BLAZE

The one that got the orders — BLAZE is the counter-drone interceptor from Latvia's Origin Robotics that, in a field crowded with well-funded prototypes, actually did the hard part: it got bought. A radar-guided, man-portable drone that flies a vector fed straight from a defense radar toward an incoming Shahed, then closes with AI vision and an 800-gram warhead, BLAZE is NATO-codified, ITAR-free, and already fielded by four NATO states — Latvia, Belgium, Estonia and now France — all built on a shoestring ~€4 million budget rather than a mega-round. In Europe's interceptor wave, it is the order-first, low-capital outlier: less hyped than its rivals, further into service than any of them.

Overview

BLAZE is a radar-guided autonomous counter-drone interceptor built by Origin Robotics of Riga, Latvia — the member of Europe's 2026 affordable-interceptor wave that has converted trials into fielded orders faster than any peer. A man-portable, VTOL drone under 6 kg, it is cued by radar data fed directly from a command-and-control system, flies autonomously along that radar vector toward the target, then within proximity switches to EO/IR sensors and AI computer vision for identification and lock-on, with a human operator confirming the engagement and retaining a wave-off until the final approach. It carries an 800 g high-explosive fragmentation warhead (impact or airburst), deploys from a transport case that doubles as launch-and-charge station in under ten minutes, and a mesh radio lets one operator run multiple interceptors against multiple threats. Its selling points are institutional as much as technical: NATO-codified, STANAG-compliant and ITAR-free (no US export strings), pitched at "10× cheaper" than the ~$70,000 Shahed-class drones it kills. Origin built it on the back of its combat-deployed BEAK loitering munition, and — crucially — on a tiny capital base (~€4 million pre-seed plus EU and Latvian grants, no large VC round), scaling instead on orders: Latvia (first delivery October 2025), Belgium (a €50M urgent counter-drone program, November 2025), Estonia (late 2025), and France (June 2026, via a "Made in France" build with integrator DSV). It is also being integrated into Alpine Eagle's Sentinel system as that airborne mothership's ground-launched effector. The honest caveat: BLAZE is genuinely fielded, but its combat-kill record is not public — the proven combat history belongs to its BEAK predecessor.

Development

Origin Robotics was founded in response to the 2022 invasion of Ukraine (exact incorporation date unstated), by CEO Agris Ķipurs and co-founder Ilya Nevdah, to turn conventional munitions into smart autonomous weapons for Europe and NATO. Its first product was BEAK, a man-portable loitering munition ("a flying Javelin") combat-deployed with Latvia, Ukraine and other NATO states, and it raised a ~€4 million pre-seed in October 2024 (Change Ventures and Silicon Roundabout, plus €1.6M in EU/Latvian grants), per EU-Startups. A Latvian MoD R&D contract in March 2025 funded the high-speed interceptor line, and BLAZE was publicly unveiled in May 2025 as an autonomous, cost-effective counter-drone interceptor, per DroneLife. The orders then came unusually fast for a startup product: a Drone Wall partnership with Estonia's DefSecIntel (September 2025), detailed specs confirmed at DSEI London, Latvia as first buyer (October 2025), Belgium signing within a €50 million urgent counter-drone program (November 2025, after drone incursions over Brussels, Liège and Kleine Brogel), and Estonia — with all three receiving first systems from January 2026, per The Defense Post. The pivotal moment came at Eurosatory in June 2026, with two same-day announcements: France selected BLAZE (after DGA competitive trials that included French contenders) for local "Made in France" production via integrator DSV — reportedly 150 systems — and Origin signed an MoU with Alpine Eagle to integrate BLAZE into the Sentinel system, per Resilience Media. Origin announced plans to mass-produce thousands of BLAZE a year from December 2025 — all still on a small capital base and grants rather than a big VC Series A.

🔒 The rest of the BLAZE file is for BattlePolicy Pro members. Stop here and you miss the part that actually matters: the radar-guided design and its autonomy, the honest fielded-versus-combat-proven distinction, the order-first low-capital model, how it fits Europe's interceptor wave and the Alpine Eagle integration, the complete specifications table, and our analysts' assessment notes. Unlock the full file with BattlePolicy Pro →