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Drone and autonomous systems development moves on software cycles, not steel cycles.
That mismatch with traditional prime-contractor timelines is now pushing the largest defence companies to back early-stage military start-ups at record levels, effectively adding a venture capital function to their existing business model.
Where the development gap sits in the stack Modern battlefield autonomous systems depend on sensor fusion and edge inference pipelines that iterate faster than traditional defence procurement can absorb internally.
The companies building those systems are typically small, venture-backed start-ups with development cadences measured in weeks rather than programme years.
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