Welcome back to the 17th edition of The New Defense Post!
In this edition, we’ll cover:
In the Hot Seat: In this conversation, Maurits Korthals Altes shares how Intelic evolved from an autonomy-first vision into a product focused on command and control, and how trips to Ukraine exposed the gap between lab assumptions and frontline reality.
Spotlights: French Drone Makers Call for Increased State Funding, Warning of Risking Lagging Behind Competitors; ICEYE and Rheinmetall Secure €1.7bn Space-Based Reconnaissance Contract; Destinus Secures €50mn Credit Facility.
Fundraising News of the Week: Recent fundraising highlights include seed rounds for ZeroPhase in unmanned defense data links, HIMERA in tactical radios, and KTEK Systems in military UAV manufacturing.
Bonus Section: We’ll look at startups bringing aerostatic technologies back into defense tech and dual-use applications.
In the Hot Seat
Photo Credit: Intelic AI
Intelic is a European defense-tech company building software that helps military units operate drones and other unmanned systems with a single software. The company started in 2021, before the post-2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine made defense tech mainstream, and had to fight early challenges that are hard to imagine today.
“It took nine months to get a bank account,” Maurits Korthals Altes (CEO and founder) says, pointing to how reluctant institutions were to engage with the sector at the time. Now, the same bank is approaching the company with financing offers, a sign of how quickly the market has shifted.
In this conversation, Maurits shares how Intelic evolved from an autonomy-first vision into a product focused on command and control, and how trips to Ukraine exposed the gap between lab assumptions and frontline reality. He also explains why Europe’s fragmented market makes a horizontal software approach more resilient than fully vertically integrated “neo-primes.”
Event Spotlight: Munich Security Breakfast 2026
The Munich Security Breakfast is a curated networking format held alongside the Munich Security Conference, bringing together selected defense and dual-use startups with investors, policymakers, and industry leaders.
Deadline is December 30. You can apply at this link: https://basedeurope.com/apply-for-club
Spotlights
1. French Drone Makers Call for Increased State Funding, Warning of Risking Lagging Behind Competitors
Photo Credit: Parrot
France’s drone industry is warning it could fall further behind global competitors unless the government boosts procurement funding, arguing that current plans for 2026 are not enough to secure industrial sovereignty.
Defense Minister Sébastien Lecornu told parliament that scaling drone production is a top priority and that the 2026 draft defense budget includes €150m for the sector, but the French Drone Association (ADIF), which represents manufacturers such as Delair and Parrot, says the investment needs to be significantly higher.
ADIF has asked for €250m per year, including €170m in acquisitions and public procurement, to create a stable demand signal and help industry scale. (Reuters)
📰 Our Take: This is the core European drone problem in one quote: everyone agrees drones matter, but only a few countries are writing cheques large enough to create real industrial scale.
France has significant potential thanks to its homegrown defense technology industry and its strong focus on technological sovereignty in the military domain.
What we are observing at EDTH hackathons is that some of the strongest founders are from France, with numerous former French special forces operators joining as founders. So keep an eye on France for future defense tech unicorns.
2. ICEYE and Rheinmetall Secure €1.7bn Space-Based Reconnaissance Contract
Photo Credit: ICEYE
Germany has placed a major space-sector order with Rheinmetall and ICEYE, commissioning their joint venture Rheinmetall ICEYE Space Solutions to provide the Bundeswehr with exclusive access to a synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite constellation and space-based reconnaissance data.
The contract is worth ~€1.7bn gross and runs from end-2025 to end-2030, with extension options. The data will primarily support the protection of Germany’s “Lithuania Brigade” and reinforce NATO’s eastern flank.
The joint venture, based in Neuss, will deliver a full service package: constellation operations, ground-station management, and AI-driven image evaluation, with the constellation owned by the joint venture. (ICEYE)
🗣 Armin Papperger, CEO of Rheinmetall: “Modern armed forces depend on access to and control of space-based reconnaissance, communications, and mission control.” (ICEYE)
📰 Our Take: By buying exclusive access to a sovereign SAR constellation plus analytics, Germany is effectively treating space ISR as a frontline capability, not a distant strategic asset.
That’s a major shift, and the €1.7bn price tag shows that European MoDs are now willing to pay for persistent sensing and fast decision loops, just as they pay for aircraft or air defense.
3. Destinus Secures €50mn Credit Facility
Photo Credit: Destinus
The debt line adds to €140mn in recent convertible instruments and shareholder loans, and €200mn+ of previously raised equity, bringing Destinus to nearly €400mn total capital raised.
Headquartered in the Netherlands with ~750 engineers and specialists across European sites, Destinus is positioning itself as an “industrial scale” defense manufacturer focused on AI-enabled autonomous systems and effectors, including one-way effectors, cruise missiles, and anti-drone interceptors.
The new capital is earmarked for production-line expansion, integration capacity, and testing infrastructure, with the stated aim of delivering scalable, cost-efficient systems for European and allied customers while strengthening sovereign manufacturing capacity. (180 TECH NEWS)
🗣 Mikhail Kokorich, Founder and CEO of Destinus: “Securing this facility is an important milestone… and a strong signal of confidence in Europe’s ability to build high-performance autonomous flight systems at scale.” (180 TECH NEWS)
📰 Our Take: This is great news for Destinus, but even more so for the defense tech ecosystem. For years, it has been extremely difficult to find a bank willing to lend to a defense tech company.
Now this is changing: banks are starting to lend to defense companies and even lobbying to be allowed to do so (Reuters).
Non-dilutive capital (e.g., credit) is key at the growth stage of a company and will be a major equaliser for late-stage defense tech startups. It allows founders to think long-term and avoids dilution on the startup journey.
Having large, stable contracts is especially powerful for accessing cheap credit and enabling lower-cost, scalable growth.
Other News
Portugal & Ukraine agree to co-produce Ukrainian sea drones (USVs) — joint production to bolster Europe’s maritime defense (Reuters)
Ukrainian startup and Germany’s Quantum Systems launch joint venture to mass-produce military drones in Germany (Financial Times)
Fundraising News
Amount | Name | Round | Category |
|---|---|---|---|
€5.8mn | Data Links for Unmanned Defense Platforms | ||
$2.5mn | Tactical Radios | ||
$2.5mn | KTEK Systems | Military UAV Manufacturing |
Bonus Section — Zeppelin 2.0
Photo Credit: NATO DIANA
Aerostatic platforms are re-emerging as one of the most unusual bets in defense tech. The value proposition is simple: stay up for a long time, carry meaningful sensors, and do it at a cost that scales.
In Europe, Kelluu represents the dirigible/airship track: autonomous, hydrogen-powered airships designed to create a persistent ISR layer below cloud level and operate in harsh northern conditions, including GNSS-denied environments. (NATO DIANA)
In the U.S., World View markets its Stratollite high-altitude platform for weeks-long observation and high-resolution remote sensing, essentially a middle layer between drones and satellites. And Urban Sky is pushing the “tactical stratosphere” angle with rapidly deployable, navigable microballoons designed for defense and intelligence missions with interchangeable payloads.
Fundraising in this niche tends to reward teams that can prove deployment capabilities, reliability in harsh conditions, and a credible path to procurement, not just a cool design.
Investors also like the dual-use story: the same platform can serve border surveillance, infrastructure monitoring, disaster response, mapping, and comms relay, which helps diversify revenue beyond a single defense customer.
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