Auterion and Skyfall announced their partnership on July 13, 2026. This enables the delivery of 50,000 Shrike drones from Skyfall, equipped with Auterion Strike Kits, to the Ukrainian armed forces. According to the providers, delivery is said to have already begun in the same week and will be completed in full in the coming months. The delivery is funded by a European NATO member-state under a contract awarded to Auterion, to be carried out jointly by both companies.
The partnership combines two proven technologies: the Shrike combat platform—the FPV drone designed specifically for combat missions in demanding environments—and Auterion’s autonomy platform. Through the partnership, the Skyfall drone “Shrike” is equipped with Auterion’s “Skynode S” and the “Strike” software; this already enables terminal guidance as well as a software path to swarm operation. Skynode S outfits every Shrike with a precision-guided weapon—featuring terminal guidance against moving and dodging targets, even when GPS and communications links are jammed or disrupted.
Shrike has already destroyed targets worth hundreds of millions of dollars
During the course of combat operations, Shrike has already helped Ukrainian forces destroy enemy military hardware worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Among the confirmed targets are an Mi-8 helicopter, the heavy flamethrower system TOS-1A Solntsepyok, electronic warfare systems, armored vehicles, artillery systems, and other high-value targets.
Under the agreement, each Shrike will be delivered with Auterion Skynode S—a hardware and software stack for autonomy that adds terminal guidance to the platform. Operators achieve higher precision against moving and dodging targets, even in contested electronic environments or under conditions where GPS and radio communications links are jammed or disrupted.
“Software defines the modern battlefield”
Furthermore, the Skynode-S platform enables Shrike drones to gain swarm capabilities through a future software update, without any changes to the airframe or additional hardware required. The same 50,000 drones that are now being delivered will receive swarm capabilities via a forthcoming software update—without hardware swap, without new airframes. Capabilities grow with the code. Skyfall handles mass production, Auterion the autonomy platform.
“Software defines the modern battlefield,” said Lorenz Meier, founder and CEO of Auterion. “We are already offering operators terminal guidance today and tomorrow a path to swarm operation—and all on the same hardware, simply through a software update. This is the largest partnership in our history. It shows how the West scales precision through software, not through new hardware.”
