Topic · Writing
Defense & Autonomous Systems.
Autonomous systems and defense technology — drone-in-a-box infrastructure, counter-UAS, and what it takes to build hardware-plus-AI in Europe. Lessons from founding and scaling Dronehub.
22 posts
0111 MIN·UPDATED · SEP 2026Top Drone-in-a-Box Companies in 2026: A Founder's Honest Map of the Market
A drone-in-a-box founder's honest 2026 map of the field — Percepto, Skydio, Airobotics, Azur, Easy Aerial, American Robotics, DJI, and my own Dronehub — judged on autonomy, battery handling, weatherproofing, BVLOS posture, use-case, and AI.
Read
0212 MIN·UPDATED · SEP 2026The Best Autonomous Drones for Critical-Infrastructure Inspection in 2026: A Builder's Buyer's Guide
A drone-in-a-box founder's buyer's guide to inspection drones in 2026 — Percepto, Skydio, DJI, Flyability, Airobotics, Nearthlab and Dronehub, judged on the asset.
Read
036 MIN·UPDATED · SEP 2026What Ukraine Is Teaching Us About Defending a State With Drones
I'm a Ukrainian-born founder who has spent a decade building autonomous drones. Watching my home country, here are the defensive lessons that matter — counter-drone, resilient autonomy, and sovereign production.
Read
0410 MIN·UPDATED · SEP 2026Inside Ukraine's Drone Industry in 2026: How a War Rewired Global Drone Innovation
A Ukrainian-born drone founder's measured read on how wartime necessity turned Ukraine into a decentralized innovation engine reshaping the global drone supply chain.
Read
059 MIN·UPDATED · SEP 2026Top AI Drone Companies in 2026: Where the Intelligence Actually Lives
A drone builder's honest map of the companies where AI is the real product, sorted by what the autonomy actually does, GPS-denied capability, and domain.
Read
068 MIN·UPDATED · SEP 2026Захист держави дронами: чого Україна вчить світ
Дешевий багатошаровий захист, дрони-перехоплювачі, автономність і власне виробництво: уроки України, які вже змінюють оборону НАТО та ЄС.
Read
078 MIN·UPDATED · SEP 2026Obrona przed dronami: czego Polska może się nauczyć od Ukrainy
Tani dron, drogi pocisk, wstrzymane lotniska. Czego Ukraina nauczyła się o obronie przed dronami i co z tego wynika dla Polski w 2026 roku.
Read
0811 MIN·UPDATED · SEP 2026Europe's Defense-Tech Drone Companies in 2026: The Continent's Autonomous-Systems Map
An insider's honest map of Europe's defense-tech drone field in 2026, from AI strike systems to ISR to dual-use autonomy, judged on explicit criteria.
Read
099 MIN·UPDATED · SEP 2026Drone Autonomy Levels, Explained: From Remote Pilot to Self-Flying (2026)
A practitioner's walk up the drone autonomy spectrum — manual RC to self-deciding flight — and the honest truth: there's no single official standard, and a human is almost always still on the loop.
Read
107 MIN·UPDATED · JUN 2026Електронна боротьба і автономність: чому майбутнє українських дронів — у софті
У небі, насиченому глушінням GPS і звʼязку, виграє не найкраще залізо, а дрон, що думає на борту. Чому центр ваги зміщується в софт.
Read
118 MIN·UPDATED · JUN 2026Чому Україна стала світовою лабораторією автономних дронів
Погляд практика на те, як швидкість ітерації, децентралізоване виробництво і тісний цикл «розробка→поле→доопрацювання» зробили Україну місцем, де автономність дронів розвивається найшвидше у світі.
Read
127 MIN·UPDATED · JUN 2026Dual-use: як українські дронові технології переходять у цивільну інфраструктуру
Автономність, навігація в складних умовах і обробка зображень, відточені під час війни, стають інструментом відбудови — погляд зсередини.
Read
135 MIN·UPDATED · JUN 2026Dual-Use Is Not Weapons: Where the Line Sits in Autonomous Drones
Autonomous drones that monitor power grids are dual-use in regulatory terms but not weapons. The line between infrastructure defense and weaponization is precise, legally enforceable, and depends on intent and design—not hardware alone.
Read
147 MIN·UPDATED · JUN 2026Building Defense Tech as a Foreign-Born Founder: A Transparency Playbook
Foreign Ownership, Control, or Influence (FOCI) compliance is a standard mitigation toolkit for US defense contracting—and for foreign founders, transparency beats obfuscation.
Read
158 MIN·UPDATED · JUN 2026A Decade of EU Deep-Tech R&D: What ESA, EDA, and Dual-Use Taught Me
How a 2017 ESA contract for autonomous battery-swap evolved into a decade of rigorous European research, and what that validation pathway transfers to the US market.
Read
168 MIN·UPDATED · JUN 2026A Decade in Autonomous Drones: What I Got Wrong
I started building drones in 2015 convinced the hardware was the hard part. Ten years on, here are the bets I got wrong and what replaced them.
Read
178 MIN·UPDATED · JUN 2026Counter-UAS and Dual-Use Drones, Explained Plainly
A plain-language primer on counter-UAS and dual-use drones, grounded in AUDROS, the real ESA and EDA CBRNe feasibility study I worked on.
Read
189 MIN·UPDATED · JUN 2026Battery Swap vs. Charging: The Core Drone-in-a-Box Tradeoff
A design essay on whether an autonomous drone should recharge in its dock or swap to a fresh battery, and why my ESA-era work bet on swap.
Read
197 MIN·UPDATED · JUN 2026The ESA Call: On Being the Firm That Showed Up
In 2017 a tiny Cervi Robotics won its first European Space Agency contract: an autonomous drone that lands and swaps its own battery. Here is how it happened.
Read
209 MIN·UPDATED · JUN 2026Building Hardware + AI in Europe: The Real Constraints
A founder's honest field guide to building a hardware-plus-AI deep-tech company in Europe: grant capital, in-house manufacturing, and the EU R&D programmes that fund and shape what you build.
Read
219 MIN·UPDATED · JUN 2026Why Robots Should Inspect Towers and Refineries
Sending people up transmission towers and into live refineries is slow, dangerous, and expensive. Here is the safety-and-economics case for autonomous inspection.
Read
228 MIN·UPDATED · JUN 2026What "Drone-in-a-Box" Actually Means: A Plain Guide
A drone-in-a-box is an autonomous docking station: the drone takes off on its own, inspects, lands, recharges or swaps its battery, and uploads data — no pilot on site.
Read