Two Startups Partner to Expand Hydrogen-Powered Drone Production

April 7, 2025

HevenDrones’ hydrogen-powered drones feature hydrogen fuel cells, and are designed for a variety of military missions. (Image: HevenDrones)

Two U.S.-based startups have formed a new partnership that will see the use of a "survivable manufacturing network" to produce hydrogen-powered drones. California-based defense manufacturing provider Mach Industries and Florida-based hydrogen-powered drone maker HevenDrones announced their partnership in March in response to growing demand for innovative new drone technologies from the Department of Defense (DoD) over the last year.

Established in 2023 and headquartered in Huntington Beach, California, Mach Industries outlines its "Forge" approach to decentralized manufacturing as a network of factories throughout the U.S. that design "all components of unmanned warfare." The startup designs and manufactures communications, sensors, embedded computing, propulsion and energy storage for unmanned systems with the goal of becoming the "supplier of an ecosystem of compatible and secure componentry."

Mach Industries recently won its first major defense contract , a selection by the Army Applications Laboratory to develop Strategic Strike, a vertical takeoff (VTO) cruise missile. Since winning the contract, Mach has already finalized Strategic Strike's design and tested vertical takeoff into full-performance wingborne flight by mid-January 2025. Work is currently underway to rapidly integrate AI visual and RF sensing techniques to allow Strategic Strike's operation in GPS and comms-denied environments.

A computer-generated image of HevenDrones’ Raider drone, recently unveiled at IDEX 2025. (Image: HevenDrones)

HevenDrones was first established in Israel in 2019, however it is headquartered in Miami, Florida. During the International Defence Exhibition & Conference (IDEX) 2025, held in February in Abu Dhabi, the startup unveiled Raider , a hydrogen-powered drone designed to fly for up to 10 hours and support payloads up to 50 pounds. HevenDrones lists several other hydrogen-powered drone models on its website, including the H2D250 and the H2D55.

All of Heven's drones are powered by their internally developed hydrogen fuel cells and feature hydrogen tanks.

Both startups will use their new partnership to produce hydrogen-powered drones at Mach Industries' decentralized network of survivable manufacturing "Forge" facilities.

Through the production of these airframes, Mach Industries and HevenDrones will partner to further the Forge model with a focus on Heven-developed drones. The two companies will also commit to codeveloping critical UAV components, including avionics, radios, fuel sources, and propulsion systems, for use by HevenDrones and other companies that the partnership will serve.

In the U.S., the buildout of this ecosystem of vertically manufactured subcomponents will make Forge a critical player in building a secure unmanned system industrial base. Globally, the two companies will expand Forge into other countries, building overseas factories to guarantee sovereign production to U.S. allies.

By utilizing Mach Industries' vertically integrated approach, Heven can now scale production quickly and efficiently to meet growing demand for advanced drone technology. Additionally, Mach Industries will benefit from HevenDrones' drone-focused technology. Through the partnership, the two companies look to provide an offset to the dominance of Chinese companies in the drone industry.

"We're not just accelerating production, we're creating the next generation of defense manufacturing," said Ethan Thornton, CEO and Founder of Mach Industries. "With HevenDrones as our global partner, together we play a key role in empowering the defense sector with advanced, high-performance drones, strengthening domestic manufacturing infrastructure to keep our military safe and at the forefront of technology."

This joint effort with HevenDrones will be the first of many fulfillment orders scheduled out of Mach Industries' Forge Huntington location, where the company is providing a critical advantage to U.S. defense and allied forces. Its decentralized production network ensures continuous output, allowing Mach Industries to rapidly adapt.

"Our customers urgently need thousands, and eventually tens of thousands, of drones to be deployed in-theater," said Bentzion Levinson, CEO of HevenDrones. "Our goal is to provide quick-turn, full-scale American manufacturing of the most versatile, reliable, and powerful platforms available to the warfighter."

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