The U.S. Military is getting critical about FPV drones. It chosen Draganfly Inc., which is a publicly traded firm headquartered in Saskatoon, Canada, to provide Flex FPV drone methods.
However right here’s the place it will get attention-grabbing: as an alternative of simply transport packing containers of drones from factories again dwelling, Draganfly will assist set up on-site manufacturing amenities at abroad U.S. Forces places. That’s proper — the Military needs to construct drones nearer to the place they’ll really be used.
Why the Draganfly FPV information issues
When you’ve been following the evolution of drone warfare (and in case you’re studying this web site, you in all probability have), you recognize that FPV drones have basically modified trendy fight. We’ve seen this play out dramatically in Ukraine, the place low cost, nimble FPV drones have challenged conventional navy {hardware} in ways in which appeared like science fiction just some years in the past. And the U.S. navy has been paying very shut consideration.
Throughout the Swift Response 2025 train in Lithuania earlier this 12 months, 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 navy drones.
And in August 2025, the U.S. Military achieved a big milestone: the first-ever air-to-air kill with an armed FPV drone, signaling that drone-on-drone warfare is turning into a actuality.
What Draganfly will do
Underneath this preliminary order, Draganfly will ship three key elements:
- Flex FPV drone methods designed for high-performance navy operations.
- On-site manufacturing capabilities inside abroad U.S. Forces amenities to hurry up deployment and minimize supply-chain delays.
- Complete coaching overlaying each flight operations and manufacturing, plus logistics administration to make sure NDAA-compliant provide chains.
“We’re honored to help the U.S. Military because it strikes essential drone capabilities nearer to entrance strains,” mentioned Cameron Chell, President and CEO of Draganfly in a ready assertion. “By combining superior Flex FPV Drone methods, 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 strategy represents a big shift in how the navy thinks about drone procurement.
Conventional protection contracts imply ordering gear, ready for it to be manufactured someplace distant, transport it abroad and hoping it arrives once you want it. That mannequin works effective for some issues, however FPV drones for navy use are totally 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 sooner to evolving threats, scale back logistical vulnerabilities, and provides troopers the flexibility to iterate on designs based mostly on real-world suggestions. It’s agile manufacturing meets navy operations.
This strategy additionally addresses provide chain safety issues. By manufacturing drones in-theater with NDAA-compliant elements, the Military reduces dependence on doubtlessly 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 enjoying with RC helicopters.
The corporate went public in 2019 (NASDAQ: DPRO) and has been a gentle 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 Area 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 Particular person View. This model of flying was primarily the area of drone racing fanatics carrying goggles and flying custom-built quads by way of 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 client merchandise have pivoted towards enterprise and navy purposes. We’ve seen this with corporations like Purple Cat (mother or father 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 client division to focus on enterprise and navy clients. Even Parrot, which mainly invented the patron drone market with the AR.Drone, now focuses virtually completely on enterprise merchandise just like the ANAFI USA for presidency and navy use.
The shift is smart. Navy budgets are bigger and extra secure than client markets, safety necessities favor American producers, and up to date conflicts have confirmed that drones — notably FPV drones — are now not optionally available battlefield gear.
What’s subsequent from right here?
If this pilot program succeeds, we may see comparable embedded manufacturing applications broaden to different places and doubtlessly different navy branches. For instance, the Air Pressure has already proven curiosity in FPV expertise by way of 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 might be a long-term relationship fairly than a one-time buy. Coaching Military personnel to fabricate their very own drones means Draganfly is positioning itself as an ongoing associate fairly than only a vendor.
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