Draganfly
Saskatoon-based, NASDAQ-listed drone maker (DPRO) repositioning from public-safety UAVs to low-cost attritable military drones for US and allied forces.
Background
Draganfly traces to 1998, when its Saskatoon, Saskatchewan predecessor (Draganfly Innovations) shipped what it billed as one of the first commercial camera drones; the public entity now trades as Draganfly Inc. (NASDAQ: DPRO).
Cameron Chell has been CEO and president since August 2019 and was named executive chairman of the board in January 2026 while remaining CEO. For most of its life the company was a small civil and public-safety UAV maker.
Through 2025-2026 it repositioned toward low-cost military drones. Its catalogue spans the Flex FPV strike quadcopter, the multi-rotor Apex, Commander 3XL and Heavy Lift, plus AI, autonomy and payload software; the June 2026 Skip Dynamix purchase added the hand-launched Orca fixed-wing.
Draganfly says it has worked in Ukraine since 2022, beginning with medical-supply deliveries. Revenue remains modest relative to the defense ambition, and the firm is skeptically watched as a perennial micro-cap.
Financial footing
- The US Army selected the Flex FPV plus on-site overseas manufacturing (Sep 2025)
- A major DoD branch picked the Commander 3XL (Jul 2025)
- Acquired Skip Dynamix (Orca fixed-wing) for up to ~$7.5M (Jun 2026)
- DEVCOM Army Research Lab counter-UAS dev contract (2026)
- Selected (as 'Mountain Horse Solutions + Draganfly', Flex FPV) among ~48 vendors to compete in the Pentagon's Drone Dominance Program Phase II fly-off (Camp Grayling, Jun 2026; up to ~$1.1B / 300,000-drone effort) — a qualifier, not yet a production award
- Ukraine humanitarian drone work since 2022
- Q1 2026 revenue ~$1.5M (a record, but small vs a ~$200-300M market cap)
- Backers: Publicly traded (NASDAQ: DPRO); equity-financed
Draganfly is public on NASDAQ, the CSE and Frankfurt under DPRO; it is a micro-cap whose market value has swung roughly between US$200 million and US$300 million on drone-stock enthusiasm after the shares gained well over 100% in the year to mid-2026.
First-quarter 2026 (ended March 31) revenue was about US$1.5 million — a company record, though it missed estimates — against a net loss near CA$5.6 million; cash stood near US$8.1 million. H.C. Wainwright and Needham rate it Buy, with price targets of roughly US$12-14.
Major customers & contracts
Draganfly's defense traction is recent and mostly US. In September 2025 the US Army selected its Flex FPV drone and asked it to help stand up on-site manufacturing at overseas US facilities; a major DoD branch picked the Commander 3XL in July 2025; and the company says it won an Air Force special-operations FPV order.
In 2026 it took a DEVCOM Army Research Laboratory counter-UAS development contract with F4 Defense. Legacy public-safety, agriculture and medical-delivery customers remain, and Draganfly says it has run humanitarian drone deliveries in Ukraine since 2022.
Leadership & contact surface
Leadership: Cameron Chell
Official site: https://draganfly.com
Competitive position
Draganfly competes in a crowded US attritable-drone field, where NDAA/Blue UAS compliance and a North American supply chain are the entry tickets. In the Pentagon's Drone Dominance Phase II qualifier it sat on a list of roughly 48-49 vendors that included AeroVironment, Neros, Teal, Performance Drone Works, Auterion and Griffon.
Against AeroVironment's scale or Skydio's autonomy software, Draganfly is small and comparatively late, leaning on low unit cost, its Flex FPV/Orca pairing and partnerships (Mountain Horse Solutions, AG3 Labs, Palladyne AI) rather than balance-sheet heft.
Battlefield relevance
Demand is set by the war in Ukraine, where both sides burn through thousands of cheap first-person-view and fixed-wing strike drones a month, and by a US military racing to field attritable mass at similar price points.
The Pentagon's Drone Dominance effort targets more than 300,000 drones; Draganfly's sub-US$5,000 Flex FPV and hand-launched Orca aim squarely at that disposable, mass-production niche.
Sources & verification
- GlobeNewswire — Draganfly completes acquisition of Skip Dynamix (Jun 2026)
- Military Embedded Systems — Mountain Horse Solutions (with Draganfly) to compete in Drone Dominance Phase II (Jun 2026)
- ExecutiveGov — 49 companies selected for Drone Dominance Phase 2 competition (May 2026)
- Draganfly — Selected by US Army to supply Flex FPV drone systems (Sep 2025)