Funding rounds, partnerships, layoffs, and the market math underneath the drone headlines.
German defense startups Helsing and Stark Defence are set to receive €300 million each in military orders for loitering munitions, while defense giant Rheinmetall AG gets passed over after failing to deliver a working prototype, Bloomberg reports. Helsing’s HX-2 And Stark’s Virtus Outperformed In Testing Germany’s Bundeswehr tested both loitering munitions at a military combat…
Bessemer Venture Partners just released its 2026 defense tech roadmap, and the message for the drone industry is clear: autonomous systems aren’t experimental anymore. They’re defining battlefield outcomes. The venture capital firm, which has backed companies across the defense sector, argues that defense technology has advanced more in the past 24 months than in the…
TikTok just pulled off what many considered impossible. On Thursday, ByteDance agreed to spin out a U.S. TikTok entity where non-Chinese investors will own approximately 80 percent of the American app. ByteDance keeps just 19.9 percent. The deal effectively neutralizes the national security concerns that had lawmakers demanding a sale-or-ban for years. Meanwhile, DJI sits…
Seven months ago, we reported that France’s defense ministry had approached Renault about drone production. At the time, Renault told Reuters that discussions had taken place but no decision had been made. Today, that deal is official, and the partnership reveals far more about Europe’s strategic recalculation than a standard defense contract announcement. Renault has…
British drone manufacturer Windracers is quietly but confidently stretching the limits of what uncrewed cargo aircraft can do, and this time the numbers are hard to ignore. The company has confirmed that its dual use Ultra Mk2 heavy lift drone will soon be capable of flying up to 2,000 kilometers while carrying a 200 kilogram…
Allen, Texas is about to become a serious node on the U.S. drone map. EagleNXT, formerly AgEagle Aerial Systems, is relocating its global headquarters from Kansas to a 33,000 square foot facility at 505 Century Parkway, with operations scheduled to begin in May, as Dallas News reports. The move brings engineering, customer support, marketing, and…
Four months ago, we reported that Paris-based Harmattan AI was seeking a billion-dollar valuation and was in talks with Dassault Aviation. The aerospace giant just called, and they’re bringing $200 million to the table. The Series B round values Harmattan at $1.4 billion, officially making it France’s newest defense unicorn and confirming what we’ve been…
Something genuinely rare happened in the drone industry last month. A brand-new company shipped a first-generation product that actually works as advertised. After spending weeks reading press releases and spec sheets about the AntiGravity A1, watching real-world footage from content creators who’ve actually put the drone through its paces reveals what matters most: this thing…
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