Four Answers, One Budget: The Counter-Drone Market Splits Against Itself

Four competing procurement moves show investors see a durable counter-drone business, while the Pentagon is still deciding what the product should be.

Capital spent $300 million on Monday betting that cheap interceptor missiles will win the counter-drone war. Cambridge Aerospace announced on Aug. 10 that DFJ Growth had led its Series C at a $3.4 billion valuation, Defence Blog reported. In the same window the US Army offered to loan industry a 50mm cannon to find out whether guns could do the job instead, and the Marine Corps paid Epirus $11 million for a microwave weapon that fires no projectile at all. Four answers now compete for one budget. The market has decided counter-drone defense is a durable business. It has not decided what the product is.

Four moves in 12 days

Cambridge began developing Skyhammer in January 2025 and reached flight testing six weeks later, according to the company. The UK Ministry of Defence contracted for Skyhammer interceptors and launchers in April 2026, with deliveries starting in May and running six months, then awarded the company work in July under the five-nation Low-Cost Effectors and Autonomous Platforms program spanning Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Poland. Cambridge says more than 250 employees, about two-thirds of them in technical roles, now work across sites in Germany, Poland, Norway, Ukraine and Australia. The Financial Times reported it is discussing potential work with the US government.

The competing moves came from American buyers. The Marine Corps announced Monday that its $11 million HAVOC contract with Epirus, managed through the Office of Naval Research, will integrate a high-power microwave weapon onto the Marine Air Defense Integrated System for delivery early in the second quarter of 2027, Breaking Defense reported. ACC Picatinny separately issued sources-sought notice W15QKN-26-X-1C9P on July 30 for a 50mm system able to defeat Class 1, 2 and 3 drones, with responses due Aug. 31, per Defense News. A third Army notice set a ceiling below $150,000 for at least 5,000 Next Generation C-sUAS Missiles compatible with the existing Coyote launcher.