Proposal Manager

Drone Forge & Arkeus to test Warden sensor in Asia-Pacific. Tue, 13th Oct 2026 (Today) Drone Forge has signed a memorandum of understanding with Arkeus to explore integrating Warden into its autonomous systems portfolio. The agreement centres on Arkeus' hyperspectral optical radar technology. The partnership will include joint flight operations, data gathering and demonstrations as the two Australian companies assess how the sensor can be used across uncrewed platforms. The initial focus is the Asia-Pacific region, with discussions also covering international applications in land, littoral and multi-domain settings. Perth-based Drone Forge describes itself as an autonomous systems integrator, while Arkeus developed Warden as a system that combines hyperspectral sensing with edge AI. The companies say the technology is designed to detect, recognise and track targets across wide areas without requiring operators to manually interpret large volumes of imagery. Hyperspectral systems collect data across a broader range of light bands than conventional cameras, allowing users to distinguish materials or objects that appear similar in standard imaging. In defence and surveillance work, they can be useful where conventional imaging provides too little information. The agreement reflects customer demand for more from uncrewed systems than image collection alone, particularly in intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance tasks. Companies in the sector are increasingly combining sensors, software and autonomous aircraft to shorten the time between detection and decision-making. Drone Forge Founder Thomas Symes said customers were asking for systems that could identify relevant activity rather than simply gather footage. "The feedback we're hearing from customers is clear. They need more from their uncrewed platforms. It's no longer just about collecting imagery, but finding, identifying and tracking what matters, and delivering intelligence fast enough to act on it. Warden is a proven autonomous perception capability that responds directly to those needs, with demonstrated performance on leading uncrewed aerial systems. Through our partnership with Arkeus, we're focused on rapidly integrating this technology into our platforms and delivering the enhanced situational awareness and mission effectiveness our customers are demanding," Symes said. Sensor focus For Drone Forge, the arrangement provides access to a sensing system that could be added to its broader range of autonomous platforms and solutions. For Arkeus, it offers a path to wider aerial applications and to customers already using or evaluating Drone Forge systems. Arkeus Chief Executive Officer Simon Olsen said the company viewed autonomous perception as central to the development of uncrewed systems. "The future of mission effectiveness depends on how quickly platforms can turn what they sense into what they know. Warden is already demonstrating that advantage on leading uncrewed aerial systems, combining advanced hyperspectral sensing with edge AI to detect, recognise and track targets across wide areas without relying on operators to interpret endless streams of data. Autonomous perception is fundamentally changing what's possible for uncrewed systems. Drone Forge brings deep expertise in developing and operating these platforms, along with a strong understanding of customer requirements. Together, we're building on Warden's proven performance to accelerate deployment and deliver the decision-ready intelligence operators need to act faster and with greater confidence in complex and contested environments," Olsen said. Wider demand The agreement comes as defence, critical infrastructure and resources operators seek more sophisticated autonomous sensing tools. The market for uncrewed systems has moved beyond basic aerial observation, with buyers increasingly assessing whether platforms can classify objects, monitor activity and feed analysis into operational workflows in near real time. Australia has become an active market for this work, supported by local developers building aircraft, control systems and specialist payloads. Partnerships between platform companies and sensor makers have become a common way to bring those elements together, especially where military and security customers want integrated systems rather than separate components. Under the memorandum, Drone Forge and Arkeus will continue assessing customer applications and commercial pathways for Warden in the region and beyond. The work is expected to focus on how the sensor performs in operational environments and how it can be incorporated across different autonomous systems portfolios.

Drone Forge and Arkeus partner on Warden radar 13 October 2026 2 / 3 free articles left.

How Arkeus crossed defence tech's 'valley of death' Innovation Arkeus was already selling its hyperspectral sensor to the US military and Coast Guard. Now the Melbourne startup has finally cracked the Australian Army. For all the money Australia pours into defence innovation, there is a stubborn gap between building a piece of military technology and getting the Australian Defence Force to use it. Melbourne deftech startup Arkeus will announce today at the Land Forces exhibition that it has crossed that divide with the Australian Army confirming it will use the company's Warden hyperspectral optical radar on Insitu Pacific's Integrator tactical drone as part of the Army's Tactical Uncrewed Aerial System program. It is a significant milestone for a company that, according to Arkeus investor and veteran technology entrepreneur Steve Baxter, had experienced early failures, but kept going. "Very few make it into service," Baxter tells Forbes Australia, adding that the Army would be foolish if they did make the deftech "valley of death" too easy to cross. "Where there is valid criticism of the ADF for their innovation-to-service pathway is where there is no budget, post-experiment, for any of the capability," he says. "Quite often they fund competitive experiments (more than one company vying to win) and none get through because the program is defunded or similar." Arkeus has been the victor in several such competitions in Australia and abroad. It is in the unusual position that it sold to the US Department of Defense and Coast Guard before it got into active service with Australian forces, though it has won several smaller contracts with the Australian Army, Navy and Air Force. CEO and co-founder Simon Olsen says 90% of the company's income comes from the US, but it would be a bad look if the company couldn't get a sale in its home market. "What I love about this is it's not a situation where the Australian Army wanted to find an Australian-based technology. This is the result of a global procurement... Army reached out to companies on a global basis. In our final 'down-select' [shortening of a shortlist], we competed directly against a US firm." Warden is essentially a wide-area optical sensor that sees far more than a conventional camera, using hyperspectral data to distinguish objects by their spectral signatures. AI processes that information on the sensor itself, allowing it to detect, identify and track targets in real time, including in conditions that can defeat ordinary optical systems. The Australian Army's selection competition involved it flying on Insitu Pacific's Integrator drone and finding a range of targets, day and night. "From people, military and civilian vehicles, vessel at sea including fast boats, fishing vessels, commercial craft, people in the water, were all found as part of this mission," says Olsen. "One of the things the system is capable of doing, and I can't confirm whether or not this was done during the particular mission with the Army, but... the sensor can discern the difference between, for example, a civilian vehicle and a military vehicle, between a camouflaged vehicle and a non-camouflaged vehicle, between a real vehicle and a dummy or a decoy vehicle. And that really matters. "If you've seen similar stuff coming from Ukraine right now, one of the challenges they have, of course, is in standard optical sensors, some of those targets look exactly the same. They don't to our sensor. They look materially different." Insitu Pacific managing director Andrew Duggan has been collaborating with Arkeus since it was just an idea. He was well aware of the limitations of optical sensors across the different parts of the spectrum that different sensors used. "When they explained how they were going to build a whole stack across the technology and be able to deal with all those environmental considerations and still give you that kind of maritime domain wider awareness, I was like, 'Well, that's that sounds pretty compelling.' "And I had faith they had the right folks there... and they've come good with the technology." The Integrator is a relatively small tactical drone that can stay hundreds of nautical miles from its operator for hours at a time. "I think the key thing for Integrator is we're offering a very long-range, long endurance asset in a much smaller package than has been possible previously," Duggan says. "So with small SATCOM... you can sit out there at 300 nautical miles... and sit there for 15 hours, or 500 nautical miles, we're out there for eight-plus hours." Duggan says Warden adds another layer to that capability - allowing the same relatively small aircraft to search a much wider area and distinguish objects that might appear identical to a conventional optical sensor. "Even globally, it's an intriguing technology that I haven't seen others copy," he says. "There's really nothing out there in this space that is as mature as what this is." Arkeus announced it had raised $25 million in May this year. It has used that money to start setting up a production facility on the Gold Coast and in the US. "We're in a process of establishing stateside," says Olsen. "We're building the ecosystem and infrastructure... I expect that to come online by mid next year." He expects staff numbers to grow from 70 to 120 by then and sales to grow 5x over the next 12 to 18 months when he expects to raise more money. "We believe wholeheartedly that we can make a meaningful contribution from an AI perspective into AUKUS, but to do so means we've got to scale at a far more significant rate than we are right now. And so we're planning future capital raises already to ensure we can maintain the trajectory that we've currently established." And has he had many offers to buy Arkeus? "We certainly have received interest from a variety of parties, you'd be unsurprised to hear, but right now we see far more potential in driving our growth strategy. And we believe in this mission. We believe that it's critical for Australia to have a sovereign-based capability that provides a meaningful difference. This isn't just talk. This really means something to people here."