5 Startups Developing AI for Defense Application

March 1, 2025

Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) are being adopted and deployed across the global aerospace and defense industry in a wide variety of software and hardware-defined applications right now. Here are five startups developing new and novel AI and ML technologies for aerospace and defense applications. This list is not intended to be in a ranking order.

1 EdgeRunner AI

Year Founded: 2024
Location: Seattle, WA
CEO: Tyler Saltsman

EdgeRunner AI is focused on enabling the concept of “Generative AI at the Edge,” or the use of air-gapped, on-device AI agents for military and enterprise applications. The startup describes its mission as developing small, task-specific Ultra-Efficient Language Models (UELMs) that operate without needing internet access, and providing an industrial type of Generative AI that can run locally on any device or hardware. “Specifically developed for the military, this technology offers both defense and enterprise users a hyper-personalized assistant powered by AI agents that functions independently of internet connectivity,” the company notes on its website. EdgeRunner has already established development partnerships with the Department of Defense (DoD). The startup’s focus on enabling Generative AI that does not require internet connectivity could prove to be a game-changer for defense units that do not want to run models or algorithms on devices connected to the web. Their engineers are currently involved in ongoing collaboration with the Space Systems Command on the use of their on-device AI agents for real-time satellite characterization and threat assessment of images.

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2 Anduril Industries

Year Founded: 2017
Location: Orange County, CA
CEO: Palmer Luckey

Anduril Industries has been gaining major traction and major DoD contracts over the last two years. The startup has developed a unique mix of AI-enabled drones, vehicles and platforms as well as the use of AI and autonomy within its manufacturing process. Their proprietary “Lattice AI” is an AI-enabled software application that takes data from distributed or disparate sensors and edge devices, and merges it into a single integration layer. The U.S. Special Operations Command uses Lattice for countering unmanned aircraft systems in challenging and austere environments. In November 2024, the U.S. Army began testing their GhostX autonomous drone at a military base in Romania. The startup is also currently delivering its Roadrunner-M twin-jet powered autonomous vehicle and Pulsar electronic warfare platform to DoD for air defense capabilities. In February 2025, the Army confirmed Microsoft Corp. and Anduril as the new developers of their Integrated Visual Augmentation System (IVAS) program. By the end of 2025, the startup expects to begin production of its DIVE-XL autonomous underwater vehicles for deliveries to the Australian Navy.

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3 DEFCON AI

Year Founded: 2022
Location: McLean, VA
CEO: Yisroel Brumer

DEFCON AI’s focus is leveraging AI to build next generation modeling, simulation and analysis (MS&A) tools for military transportation and logistics operations. Their AI-driven software features an intelligent agent that helps warfighters respond and adjust to logistics and supply chain disruptions in contested mobility environments. In August 2024, DEFCON delivered its “ARTIV” MS&A decision-support platform to the Air Force’s Air Mobility Command. ARTIV allows planners to test and optimize operational logistics and transportation concepts in advance of crises – such as an attack on an airport or a storm causing severe disruptions at a major port. The cloud-native tool enables planners to train under various real-world scenarios so they can minimize interruptions to ensure the fast mobilization of resources regardless of the operational disruption. Among the notable features of ARTIV is its Resiliency Setting involving an intelligent Red Agent that looks for vulnerabilities in plans that adversaries could exploit, allowing logistics and transportation planners to strategize and optimize responses to potential disruptions.

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4 EnCharge AI

Year Founded: 2022
Location: Santa Clara, CA
CEO: Naveen Verma

EnCharge AI does not exclusively focus on defense applications, however, one research and development project they’re currently involved in could help change the way defense-relevant AI workloads are achieved in the future. In March 2024, EnCharge AI announced a partnership with Princeton University and the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) towards developing advanced processors capable of running AI models more efficiently than previously thought possible. DARPA’S Optimum Processing Technology Inside Memory Arrays (OPTIMA) program is a $78 million effort to develop fast, power-efficient, and scalable compute-in-memory accelerators that can unlock new possibilities for commercial and defense-relevant AI workloads not achievable with current technology. As part of OPTIMA, DARPA has awarded an $18.6 million grant to a multi-year project proposed by Princeton University and EnCharge AI. The project will explore advancements and end-to-end workload execution of AI applications using the next generation of switched-capacitor analog in-memory computing chips pioneered by Dr. Naveen Verma’s lab and commercialized by EnCharge AI.

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5 Helsing

Year Founded: 2021
Location: Munich, Germany
CEO: Gundbert Scherf

Helsing is a native software AI startup that has experienced significant expansion in securing European investment and defense contracts since it was established just four years ago. Their core competency is developing AI software and algorithms that can improve battlefield decision-making, process critical information from air and ground defense systems, and improve the performance of drones, fighter jets and other mobile platforms. In a December 2024 white paper, Helsing engineers outlined their approach to software-defined assurance for defense applications and their belief that a new “software-defined defense” era of warfare is emerging globally. Helsing unveiled its HX-2 electrically propelled X-wing strike drone in 2024. In February, Helsing announced it would be producing 6,000 HX-2 strike drones for Ukraine, following a previous order for 4,000 of its HF-1 model strike drones. The startup is also in the process of completing its first “Resilience Factory” facility in southern Germany, which will have an initial monthly production capacity for more than 1,000 HX-2 drones. Niklas Köhler, co-founder of Helsing said: “We have assembled Europe’s world-leading manufacturing talent to completely rethink and develop a new generation of mass producible effects,” Niklas Köhler, Co-Founder of Helsing said in their February announcement about HX-2 production. “Our Resilience Factories combine software-first design with scalable manufacturing techniques. We solve the hard problems in the software layer, not the electronics. This generates affordable precision mass, deters adversaries, and protects our democracies. HX-2 is just the first of a whole range of products based on this premise.”

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