Agilis Air, a defence startup based in Ohio, has begun pre-manufacturing low-cost drones in an effort to close a growing supply gap as US military demand accelerates ahead of a planned Department of Defense drone mandate.
The company said it will pre-assemble 55 Remora drones — modular, rapidly deployable systems — supported by grant funding from the YBI ENGINE Tech Incubator, the Youngstown Innovation Hub for Aerospace & Defense, and the federally funded YBI Rising Tides Initiative.
Agilis Air is using 3D-printed airframes and US-sourced components to significantly reduce production and delivery timelines, cutting lead times from several months to just days.
The company noted that demand could surge in 2026 to around 1,000 drones per month, or more than 10,000 units annually, well beyond current production capacity and cost thresholds. This anticipated requirement has highlighted the need for scalable, low-cost domestic manufacturing solutions.
Designed to align with Pentagon objectives, the Remora drone targets a unit cost below $2,000 and rapid production scaling, compared with average small-drone prices of approximately $7,000 and delivery times of up to three months.
The programme also supports broader efforts to strengthen US defence supply chains and expand domestic manufacturing capability for affordable unmanned systems.
The initiative follows a broader trend of defence procurement favouring agile startups. In March 2025, the Defense Innovation Unit selected AeroVironment, Dragoon Technology LLC, Swan, and Auterion to develop long-range, one-way unmanned systems under the Artemis programme, focusing on scalable platforms with ranges beyond 50 kilometres.
In the autonomy domain, the Air Force Research Laboratory recently awarded Palladyne AI a contract to advance swarming and integrated autonomy using its SwarmOS platform, enabling coordinated intelligence sharing and operations across multiple domains.
