Defense Tech Valley isn’t your typical defense conference. There are no polished booths, no endless PowerPoint presentations, (almost) no suits walking around shaking hands for the sake of it.
To quote a suit-wearing representative from a major drone company: “Usually I don’t look like this — I feel way more comfortable in a field uniform.”
Instead, imagine a giant warehouse filled with drones, UGVs rolling around, engineers in hoodies, and soldiers often coming directly from the frontline, providing real-time feedback.
More than 5,000 people attended this year, nearly triple the crowd from 2024. Founders, VCs, officers, engineers, and frontline operators all packed into one space. It wasn’t clean, it wasn’t quiet—but that chaos is exactly what makes this event special. It’s not about super polished products; it’s about building things that work right now, and testing them against real-world problems—often literally.
Drones and Autonomy Were the Main Attraction
You couldn’t take five steps without seeing a drone of some kind: FPVs, ISR platforms, bombers, interceptors. But the real action wasn’t in the shapes of the airframes—it was in the tech packed inside them. The compute chips, sensors, comms links, and especially the software—that’s where the real edge is, and where many of the startups were focusing their offerings.
FPVs and bomber drones were still very prominent, with companies offering them in every shape and size, from TAF Industries’ FPVs to Skyfall’s Vampires. On this side, no surprises.
Autonomous targeting modules and navigation systems were one of the major focus areas of the conference, with dozens of companies racing to make drones smarter—able to ID targets and make decisions fast, as well as navigate autonomously toward their targets. This is crucial in the race to avoid the “EW umbrella” and surpass the limitations of having a limited number of pilots available. We are nearing full autonomy in identifying and striking targets. Swarmer was the talk of the conference, given its advanced swarming software and its recent $15 million Series A funding round.
In addition to traditional reconnaissance and attack types of drones, there was a very large number of counter-drone interceptors. At least 50 companies were presenting counter-drone systems, but only a handful have combat-proven results. On this point, a comment from a Ukrainian air-defense operator stuck with me: “Only about 10% of the interceptors we try actually work—and mostly because of the software.”
That was a reality check. The hardware might look great, but if the software doesn’t tie together sensors, targeting, and the effectors smoothly, it won’t work in the field. The systems that really perform tend to be the quiet ones—with battle logs, real test data, and teams who iterate fast.
One of the biggest magnets for attention was the UGV segment. Dozens of teams are trying to crack this. Ground robots were everywhere, but for most missions, they still need human oversight.
Plus, there seemed to be a split in thinking about the future of ground systems. On one side, people are betting on swarms of cheap, small UGVs—autonomous systems you can deploy in huge numbers. On the other hand, you’ve got bigger, more capable unmanned vehicles—some even turreted and tank-like. These are designed to be more durable and reusable but still cheaper and smarter than legacy tanks. There’s no clear “winner” here yet. Both approaches are being developed in parallel, and the right one likely depends on the mission and the terrain.
What was also clear from the companies there is the relative immaturity of UGVs’ autonomy. Unpredictable terrain and GPS interference still confuse many systems. Full autonomy isn’t here yet for UGVs, but there is progress towards the next milestone: Developing ground systems that can drive themselves reliably over rough terrain.
It can go up to 2,000 kilometers and carry a 5-ton payload.
Ukraine’s Startups Are Playing a Different Game
One of the most striking realisations this year was the sheer pace of Ukrainian defense startups. It’s not just FPV drones anymore. Teams are building bombers, interceptors, targeting systems, even maritime drones—and they’re doing it at speed.
Many of the products looked rough—unfinished casings and handwritten labels—but they had already been tested in combat. Ukrainian founders aren’t wasting time polishing. They’re building, testing, tweaking, and shipping again, all in a matter of weeks. Compared to this, many traditional Western defense startups seemed slow, overpriced, and, frankly, out of touch.
A barometer of Ukraine’s startup ecosystem maturity comes from the success of Defense Tech Valley itself. From fewer than 1,000 people in 2024 to over 5,000 in 2025, Defense Tech Valley is growing exceptionally quickly, in parallel with Ukraine’s startup ecosystem.
In Conclusion?
If there’s a single takeaway, it’s this: the teams that are winning aren’t the ones with the flashiest booths or most polished prototypes. They’re the ones who are building with operators in the field, shipping and learning fast.
Defense Tech Valley 2025 wasn’t about announcing the future of defense. It was about watching it get built with urgency and a healthy disregard for legacy systems.
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