AI defense

The names under this lens, read for an acquisition

Prepared by PiggyGPT, as of Oct 6, 2026

• ·No company under this lens has a reported approach or an agreed deal on file. Those with a cited tie to a plausible buyer: Shield AI’s Hivemind flies on Anduril’s Collaborative Combat Aircraft airframe; Hadrian holds a Lockheed Martin manufacturing memorandum; General Dynamics Land Systems is a returning Epirus investor; Axon is Skydio’s exclusive public-safety reseller; RTX Ventures holds Hermeus stock and Pratt & Whitney licensed it to build F100 engines; SMX delivers Vannevar’s agents to combatant commands; Lockheed Martin Ventures led Firestorm’s seed and stayed in; and BAE Systems, RTX and Oshkosh each integrate Forterra’s AutoDrive. The rest show contracts and rounds and no buyer.
• ·The largest, Anduril at a $61 billion post-money, is itself an acquirer and its CEO has called an IPO certain, which reads against a sale.Washington Technology, May 13, 2026
• ·Primary rounds in 2026 priced Castelion at $13 billion, Shield AI at $12.7 billion, Saronic at $9.25 billion, Hadrian at $7.87 billion, Mach Industries at $3.7 billion, Neros at $2.5 billion and Hermeus at $1 billion. A company raising at those marks is choosing capital over a sale, for now. Rebellion Defense and Vannevar Labs have no priced round since 2021 and 2023.
• ·The 2026 exemplar deals on this site (SpaceX and Cursor, Nvidia and Hugging Face, AMD and World Labs) each followed a strategic investor or partner already in place. Under this lens, the equity ties of that kind are General Dynamics in Epirus, RTX Ventures in Hermeus, and Lockheed Martin Ventures with Booz Allen Ventures in Firestorm Labs; the rest are partnerships. None has been reported as talks.

A summary of what the figures on this page add up to, prepared by PiggyGPT from the record on file and its cited sources. Not the Street's view, and not advice.

Companies under this lens

Why each is here

• Anduril IndustriesIts Lattice software and autonomous systems are the subject of a U.S. Army enterprise agreement with a ceiling of up to $20 billion over ten years.TechCrunch, Mar 14, 2026
• Applied IntuitionIts defense unit holds a Chief Digital and AI Office production contract worth up to $171.1 million to build the department’s autonomy development and test platform.Applied Intuition (company release), Jan 14, 2025
• CastelionThe U.S. Navy placed a production delivery order valued at up to $200 million for Blackbeard hypersonic weapons.Castelion (company release), Sep 14, 2026
• CHAOS IndustriesIts Vanquish radar detects and tracks small uncrewed aircraft, and its Series D was raised to scale those counter-drone systems.DroneXL, Nov 13, 2025
• EpirusThe U.S. Army’s Rapid Capabilities and Critical Technologies Office awarded it a $43.5 million contract for two Leonidas counter-drone systems.Epirus (company release), Jul 17, 2025
• Firestorm LabsHolds a five-year Air Force contract with a $100 million ceiling for 3D-printed drones with integrated autonomy.Defense Daily, Jan 23, 2025
• ForterraIts AutoDrive autonomy stack is in production for a Marine Corps launcher and was selected in September 2026 as prime for the Army’s Engineer Autonomous Breaching Capability.Forterra (company release), Sep 9, 2026
• HadrianLockheed Martin signed a memorandum of understanding for Hadrian to run an automated machining and inspection cell at a Missiles and Fire Control site for PAC-3 MSE, THAAD, PrSM and GMLRS parts.Lockheed Martin (press release), Dec 8, 2025
• HermeusBuilds uncrewed Mach 3-class aircraft under a Defense Innovation Unit contract with a $219 million ceiling, with the Air Force and Navy.Breaking Defense, May 28, 2026
• Mach IndustriesSells autonomous uncrewed aircraft to the US Army, Air Force, SOCOM and the Defense Innovation Unit, with propulsion made in-house.Orange County Business Journal, Jun 8, 2026
• Neros TechnologiesSupplies Archer attack drones with onboard autonomy to the US Army under a contract with a $500 million ceiling, plus the Bandit counter-drone interceptor.GovConWire, Jul 17, 2026
• Rebellion DefenseDelivers Iris target-recognition and battlespace-awareness software to Navy PEO Integrated Warfare Systems, its third Navy award in a year as of April 2025.Rebellion Defense (company release, archived site), Apr 3, 2025
• Saronic TechnologiesThe U.S. Navy awarded it a $392 million production contract for its Corsair autonomous surface vessel.The Maritime Executive, Dec 8, 2025
• Shield AIThe U.S. Air Force awarded it a production contract for Hivemind mission autonomy on the Collaborative Combat Aircraft program.Shield AI (company release), Jun 17, 2026
• SkydioThe U.S. Army ordered more than 2,500 of its X10D aircraft, worth over $52 million, under the Short Range Reconnaissance program of record.Army Technology, Mar 24, 2026
• Vannevar LabsSupplies data, AI and mission-analytics agents to combatant commands and federal agencies, delivered through a partnership with the prime contractor SMX.Intelligence Community News, Apr 22, 2026