The Wire · live GRID-REF 37°47′N 122°25′W
DISPATCH 03/26 · 16 Sep 2026
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Company Dossier

Perennial Autonomy

The secretive AI attack-drone venture Eric Schmidt quietly founded in 2023 as 'White Stork' has since rebranded twice and now operates as Perennial Autonomy, holding a $500 million Pentagon counter-drone contract built on combat use in Ukraine.

Perennial Autonomy
FIG.01 · DISPATCH Illustration. Generated key image, not a photo of the event.
FILE · perennial-autonomyOpen-source file · BattlePolicy ProStatus TrackedUnverified
Perennial Autonomy
Counter-UASCombat-fieldedUATracked
The secretive AI attack-drone venture Eric Schmidt quietly founded in 2023 as 'White Stork' has since rebranded twice and now operates as Perennial Autonomy, holding a $500 million Pentagon counter-drone contract built on combat use in Ukraine.
Founded
2023
HQ
Menlo Park, California, USA
Headcount
undisclosedreported to include 'at least a dozen' senior hires from Apple, SpaceX, Google and federal agencies as of mid-2024; likely larger now
Total raised
undisclosed / no public institutional round — financed by Eric Schmidt personally via Hillspire
Valuation
undisclosed
Stage
Privately held; revenue-stage via US DoD (JIATF-401, up to $500M IDIQ) and Ukraine MoD contracts
Restricted · BattlePolicy Pro

The rest of the Perennial Autonomy file

  • Background — founding, ownership and how the company got to here
  • Financial footing — rounds, valuation, backers and who is exposed
  • Customers & contracts — live join against our Procurement Tracker
  • Leadership — who runs it, and the contact surface
  • Competitive position — who it beats, who beats it, and on what
  • Battlefield relevance — confirmed combat use versus company claim
  • Sources — every citation this file is built on
  • Analyst verdict — where the evidence is thin and what would change our call
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