A focused view of the global field for autonomous, kinetic and explosive interception of small-to-medium unmanned aerial threats. RF jamming, microwave, and laser systems are explicitly out of scope. This is a kinetic-only league table — sorted by combat proof, autonomy, and unit economics.
Nine players actively pursuing kinetic interception of Group 1–3 UAS. Of those, only two are combat-proven with autonomous engagement — and only one is deployed by a tier‑1 Western military at scale.
| Company / Product | Autonomous | Combat-Proven | Cost / Intercept | Notable Contract | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Tehiru Us
Citadel / SharkOS
|
Yes End-to-end autonomy. AI kill-chain in ms. |
Yes IDF-deployed · operational kills |
~$5K |
Elbit Nova Shield — operational
95% intercept rate (short-range)
|
Detection-agnostic. Full stack: Hive launcher + interceptor + SharkOS. Sub-$5K kill economics. |
|
Anduril
Anvil
|
Yes Autonomous engagement via Lattice |
No No public combat data |
~$5K–$15K (est.) |
USMC MADIS — $200M (Nov 2024) → $642M / 10yr (Mar 2025)
Base defense; initial $9.5M FY24 funding
|
Low-collateral kinetic interceptor for small UAS. Bundled with Lattice C2 + Pulsar EW. |
|
Anduril
Roadrunner-M
|
Yes | No No public combat data |
~$500K / unit "Low hundreds of thousands" per Anduril |
DoD — $250M / 500+ units (Oct 2024)
Kuwait FMS request — up to $2B (Anvil-K + Roadrunner-M)
|
High-explosive jet-powered interceptor; reusable if not expended. Group 3-class threats. |
|
Project Eagle Eric Schmidt
Merops / Surveyor
|
Yes Autonomous or Xbox-piloted |
Yes Ukraine — 1,000+ Shahed intercepts |
~$15K → $3–5K at scale |
US Army — 13,000 units (Apr 2026, 8-day procurement)
Deploying to Middle East vs. Iranian drones
|
Kinetic collision / proximity. 4-person crew. Closest cost peer; minimal autonomy depth. |
|
TYTAN Technologies €30M Series A
Interceptor-S
|
Partial CV guidance; Brave1-tested |
No Not combat-proven |
Undisclosed |
€30M Series A (Feb 2026)
KNDS Boxer integration · Hensoldt · Dedrone · Mercedes-Benz
|
EU sovereign play. Range >15 km, >250 km/h. Target: 3,000/mo by end 2026. |
|
Quantum Systems / WIY Drones
STRILA-2
|
Yes AI guidance by WIY Drones |
No Pre-deployment |
Undisclosed |
15,000 units — Ukraine National Guard (Mar 2026)
German government-funded
|
Rocket-booster variant for rapid altitude. EU/UA industrial collaboration model. |
|
Mach Industries
Dart
|
Unknown Marketed as autonomous |
No New entrant (Jan 2026) |
Undisclosed |
No disclosed contract
In-theater intercepts targeted by 2026
|
Group 1–3 swarm defense pitch. End-to-end system (sense, C2, engage). Vertically integrated. |
|
Wild Hornets
Sting
|
No Manual FPV pilot |
Yes 3,000+ Ukraine kills |
~$300–$500 |
Ukraine MoD — volume program
High-volume, low-tech
|
Cheapest per-unit. Pilot-bottlenecked, single-target — not a scalable Western solution. |
|
Fortem Technologies
DroneHunter F700 (net)
|
Yes | No Security events only |
~$50K–$100K |
Limited security deployments
Stadiums · critical infrastructure
|
Net-capture (non-explosive). Group 1 only. Civil/security market; not a battlefield solution. |
Scope filter: kinetic and explosive intercept only. RF jammers (Dedrone, DroneShield), high-power microwave (Epirus Leonidas), and laser systems (DragonFire, Lockheed HELIOS, Rafael Iron Beam) are out of scope for this analysis and not directly comparable.
Plotted by autonomy depth (Y) and cost-per-intercept efficiency (X). The upper-right is where mass-drone-threat economics actually work. Tehiru is the only player combining full kill-chain autonomy with sub-$5K unit economics — and the only one of those that is combat-proven.
Positions reflect publicly available data and analyst estimates. Combat-proven status is not encoded on the axes — but Tehiru and Project Eagle / Merops are the only two players in the cost-efficient autonomous zone with confirmed operational kills. Tehiru's edge is the depth of the autonomy stack and detection-agnostic integration on top of that.
IDF-deployed operationally with end-to-end autonomous engagement. Anvil, Roadrunner-M, TYTAN, STRILA-2, and Dart are autonomous on paper — Tehiru is the only one with confirmed operational kills via full autonomous kill-chain.
At ~$5,000 per intercept, Citadel matches the cost floor of Project Eagle's Merops but adds a deeper autonomy stack and detection-agnostic integration. Anduril Roadrunner-M is ~100× more expensive per shot. Sting is cheaper but human-piloted.
SharkOS integrates into any sensor stack — radar, RF, EO/IR. Anduril Anvil is locked to Lattice. TYTAN ships only with Hensoldt + Dedrone. Tehiru wins by sitting on top of existing infrastructure, not replacing it.
One vendor delivers the launcher (Hive), the interceptor drone, and the autonomy software. Most competitors are point-solutions inside a larger integrator's stack — Tehiru is the integrator.
Of the nine credible kinetic-interception players globally, only Tehiru ships combat-proven autonomy at sub-$5K per kill — with a detection-agnostic, full-stack platform already in operational deployment.