The shipment is funded by a European NATO nation under a contract awarded to Auterion and jointly carried out by both companies. The partnership combines SkyFall’s Shrike combat drone platform with Auterion’s autonomy hardware and software.
The companies described Shrike as a fault-tolerant FPV drone designed for combat missions in difficult operating conditions. They said the platform has already been used by Ukrainian forces against enemy military assets valued at hundreds of millions of dollars.
Confirmed targets cited by the companies include a Mi-8 helicopter, a TOS-1A Solntsepyok heavy flamethrower system, electronic warfare systems, armoured vehicles, artillery systems and other high-value targets. The new deliveries are intended to bring Auterion’s terminal guidance capability to the platform for front-line use.
Each Shrike will be fitted with Auterion Skynode S, an autonomy hardware and software stack designed to improve performance against moving and evasive targets. Auterion said the system is intended to operate in contested electronic environments, including conditions where GPS and radio links are degraded or denied.
The companies said Skynode S will also give Shrike drones a path to swarming capability through a future software update. They said this would require no changes to the airframe and no additional hardware.
“Software defines the modern battlefield,” said Lorenz Meier, founder and CEO of Auterion. “We are giving operators terminal guidance today and a path to swarming tomorrow, on the same hardware, through a software update. This is the largest partnership in our history. It shows how the West scales precision through software, not new hardware.”
“Behind every Shrike are years of R&D, engineering excellence, and continuous improvement. Today, we welcome Auterion’s decision to join forces with the most effective FPV drone on the front line to create a technology that meets not only the demands of today’s battlefield, but also the challenges of tomorrow,” said Mykola Makovieiev, CEO of SkyFall.
Auterion is an international defence software company providing AI-powered drone solutions for air, land and sea platforms. The company is based in Arlington, Virginia, and Munich, Germany, and says its open, modular autonomy stack is used by governments and enterprises worldwide.
SkyFall is a Ukrainian technology and defence company with research and development, production and training capabilities through its SkyFall Academy. The company develops and manufactures the Vampire drone, Shrike FPV drones, P1-SUN Shahed interceptors, communication systems and components used on the front line.
SkyFall said its Vampire bomber drone was nicknamed “Baba Yaga” by the enemy and became a foundation of the Ukrainian military’s unmanned force. The company said Ukrainian defenders using SkyFall drones have already destroyed enemy personnel and equipment worth tens of billions of dollars.
