Factory With Teeth

The new German Ukrainian venture will build AI guided UAVs in Germany, a move that stabilizes supply chains while shielding production from direct battlefield disruption. First deliveries are planned for 2026.

This is not a boutique operation. The companies describe it as one of Europe’s largest drone production commitments for Ukraine to date. The systems also meet procurement requirements for the German armed forces, meaning Berlin could tap into the same pipeline.

This matters.

Ukraine has become the world’s most intense real world laboratory for autonomous systems. Germany has industrial depth and capital. Combine battlefield feedback with manufacturing muscle and you get a feedback loop that accelerates fast.

The partnership is backed by both governments, signaling that this is industrial policy wrapped in camouflage.

Swarms, Software, and a Single Operator

Auterion is not new to autonomy. In January 2026, the company demonstrated a swarm of three FPV strike drones at a U.S. test site. One operator. Three targets. Three hits.

The demo previewed elements of the Pentagon’s US Department of Defense Swarm Forge program, which focuses on scaling AI driven combat operations.

Here is where it gets interesting.

Auterion’s Skynode flight computer and its Nemyx control system allow an operator to assign targets and authorize engagement.

The software handles navigation, swarm coordination, trajectory separation, and terminal guidance. Think less joystick piloting, more mission conductor.

Nemyx allows drones to operate as a coordinated unit, executing high speed AI driven maneuvers. Powered by AuterionOS, compatible drones can join the swarm via software update. A firmware push, and suddenly single platforms become part of a collective system.

That modular approach is key. Instead of building entirely new hardware ecosystems, Auterion layers intelligence onto existing airframes.

The Skynode module itself is based on relatively low cost components, which is critical in a war where attrition is constant. Computer vision allows the drone to continue operating even when GPS is jammed, a common tactic in electronic warfare environments. If satellites go silent, the drone still sees.

Ukraine is set to receive 50,000 Skynode modules, with Nemyx integration ready to scale across them.

That number alone tells you this is not experimental. It is industrial.

DroneXL’s Take

This partnership reflects a broader shift in European defense thinking. Autonomy is no longer an exotic add on, it is becoming the backbone of next generation combat systems. By anchoring production in Germany while integrating lessons from Ukraine’s battlefield, Auterion and Airlogix are building something that looks less like a startup project and more like a long term strategic pipeline.

The deeper story is software dominance. Hardware can be shot down. Code evolves.

And in modern drone warfare, the side that updates fastest often wins.

Photo credit: Auterion and Airlogix