Staff Software Engineer

How Silicon Valley just might save America from the growing drone threat. 6 4 minutes read Jeff John Roberts here. This drone threat is giving me the chills. Weeks after the FBI busted a plot to launch explosive-laden drones at the White House, a U.S. Army division engaged a Ukrainian drone unit in a war games exercise - and got whupped so thoroughly they had to "respawn" to keep going. It feels like Americans in combat (and here at home) are sitting ducks for these lethal and inexpensive airborne weapons. That's why it was refreshing to hear some good news from Mike Wior, the CEO of defense tech startup Allen Control Systems (ACS). In June, Wior's firm raised $200 million, in a round led by Smash Capital, on the strength of its Bullfrog platform, which can respond to a drone threat in seconds by shooting them out of the sky with bullets. The Bullfrog system is light enough to mount on the back of a Toyota Tacoma and, most critically, it is scalable. Wior says ACS is currently cranking out 10 units a week and is poised to announce the opening of huge new manufacturing plants in Texas and Alabama that will let it ramp up to thousands of units a month. The Bullfrog units are already making a difference in the Middle East theater where Iran has used cheap Chinese drones to kill American service members and blow up high tech kits worth billions of dollars. Their arrival also comes at a time when the U.S. has been using Patriot and Thaad missiles to counter drones - an unsustainable tactic that has reportedly cost $4 million per shot. The early phase deployment of a cheap and effective drone deterrent is encouraging news, but so too are recent procurement changes at the Department of War that have made it possible for startups like ACS to supply the military in the first place. Those changes include the introduction of online shopping forums such as the Army UAS marketplace, which was launched in partnership with Amazon's AWS, and that allows commanders to "buy and try" drones from vetted vendors. There is also a similar site for counter-drone kit called C-UAS marketplace. "This means you let the Army buy whatever they like, and let the best rise to the top rather than trying to pick winners ahead of time," says Wior. All of this suggests the U.S. could regain some of its military mojo by infusing Silicon Valley-style innovation into its warfighting capacities. When it comes to the drone situation, the country may have no choice. According to retired Brigadier General Houston Cantwell, who recently finished a fellowship at the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies, the goals of the Pentagon's "Drone Dominance Program" - which calls for the annual production of 200,000 American-made drones - are laughable, and that China can easily outstrip that. He believes that focusing on making drone defense units is the way to go, and is cautiously optimistic about the recent changes to procurement policy. "No one familiar with the DoD acquisition system is going to praise its agility but, in the last 18 months, the administration is starting to adapt," said Cantwell, pointing to the C-UAS site as a particularly promising example. All of this could be good news for American security, but also for investors. Wior wouldn't share specific revenue figures but said ACS's revenue, which came in around $10 million last year, is set to be in the "low nine figures" for 2026. ACS and other startups that offer anti-drone solutions, including Anduril and DroneShield, aren't likely to go public for a while, but their shares are available on secondary platforms like Hiive and Forge. Would-be investors should, of course, take all of these companies' claims with a grain of salt, especially given recent talk of a defense tech bubble. If that's the case, their VC investors could get blown up - hopefully just in the figurative sense. See you Monday, Jeff John Roberts X: @jeffjohnroberts Email: [email protected] Submit a deal for the Term Sheet newsletter here. Venture deals. - Muon Space, a Mountain View and San Jose, Calif.-based developer of satellite constellations for defense, civil, and commercial customers, raised $250 million in Series C funding. Eclipse led the round and was joined by Galvanize, Google, Salesforce Ventures, Wellington Management, I Squared Capital, Woven Capital, and existing investors. - ALSO, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based developer of small electric vehicles and autonomous technology, raised $150 million in Series D funding. Prysm Capital led the round and was joined by Eclipse Capital, Greenoaks, and MVP Ventures. - Callosum, a London, U.K.-based AI and compute company, raised $100 million in seed funding. Atomico led the round and was joined by Plural, DCVC, and others. - Apollo Atomics, a Cambridge, Mass.-based nuclear reactor company, raised $31 million in funding. FCVC led the round and was joined by Y Combinator, Telesoft Partners, Alumni Ventures, and others. - Twin1 AI, a San Mateo, Calif.-based AI platform designed to create digital twins for professionals, raised $20 million in seed funding. Bessemer Venture Partners, Tribeca Venture Partners, and Aramco Ventures. - Mafix, a Seattle, Wash.-based developer of carbon-negative silicon fertilizers, raised $5.4 million in pre-seed funding. Azolla Ventures led the round and was joined by Counteract VC, Astera Institute, and others. - Guideless, a Vilnius, Lithuania-based AI software-training platform, raised €1 million ($1.2 million) in pre-seed funding. Superhero Capital led the round and was joined by FIRSTPICK and angel investors. Private equity. - SEVA Growth acquired a minority stake in Serif Health, a San Francisco-based health care price-transparency company. Financial terms were not disclosed. Exits. - Continental Resources agreed to acquire FireBird Energy II, a Fort Worth and Midland, Texas-based oil and gas producer, from Quantum Capital Group. Financial terms were not disclosed. People. - IronArc Ventures, an Austin, Texas-based venture capital firm, hired Ashish Aggarwal as a Partner. Previously, he was with Chamaeleon. - Mayfield, a Menlo Park, Calif.-based venture capital firm, hired Adit Singh as a Partner. Previously, he was with Cota Capital.

The US Marine Corps has contracted Allen Control Systems to integrate its Bullfrog autonomous weapon system into the Light Marine Air Defense Integrated System counter-drone platform. The system uses artificial intelligence and computer vision to control standard military firearms, including M240 and M2 machine guns, to target drones and ground threats. Unlike purpose-built counter-drone systems, Bullfrog adapts existing weapons to detect and engage targets autonomously, which ACS claims is more cost-effective than expensive interceptor missiles. The M240 variant fires up to 850 rounds per minute and can neutralise drones weighing up to 600 kilogrammes operating at altitudes below 5,500 metres. The US Army and Navy already deploy Bullfrog systems. ACS cited the widespread use of inexpensive drones in conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East as justification for developing affordable counter-drone technology.