Neros Delivers First PBAS Kits Ahead of Schedule and Launches Archer Block 2 FPV System

Neros Technologies just completed its first delivery under the U.S. Army’s Purpose Built Attritable Systems (PBAS) program — ahead of contract date — and simultaneously announced the Archer Block 2, a field-reconfigurable FPV system built for contested environments. The company finished second overall at Drone Dominance Gauntlet I this week, scoring 87.5 points behind only Skycutter’s 99.3. Now it’s shipping hardware on a separate Army contract before the deadline.

• The Delivery: Neros completed its first PBAS kit delivery to the U.S. Army ahead of schedule, validating domestic production at scale.
• The New System: Archer Block 2 is a modular FPV drone with swappable arms, motors, props, and sensors — available in five-, eight-, and ten-inch configurations.
• The GCS: The system pairs with Flatbow, a soldier-borne Ground Control Station that supports up to three drones per field pack and a displaced antenna for 150-meter pilot standoff.
• The Source: Full announcement via Business Wire, published March 2, 2026.

Neros Completes PBAS Delivery While Gauntlet I Results Land

The timing here matters. Neros didn’t just score 87.5 points at Gauntlet I — placing second in a field of 25 companies competing for $150 million in Pentagon drone orders — it delivered finished hardware under a separate Army contract in the same week. That’s two distinct proof points for production capacity, not just prototype performance.

The PBAS program is the Army’s effort to field NDAA-compliant FPV drones at the platoon level. Neros was selected as one of three primary manufacturers for Tranche 1 back in November 2025, alongside a $75 million Series B led by Sequoia Capital. Delivering ahead of schedule on the first PBAS contract is exactly the kind of signal the Army needs from a domestic supplier trying to prove it can sustain program-level production — not just win an evaluation.

Archer Block 2 Brings Swappable Everything to the Battlefield

Archer Block 2 is a modular FPV combat drone designed for field reconfigurability without depot support. Arms, motors, and propellers are end-user swappable, allowing operators to shift between five-, eight-, and ten-inch configurations in the field. The multi-sensor payload suite — EO camera, downward-facing camera, EO illuminator, IR illuminator, and thermal camera — swaps in minutes to match the mission: day, night, or urban.

“Swappable sensors fundamentally change how FPV systems are employed,” said Soren Monroe-Anderson, Neros’ CEO. “Instead of fielding multiple platforms for different missions, operators can reconfigure Block 2 on the ground to match the task at hand — day, night, urban, or extended-range — without slowing down or compromising capability.”

The architecture is also designed to cut lifecycle costs. Repairable, field-reconfigurable platforms don’t need to be treated as one-way expendables. That distinction matters for a program explicitly called “Purpose Built Attritable” Systems — attritable means acceptable to lose, but Block 2’s design suggests Neros is hedging toward reuse where possible.

Flatbow Gives Infantry Units Drone Control at Standoff Distance

Flatbow is Neros’ soldier-borne Ground Control System, built specifically for dismounted infantry. A field pack configuration carries up to three FPV drones. The displaced antenna lets pilots operate from up to 150 meters away from the drone launch point — a meaningful survivability improvement in urban terrain where the operator’s position is as much a target as the drone itself.

Planned future enhancements include AI-enabled terminal guidance, autonomous mission features, and aerial repeater capabilities for extended range in contested electronic warfare environments. Those additions aren’t shipping now, but the architecture is already built to accept them.

DroneXL’s Take

What’s happening with Neros right now is worth paying close attention to, because it’s exactly the model the Pentagon has been trying to build for three years: a domestic FPV manufacturer that can win competitive evaluations, hold an Army contract, close a $75M Series B, and still ship on time. Most companies can do one of those. Neros did all four in a four-month stretch.

The 12-point Gauntlet I gap between Skycutter (99.3) and Neros (87.5) is real — I wouldn’t dismiss it. But Gauntlet I was a field evaluation by military operators over a few weeks at Fort Moore. PBAS is a sustained production contract. Scoring second in a competitive evaluation while simultaneously delivering on a separate Army contract is actually the stronger proof of where this company is operationally. Whether Skycutter can match that production pace is still an open question — their Gauntlet score is on the table, but their production track record isn’t yet.

Block 2’s swappable sensor architecture is the detail I keep coming back to. The Israeli and Ukrainian experience both showed that single-purpose FPV platforms burn through logistics. If you need a day camera drone and a thermal drone, you’re managing two SKUs, two spare parts inventories, two operator training tracks. Neros is betting operators will trade some optimization for a single platform that does 80% of everything. Based on what I’ve seen of how U.S. units actually deploy these systems — with limited resupply and even more limited planning time — that’s probably the right bet.

Expect Neros to be a Phase II Gauntlet frontrunner. The production proof is on the table now. The question heading into August’s Chinese components ban is whether they’ve fully locked down their supply chain at scale — and at 2,500 units per month out of a 15,000-square-foot facility in El Segundo, that answer will come under pressure fast.

Editorial Note: AI tools were used to assist with research and archive retrieval for this article. All reporting, analysis, and editorial perspectives are by Haye Kesteloo.