Pentagon Loans $450 Million to Unmanned Aircraft Systems Developer Neros

The Department of Defense’ Office of Strategic Capital (OSC) is loaning up to $450 million to a U.S. developer and manufacturer of small unmanned aircraft systems (sUAS).

The Pentagon said Monday that it intended that the loan to the company Neros, a company based in Torrance, Cali., will support the company’s domestic manufacturing expansion and reduce the U.S.’s reliance on foreign-made components.

(UAS), commonly known as drones, are aircraft operated without an onboard human pilot, controlled remotely or autonomously via software.

The Trump administration views cheap, scalable, and disposable UAS as vital tools to counter mass manufacturing from adversaries like China and Russia. They also reduce human loss by keeping service members out of direct harm’s way.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth signed a memorandum to create Project Agincourt last month to create the Autonomous Warfare Command.

He told the 2026 Association of the United States Army annual meeting and exposition last month that the Pentagon was funding “drone dominance” and one-way attack systems.

At the same time, the Trump administration is cutting U.S. military reliance on foreign-made components via an executive order Trump signed in July.

Defense officials state the crackdown is vital to national security, ensuring adversarial nations like China cannot disrupt weapon supply chains or embed malicious hardware in American systems during a conflict.

What is the Neros Loan For?

The Neros loan will allow the company to produce dual-use sUAS platforms, ground control systems, and critical components like motors, radios, flight electronics, sensors, and batteries, the Pentagon said.

It added that it will also make critical subcomponents including propulsion motors, flight stacks, radios, and thermal sensors.

“Neros has already demonstrated an ability to design, manufacture, and deliver exceptional small unmanned aircraft systems,” said David A. Lorch, Director of the Office of Strategic Capital and Senior Advisor to Deputy Secretary of War Steve Feinberg.

Neros said that it is committing $165m in equity to the effort to bring the total project size to $615m.

“Since Neros’ founding, we’ve believed that the United States and its allies would need scaled production of military drones for credible deterrence against adversarial powers,” said Soren Monroe-Anderson, CEO and Co-Founder of Neros in a statement.

“This funding from the Office of Strategic Capital is a massive endorsement of manufacturing these critical technologies in America, keeping our fighting forces the most lethal in the world, and onshoring the supply chains and components we’ll rely on during extended conflicts.

The Pentagon said the loan is conditional. Neros will have to complete additional steps, including satisfying financial, legal, technical, investment and due diligence requirements before they finalize the loan.

On Oct. 16, Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao said that the Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group deployed from its home port in San Diego with an “unmanned surface vessel.”