Strix Air Upgrades FPV Drones for Ukraine's Defence Forces

The software and hardware that will control tomorrow's combat drones got a workout on January 18, as a General Atomics MQ-20 Avenger showed off its capability by autonomously intercepting a crewed aggressor aircraft in an air combat exercise. The world's air forces and navies are betting heavily on combat drones in the near future. The tricky bit is getting them to actually work. The airframes are relatively far along because drones have been flying by remote control ever since some clever clock decided to install radios in planes, but what's needed today are the sensor kits and software that will allow a robotic drone to engage hostile aircraft with minimal human oversight.

Source: Military World 🌎 🇹🇷Turkey's UNIROBOTICS Unveils Short-Range Anti-UAV Air Defense System With the rapidly growing role of drones—especially FPV drones—in modern conflicts, states and defense companies are actively seeking effective ways to counter this new threat. Turkish company UNIROBOTICS, part of the defense holding company Samsun Yurt Savunma (SYS Group), unveiled the TRAKON LITE 134 counter-UAV system. System is designed as a remotely controlled weapon station (RCWS), equipped with artificial intelligence elements and a high-precision guidance system. The system is designed to engage unmanned targets at close range and is primarily aimed at countering kamikaze drones and FPV drones. TRAKON LITE 134 is positioned as a solution for protecting military installations, equipment, and forward positions in modern asymmetric warfare.

AT-629 Vehicle-Mounted Counter-FPV Equipment A high mobility low altitude protection equipment specially designed for light ATV vehicles. It solves the core limitations of traditional jamming system, such as excessive power consumption and inconvenient deployment. Powered by SDR Agile Jamming technology, it builds a complete omnidirectional detection and precise jamming protection loop and efficiently intercepts FPV drones. The compact design supports flexible mission based deployment. Leveraging the vehicle mobility, the protection radius can be rapidly extended to form a ‘near to mid’ to ‘long range’ defense architecture. It operates stably in complex environments (e.g. mountains and deserts), and provides low altitude security for military patrols, border protection, and urban security missions.

Seven companies to compete to equip the British Army’s AH-64E Apaches with new collaborative combat drones With the release of an official statement on January 24, the UK Ministry of Defence confirmed that seven companies will compete to develop and produce new collaborative combat drones, which are intended to operate alongside the British Army’s AH-64E Apache helicopters. The initiative, referred to as Project NYX by the ministry, aims to advance the acquisition of an unmanned platform capable of complementing attack helicopters in reconnaissance and surveillance missions, target acquisition, and electronic warfare....

UK's Babcock International Group and Estonia’s Frankenburg Technologies partner on new maritime counter-drone air defence system. The aim is to deliver scalable, kinetic protection against one-way attack drones for deployed forces and critical infrastructure across Europe.

The fixed-wing interceptor drone Yaryi M1 developed by the Ukrainian company SkyDefenders has been codified and is now available on the state marketplace BRAVE1. Both variants of the UAV — the daytime and night-time versions — have been approved for use by Ukraine’s Security and Defence Forces. Defender Media spoke to the manufacturer to find out what makes this aircraft distinctive: https://lnkd.in/dZRg3qwE

ODM GmbH is a Germany-based defence technology company delivering tactical communication systems, autonomous unmanned platforms and passive surveillance sensors designed to operate in contested and electronically degraded environments. Defence Finance Monitor analyses ODM by examining its role as a European substitute for non-allied suppliers in soldier communications, small UAS and passive air-surveillance technologies, assessing governance and ownership within the EU, in-house design authority and manufacturing in Germany, technology readiness across communications, drones and sensors, interoperability with NATO C4ISR architectures, and the contribution of ITAR-free, regionally sourced systems to European information superiority, operational resilience and supply-chain sovereignty. #DefenceFinanceMonitor #ODMGmbH #TacticalCommunications #MilitaryUAS #PassiveRadar #EuropeanDefenceIndustry #C4ISR #StrategicAutonomy #NATOInteroperability https://lnkd.in/dbaMZ5Fs

Turkey has reportedly conducted the world’s first unmanned aerial dogfight, pitting two AI-controlled fighter drones against each other in simulated combat. Unlike traditional drones controlled remotely by humans, these aircraft used onboard AI systems to make split-second decisions involving positioning, evasion, and simulated weapons engagement. Military experts say autonomous air combat removes human reaction limits and G-force constraints, allowing maneuvers impossible for manned pilots. However, it also raises ethical concerns about delegating lethal decisions to machines. The test marks a critical step toward fully autonomous air warfare, where future conflicts may be decided by algorithms rather than pilots.

🇫🇷🇺🇦 The French Army (Ministère de la Défense) has presented a series of combat systems developed over nearly two years and shaped by lessons from Ukraine. Displayed at an Innovation Day in Bitche, northeastern France, the systems aim to rapidly adapt ground forces to high-intensity warfare. Highlights included fiber-optic-guided drones, mobile fire support solutions, and adaptive vehicle protection against strike drones, all designed to quickly move tested concepts into operational use.

31 January 2026 Modern battlefields are increasingly shaped by the expansion of drones, counter-drone systems, and unmanned forces, rather than manned operations. As military capabilities continue to advance, the focus is shifting from direct human operation toward unmanned systems, while the rapid development of AI capable of real-time perception and decision-making is leading the battlefield into an entirely new paradigm. Accordingly, defense companies and system developers around the world are actively pursuing the development of next-generation platforms designed with these trends in mind. In recent operational environments, the detection and clearance of landmines and unexploded ordnance (UXO) have become critical missions, and it is increasingly evident that a transition from man-portable, human-operated mine detectors to unmanned systems is no longer optional but urgently required. #ModernWarfare #UnmannedSystems #UGV #FutureBattlefield #CounterDrone #MineAction #UXOClearance #DefenseIndustry #MilitaryInnovation #AutonomousSystems #KDefense