US drone makers seek Asia sales as China threat rises

By Joe Brock

SINGAPORE, Feb 5 (Reuters) - Several U.S. drone firms made their debuts at the Singapore Airshow this week, seeking to expand their business beyond the Pentagon to countries in Asia that are increasingly concerned about the threat posed by China's military build-up.

The ​lethal success of drones on both sides of Russia’s war in Ukraine has sparked a surge of Silicon Valley investment in drone ‌and military artificial intelligence startups, boosting the valuations of U.S. firms like California-based Anduril Industries and Shield AI.

This wave of interest in the next generation of warfare is reshaping the character of ‌major air shows that have been long-dominated by gleaming commercial airliners, daredevil fighter jets and troop-carrying helicopters.

Drones - from palm-sized quadcopters built for kamikaze strikes to unmanned fighter jets - have moved from the margins to centre stage as military commanders, politicians, intelligence officers and defense industry executives converged this week to assess which technologies might give them the edge in a future conflict in the Pacific.

Though most drones used by Ukraine are domestically produced, companies like Anduril, Shield AI, El Segundo, California-based ⁠Neros Technologies and Virginia-headquartered AeroVironment have supplied Kyiv with ‌weapons.

Now these companies are aiming to persuade militaries in Taiwan, the Philippines, Singapore, Australia, South Korea, and Japan that their early battlefield experience and initial Pentagon backing prove they can deliver the cutting-edge systems needed as China builds its military ‍presence in the region.

"They're looking for the ability to conduct intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance operations while GPS and communications are jammed … it's what we're offering to a number of different countries in the region," Shield AI's co-founder Brandon Tseng told Reuters at the Singapore show.

Shield AI, whose 9-foot-long (2.7 m), roughly $700,000 V-BAT reconnaissance drone has logged hundreds of hours ​in Ukraine, announced at the show that it will supply Singapore's ST Engineering with Hivemind, its AI autonomy software suite for unmanned systems.

ASIA OFFICES ‌OPENING UP

Anduril, which has several Pentagon contracts and was valued at $30 billion in a private fundraising last year, opened offices in Taiwan, South Korea and Japan in 2025. It has secured sales of its Altius loitering munition drones to Taiwan.

Alongside their smaller drones, Anduril and Shield AI showcased models of sleek, stealth‑styled Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA), which are around $30 million per unit "loyal wingman" fighter-jet drones designed to fly alongside next-generation manned fighters.