AV to Invest $100M in New Unified Campus in Southern California

AeroVironment, Inc. has announced a planned $100 million investment in a unified company-owned campus on approximately 20 acres in Moorpark, California. The campus will bring teams and capabilities from five leased Southern California locations together to strengthen collaboration across research, engineering, design, prototyping, and production.

US Army Tests Self-Driving Ford F-250 Truck with Drone-Killing Turret

The U.S. Army tested an autonomous breaching vehicle with an onboard counter-UAS (C-UAS) turret during a live-fire exercise at Fort Bragg on August 18. As part of Project Sandhills 2.0, self-driving Ford F-250 trucks were put through their paces, some armed with computer-controlled drone-killing shotgun turrets. Continue reading

Swarm Aero Gets $10M Air Force Research Lab Mass Production Contract

Swarm Aero, a developer of large unmanned aerial vehicle swarms, recently announced over $10 million in contracts with the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) to perform research and development on the company’s novel, high-rate composite manufacturing approach and produce aircraft parts for the U.S. Air Force.

Motorola Solutions Completes $1.5Bn Acquisition of D-Fend Solutions

Motorola Solutions has completed the acquisition of D-Fend Solutions (D-Fend), an industry leader in counter-drone technology, for a purchase price of $1.5 billion. This deal provides public safety and enterprise customers with access to advanced counter-unmanned aerial systems (C-UAS) designed to safely neutralize rogue drone threats.

Finland’s Patria Partners with Ukrainian Drone Manufacturer General Cherry

Patria and Ukrainian drone manufacturer Center of Unmanned Technologies LLC (“General Cherry”) have signed a Letter of Intent (LoI) on 23 August, 2026. As part of the collaboration, Patria plans to initiate drone production in Finland, which would support the development of Europe’s defence capabilities and Patria’s aim to be a pioneer in defence technologies and an innovative product developer. Continue reading