Ukrainian companies are attracting American private investment and Pentagon interest with award-winning drones, but U.S. export laws threaten to squelch efforts to develop technology, company execs said Friday. U.S. investors are pouring money into Ukrainian defense startups. For example, Swarmer, which makes AI software to control multiple drones simultaneously, saw its shares rise 700 percent on its first day of trading. Meanwhile, a joint effort of Ukraine’s SkyFall and UK’s SkyCutter won the initial competition of a series held by the Pentagon’s Drone Dominance effort, which would grow by several thousand percent to $54 billion under the White House’s 2027 budget plan. Several other Ukrainian drone companies took spots on the leaderboard. “We’re excited about that,” Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering Emil Michael told reporters at the Pentagon last week. “These companies now that have gotten […]
Space-based interceptors may be too costly even for the massively budgeted Golden Dome missile defense system, the program’s leader said Wednesday. Acknowledging what many analysts have said ever since President Trump ordered up orbiting interceptors in one of the first executive orders of his second term, Space Force Gen. Michael Guetlein told the House Armed Services Strategic Forces subcommittee on Wednesday that building and deploying satellites armed to down enemy missiles early in flight may never be affordable. “What we do not know today is ‘can I do it at scale and can I do it affordably?’ That’s going to be the huge challenge for boost-phase intercept,” he said. “I will tell you because we are so focused on affordability. If we cannot do it affordabl[ly] we will not go […]
NATO is studying how to use ground and air robots to replace human soldiers in assaults, something Ukraine has been doing for more than a year. But that hasn’t stopped Russia’s continuous assault with its own, increasingly autonomous one-way attack drones. On Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky made a social-media splash with a video describing a historic first from last July: a skirmish in which Russian troops surrendered to Ukrainian robots. “The future is already on the front line—and Ukraine is building it,” Zelenskyy said in the video, adding that Ukrainian robotics companies “have already carried out more than 22,000 missions on the front in just three months.” Still, the Ukrainian president offered far fewer details than did Ukraine’s 3rd Assault Brigade in its own July 2025 post. “Enemy fortifications were attacked” by first-person-view aerial […]
The U.S. Navy and GSA will pay Gecko Robotics $71 million to use its drones and AI to inspect ships, jets, and other gear, part of the service’s effort to reach 80 percent fleet readiness next year and stem its shortage of ships. The company says it can identify repairs up to 50 times faster and more accurately than human inspectors—and do so even before a ship reaches its dock, which will help the Navy get the right people and parts in place. This work is slated to be carried out across destroyers, amphibious warships, and littoral combat ships. The deal means “any DOD branch can use the AI and robotics,” the company said in a statement. Justin Fanelli, the Navy’s chief technology officer, said during a February Govini event. “When these American companies, […]
Key refueling-related tests for the B-21 Raider are now underway, an Air Force spokesperson confirmed to Defense One, the latest milestone towards delivering the next-generation bomber by 2027. On Tuesday, several open-source intelligence accounts and plane spotters posted images of a B-21 approaching a KC-135 tanker over California. One account cited flight radar data indicating that the tanker was from Edward Air Force Base’s 370th Flight Test Squadron. Other photographs and videos showed the bomber being followed by an F-16 fighter jet. “We can confirm that a B-21 Raider flight test aircraft completed a test event involving a close-proximity flight with a KC-135 Stratotanker,” the spokesperson said in an emailed statement. “This flight is part of the ongoing, rigorous test campaign to validate the B-21’s capabilities and operational readiness.” The B-21’s latest appearance comes as President Trump’s war […]
AURORA, Colorado—A General Atomics MQ-20 drone took orders from an F-22 pilot during a recent mock mission that demonstrated robot-wingman concepts, company officials said in a Monday statement. During a test flight earlier this month at Edwards Air Force Base in California, the pilot used Autonodyne’s Bashi pilot-vehicle interface to order the autonomous drone to “execute tactical maneuvers,” move waypoints, conduct combat patrols, and take on “threat engagement tasks,” the statement said. “We appreciate the flawless execution of this mission using the government’s advanced autonomous systems,” said GA-ASI President David R. Alexander. “This demo featured the integration of mission elements and the ability of autonomy to utilize onboard sensors to make independent decisions and execute commands from the F-22.” The flight followed a November demo in which an F-22 pilot used a tablet to control an […]
WASHINGTON—Experienced foreign-policy observers in the US capital have long learned never to make public predictions. The world is far too uncertain and the downside risks to your reputation are far too high if you end up well off the mark. It’s clearly advisable to wait until events have already transpired and then claim afterward that you saw them coming all along. This is especially the case when it comes to decisions to go to war. Yet those who carry the burden of policymaking are forced to make predictions to inform their policies. So even as negotiations continue between the United States and Iran, US President Donald Trump and his advisers are undoubtedly trying to assess what Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei will do in the face of the “massive […]
Today started with ice and ended with a thaw. Shortly after a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland—in which he made his case for why the United States should own the “big, beautiful piece of ice” that is Greenland—Donald Trump announced that he had reached a “framework of a future deal” on the issue. The breakthrough came after Trump met with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, and led to the US president dropping his tariff threats against European nations that had opposed the US acquisition of the semiautonomous Danish territory. According to Trump, the deal will concern potential US rights over Greenland’s minerals, as well as the island’s involvement in his administration’s proposed “Golden Dome” missile defense system. Below, our experts shed light on all the transatlantic […]
Millions of Ukrainians have spent much of January without electricity and heating amid subzero winter temperatures, sparking fears that the country is on the brink of a humanitarian catastrophe. This desperate situation has been deliberately provoked by a sustained Russian bombing campaign against Ukraine’s critical infrastructure, as Kremlin dictator Vladimir Putin targets the civilian population in order to pressure Kyiv into capitulation. Russia’s attacks have led to dramatically deteriorating living conditions across Ukraine. Thousands of high-rise apartment buildings in large cities as well as smaller rural homes have been cut off from power, heating, and water for days at a time. As a result, indoor temperatures have dropped to dangerous levels. For the elderly, those with young children, and people suffering from health issues, the risks are particularly grave. Ukrainian […]
“Venezuela is completely surrounded.” On Tuesday evening, US President Donald Trump announced that the US military would impose a “total and complete” blockade of all sanctioned oil tankers going into or out of Venezuela. The move is targeted at Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro and his regime, but it could also have wider effects. Below, Atlantic Council experts answer four pressing questions. Since the initial US seizure of the Skipper last week, Venezuelan crude exports have fallen sharply, effectively targeting Maduro’s main source of income. Venezuela relies entirely on tankers to export its oil, and disrupting the illegal trade that runs on these sanctioned tankers weakens Maduro’s grip on power. As of last week, more than thirty of the eighty ships in Venezuelan waters were under US sanctions. Frankly, with the […]
Luleå Science Park, Aurorumvägen 2, 977 75 Luleå, Sweden
© 2025 The Freyr Advisory Co, Ltd