The U.S. Military is getting severe about FPV drones. It chosen Draganfly Inc., which is a publicly traded firm headquartered in Saskatoon, Canada, to produce Flex FPV drone techniques.
However right here’s the place it will get fascinating: as a substitute of simply delivery bins of drones from factories again house, Draganfly will assist set up on-site manufacturing amenities at abroad U.S. Forces areas. That’s proper — the Military desires to construct drones nearer to the place they’ll truly be used.
Why the Draganfly FPV information issues
Should you’ve been following the evolution of drone warfare (and in the event you’re studying this web site, you in all probability have), you already know that FPV drones have essentially modified fashionable fight. We’ve seen this play out dramatically in Ukraine, the place low cost, nimble FPV drones have challenged conventional army {hardware} in ways in which appeared like science fiction just some years in the past. And the U.S. army has been paying very shut consideration.
In the course of the Swift Response 2025 train in Lithuania earlier this yr, paratroopers from the 173rd Airborne Brigade flew and detonated their very own in-house-built FPV drones towards dismounted troops and vehicle-sized autonomous targets. The unit even established its personal drone lab for design, coaching, and fast innovation. In brief, it created its personal DIY workshop for constructing army drones.
And in August 2025, the U.S. Military achieved a major milestone: the first-ever air-to-air kill with an armed FPV drone, signaling that drone-on-drone warfare is changing into a actuality.
What Draganfly will do
Beneath this preliminary order, Draganfly will ship three key parts:
- Flex FPV drone techniques designed for high-performance army operations.
- On-site manufacturing capabilities inside abroad U.S. Forces amenities to hurry up deployment and minimize supply-chain delays.
- Complete coaching masking each flight operations and manufacturing, plus logistics administration to make sure NDAA-compliant provide chains.
“We’re honored to assist the U.S. Military because it strikes essential drone capabilities nearer to entrance traces,” mentioned Cameron Chell, President and CEO of Draganfly in a ready assertion. “By combining superior Flex FPV Drone techniques, embedded manufacturing, coaching and safe logistics, we’re serving to reinforce operational agility and sustainment for forward-deployed forces.”
The larger image: decentralized drone manufacturing
This embedded manufacturing method represents a major shift in how the army thinks about drone procurement.
Conventional protection contracts imply ordering gear, ready for it to be manufactured someplace far-off, delivery it abroad and hoping it arrives whenever you want it. That mannequin works high-quality for some issues, however FPV drones for army use are completely different. They’re comparatively easy to construct, they’re expendable by design and battlefield wants change quickly.
By establishing manufacturing capabilities nearer to the place drones can be used, the Military can reply quicker to evolving threats, scale back logistical vulnerabilities, and provides troopers the flexibility to iterate on designs primarily based on real-world suggestions. It’s agile manufacturing meets army operations.
This method additionally addresses provide chain safety considerations. By manufacturing drones in-theater with NDAA-compliant parts, the Military reduces dependence on probably weak worldwide provide chains.
What’s Draganfly?
Draganfly was based in 1998 in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Draganfly was constructing professional-grade drones when most of us had been nonetheless taking part in with RC helicopters.
The corporate went public in 2019 (NASDAQ: DPRO) and has been a gradual participant within the skilled drone market, specializing in public security, agriculture, industrial inspections and more and more, protection purposes. Draganfly’s drones have appeared within the Smithsonian’s Nationwide Air and House Museum, and the corporate was credited with the world’s first profitable search and rescue mission utilizing a small unmanned aerial system.
What’s FPV?
FPV — is brief for First Individual View. This model of flying was once primarily the area of drone racing fans sporting goggles and flying custom-built quads via impediment programs at excessive speeds.
Now comes an instance of how improvements from the pastime and racing world have crossed over into skilled and protection purposes.
As I’ve famous earlier than, many drone corporations that began with shopper merchandise have pivoted towards enterprise and army purposes. We’ve seen this with corporations like Pink Cat (father or mother firm of Teal), which offered off its FPV racing manufacturers Fats Shark and Rotor Riot to give attention to protection. In the meantime, Skydio shut down its shopper division to focus on enterprise and army prospects. Even Parrot, which mainly invented the buyer drone market with the AR.Drone, now focuses nearly completely on enterprise merchandise just like the ANAFI USA for presidency and army use.
The shift is smart. Army budgets are bigger and extra secure than shopper markets, safety necessities favor American producers, and up to date conflicts have confirmed that drones — significantly FPV drones — are now not non-obligatory battlefield gear.
What’s subsequent from right here?
If this pilot program succeeds, we may see comparable embedded manufacturing applications increase to different areas and probably different army branches. For instance, the Air Power has already proven curiosity in FPV expertise via its partnership with the Drone Racing League.
Whereas Draganfly hasn’t disclosed the monetary phrases of this preliminary order, the embedded manufacturing mannequin suggests this may very well be a long-term relationship somewhat than a one-time buy. Coaching Military personnel to fabricate their very own drones means Draganfly is positioning itself as an ongoing accomplice somewhat than only a vendor.
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