The UAS Index
A running list of founders, startups, and established manufacturers
American made:
Chester Zelaya, founder (X)
Flagship product is “NIMBUS” — a plug-and-play platform and SDK that transforms any drone into a smart system.
Claims “10km max range, prompt based mission planning (“follow me”), hardware agnostic, sub 50ms computer vision pipelines, allows for state of the art AI integration.”
Located in El Segundo.
Parth Ingle (X)
Trying to make drone motors in America.
CTO of Theseus, “the world’s first micro virtual positioning system for GPS-denied missions.” Theseus sells a system of sensors (a triangle) that attach to drones to let them fly without GPS.
Plug and play with Group 1 drones up to light aircraft. GPS-free navigation. Can be used in all terrains.
Great interview of Ian here.
Claim: 1/5 of the cost of traditional methods; Built in hours not weeks – 10X faster than the status quo; Distributed manufacturing: build anytime, anywhere.
Currently manufacture “Tempest,” a 55 pound drone with 10 pound payload capacity, breaks down into a single-person portable case.
Also offer xCell, a semi-automated expeditionary manufacturing container, designed for remote locations, or hidden in plain sight. Claim to be able to produce 50 units/per month (ostensibly of the tempest drones).
Also sell their own chip, “OCTRA.” which is the flight controller and mission computer for all Firestorm vehicles.
Located in San Diego.
Alex Klimaj, founder (X)
Design and manufacture “made in USA” drone electronics.
Parts include: NDAA flight controllers, distance sensors, GPS modules, power modules, inertial measurement units.
Based in Utah.
Performance Drone Works (PDW) (X, website)
UAS solutions for U.S. military and agencies. Integration of ISR, autonomous capabilities. Develops vehicles, payloads, radios, and AI software.
Hold 20 patents and world record for longest endurance quadcopter. Also developing products in electronic warfare.
Flagship product is the C100, NDAA compliant, included in the DIU’s Blue UAS program. Also offer their own TAK-compatible PDW CORE Software for tablets, factsheet here.
Based in Huntsville, Alabama.
Henry Kwan, founder (X)
Designed a solar-powered autonomous aircraft (APOLLO) that could fly for months at the edge of space (stratosphere). Goal is to accomplish what the SR71 Blackbird once could.
AgEagle Aerial Systems Inc. (X, website) (NYSE: $UAVS)
Market cap of $15.16mm (June 2025).
Headquarters in Kansas, regional office in Switzerland.
Sell drones, sensors, and software.
China:
Headquartered in Shenzhen, subsidiaries in US, Germany, Italy, Singapore. Autel Robotics possesses 1752 authorized patents and 2959 patent applications, as of 31 August 2024, ranking the top in the global drone industry.
Ukraine:
Fast facts: according to Ukraine Arm’s Monitor, Ukraine provided 1.2mm UAVs to its military in 2025, with plans to expand domestic drone production to 4mm units annually. However, other sources claim that factories in Ukraine are able to produce up to 5mm drones per year already.
Skyfall (YouTube)
Manufacturer in Ukraine, produce hundreds of thousands of FPVs per month. At just one Skyfall factory, they produce one drone every 23 seconds.
Flagship drone is the “VAMPIRE” which can drop 15 kilos of payload. Nicknamed “Baba Yaga” by Russians. Also has a QUATTRO frequency hopper on top of the Vampire to bypass Russian jamming.
Also manufacture the “SHRIKE 10 CV” with computer vision feature that enables the pilot to lock the target and, even if fully jammed or spoofed, will still hit the target.
Also working on a model of SHRIKE WATERPROOF drones that take off directly from water, which could enable an entirely new set of tactics.
Ukraine based UAS manufacturer.
Flagship product is “Raybird” — 350,000+ claimed hours of combat missions. Claim team of 500+ people, 100+ engineers on the R&D team.
Raybird has 28+ hours of flight time, utilized for ISR. Claim 500+ aircraft deployed in combat. Classified as DoD Group 2 UAS, NATO Class I. Integrates with artillery and missiles systems for fire missions. Other mission sets: ISR, radio frequency intelligence (when equipped with RF locator), maritime surveillance, data link extension (enabling comms in denied environments).
Typical flight range of small UAS (up to 25 kg) = 120 km. Raybird claims total flight range of 2,500 km, with a 220 km “direct online link.”
Currently has a facility in Slovakia.
TAF Drones (Website)
Produce 40,000 FPV drones per month in Ukraine. 20+ production sites across Ukraine. Exemplify the distributed drone production system.
Manufacture FPV drones, missiles, AI systems.
Wild Hornets (X, Website, YouTube)
Develop and produce combat drones in Ukraine. Claim to have “neutralized 1,738 enemy assets valued at $1.69B.”
Contact: hornetswild@gmail.com
Partnered with the following funds/companies:
Sternenko Community (listed below)
NAFO
Come Back Alive
Mykhailo Lebiha
MHP Hromadi
Tihipko Foundation
DTEK
Nova Poshta
DeepState
InformNapalm
Skarlat Community
Censor.NET
Butusov Plus
Bayadera Group
Main products:
Sternenko Fund (Спільнота Стерненка) (X, Website)
A charity that raises money to purchase drones for Ukraine’s military. Claim to have supplied Ukrainian Defense Forces with +195,000 FPV drones.
Partner with drone manufacturers and developers to find new solutions that “make qualitative changes in the performance of combat missions.” Contact at: prod@sternenkofund.org. They don’t manufacture FPV drones, nor do they need components for FPV drones (already know where to buy them).
MaloyFPV (X)
Claims to currently work in a “frontline drone workshop in the 59th UAS brigade.”
FPVDronesUa (X)
Raised money and sent drones tp MaloyFPV.
Khartiia Brigade of the National Guard (X, website, YouTube)
Created as a volunteer unit
Nother Alex Fergusson Fella (X)
Claims to be “NAFO SquaDrone Leader.”
CUAS/Testing:
BlueHalo (now owned by AeroVironment/AV) (X, Website)
AV acquired BlueHalo in 2025 for $4.1B.
BlueHalo sells CUAS/autonomous systems, and technologies for EW/cyber, unmanned maritime, and space.
“LOCUST” is their laser weapon system. "
“FREEDOM EAGLE” or FE-1 is their CUAS kinetic missile.
“TITAN” is their line of autonomous RF CUAS.
Dannish company that provides testing for antennas, RF systems, and monitors radio spectrum. Allows for troubleshooting/simulations.
Fortem Technologies (X, website)
Develops solutions for CUAS, ISR, perimeter security.
Best known for “TrueView” Radars and autonomous “DroneHunter” interceptors. Drone Hunter F700:
DroneShield (X, website) — $2.09B Market Cap (June 2025)
Offer different types of CUAS solutions — dismounted, mounted, fixed — along with specific software.
Claim sold to 34+ governments, 74 in-country partners, 2183 units sold.
Hardware/Software/RF:
BentzenElectornics (X)
SIGINT researcher, cybersecurity
Alex (X)
Drone related posts
Building software behind drones, install vidoes on YouTube
Dr. Manuel Boldrer (X)
Robotics/distributed control/multi-agent systems researcher
MedhiHacks (X)
Cybersecurity
Konrad Iturbe (X)
Hacker/reverse engineer
Media/OSINT/Reporters:
GrandpaRoy2 (X)
Writes excellent threads on FPVs, drone munitions, EW
Strange Parts (X, YouTube)
Covers “technological fringe,” including video inside a Chinese drone factory, here.
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First published on 26 June 2025.