Look for the bare necessities
Plus The Headlines, Money Matters, and Recommended Reading (Week 22 2025: 26 May - 01 Jun)
Welcome to this week’s Beyond Line of Sight!
Something different today than usual (because variety is the spice of life).
Capability (i.e. technology /innovation) development is often given too much importance. Don’t get me wrong — it is very important and should not be ignored. But it’s not everything.
Way too many drone industry start-ups focus on developing new technologies and features in the name of ‘innovation’, ‘cutting edge’, ‘disruption’, <insert clichés here>.
Design for scalability. Not just the product or technology, but the business too. How?
In my childhood friend Baloo’s words:
Look for the bare necessities
The simple bare necessities
Focus on the bare necessities.
Focus on being f**king good at 1-2 things that really matter (i.e. bare necessities) and build a simpler product, a simpler business. Simplicity is scalable — faster, better, cheaper.
Scaling up unlocks economies of scale. Economies of scale lowers costs and increases profits, which can be re-invested into building more capabilities without having to fully rely on life-support. Life-support is money from grants, seed, VCs, etc.
The goal of any start-up is (or should be) to get off life-support ASAP, or not need it in the first place (ideal but not always practical). Businesses that focus on the bare necessities can scale faster.
Scalability is a super power and a competitive advantage.
On a tangential note:
I wrote about cost vs capability of drones in warfare. Here’s the article if you haven’t read it yet:
From the defence point of view, scalability (and cost effectiveness) of drone production is key. Swarm sizes are increasing to near ridiculous numbers.
The Headlines
Defence and Security
Ukraine has deployed the AI-powered Sky Sentinel turret to automatically shoot down incoming drones, and a newly introduced Ukrainian handheld anti-drone pistol jams enemy drone signals up to 100 meters, improving frontline electronic warfare.
Russian operators are now controlling Shahed drones via Telegram bots and Ukrainian networks, making them harder to jam and more capable thanks to AI enhancements.
The Kremlin staged a fake drone attack on Putin’s helicopter to boost his wartime image, The Moscow Times found.
Russia has repurposed its Dan-M target drone into a fast, short-range strike UAV, and old Russian Yak-52 trainer planes are being converted into low-cost drone hunters.
Iran unveiled three new VTOL drones — Homa, Dideban, and Shahin-1 — for reconnaissance and kamikaze missions.
Türkiye successfully tested its jet-powered carrier drone, Bayraktar Kızılelma PT-4.
Canada’s Roshel introduced a counter-drone version of its Senator vehicle, using UK tech to protect against drone swarms and airborne threats.
India installed an anti-drone system at the Taj Mahal that detects threats up to 8 km away and blocks unauthorised drones near the monument.
Policy and Regulations
Donald Trump is planning executive orders to block Chinese drone makers like DJI from U.S. markets, citing national security risks and aiming to boost domestic drone production.
Partnerships
Flytrex and Wing launched a coordinated drone delivery system in Dallas, using shared flight paths to improve safety and scale future operations.
Aloft and UAS Sentry have teamed up to add real-time drone detection to public safety tools, streamlining airspace monitoring and threat response.
Money Matters
Contracts
NV5: a $10 million contract from North Carolina’s DOT to use drones and LiDAR for creating detailed 3D maps that will improve infrastructure planning.
QinetiQ US: a $41 million deal to boost the U.S. Army’s counter-drone systems with integrated sensors and tracking technologies.
SmartShooter: a $13 million U.S. Army contract to supply its AI-enabled SMASH rifle sights for precise targeting of drones and ground threats.
Elsight: a $9.63 million expanded deal with a European defence drone manufacturer to supply secure BVLOS communication tech for unmanned systems.
General Atomics: a $99.3 million U.S. Air Force contract to develop the GHOST, a hybrid-electric drone for surveillance and strike missions.
General Atomics is also in negotiations with Saudi Arabia to purchase up to 200 MQ-9 drones as part of a $142 billion defence package.
Investment and M&A
Motorola Solutions is acquiring Silvus Technologies for $4.4 billion to strengthen its secure wireless communications used in military and counter-drone operations.
Recommended Reading this Week
Allies are more than customers of America’s defense industrial base. They can help rebuild it.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
This newsletter is authored by Adit Shah, founder of Elantar, a UK-based boutique strategy consulting firm specialising in helping companies accelerate and de-risk their growth in aerospace, defence, and space sectors. For contact, please get in touch via LinkedIn.