Seeing Systems Builds Cheap Strike Drones That Stay Relevant as Warfare Changes

The Macro: Modern Warfare Runs on Small Drones

Ukraine proved it. Small, inexpensive drones are reshaping how conflicts are fought. FPV drones costing a few hundred dollars are destroying armored vehicles worth millions. The military procurement establishment, built around decades-long weapons programs and billion-dollar platforms, is struggling to adapt to a world where the most effective weapons are cheap, disposable, and evolving monthly.

The challenge for drone manufacturers is not just building a drone that works today. It is building a drone that stays relevant as countermeasures evolve. Electronic warfare, GPS jamming, and kinetic anti-drone systems are improving rapidly. A drone design that works in March might be obsolete by September.

This creates a need for hardware modularity and software adaptability. The drone needs to be cheap enough that losing it is acceptable, modular enough that components can be swapped and upgraded quickly, and smart enough to operate in contested electromagnetic environments.

Seeing Systems, backed by Y Combinator, builds drones designed specifically for this reality: inexpensive, modular, autonomous, and adaptable.

The Micro: Brothers Building Drones for the Royal Marines

Alexander Le Maitre and Matthew Le Maitre are brothers from Guernsey who bring complementary skills. Alexander is self-taught in embedded electronics, firmware, and PCB design, and previously designed explosive ordnance disposal training hardware. Matthew is a former Jane Street software engineer and top-ranked Cambridge computer science graduate with a background in mobile robotics.

The company has two hardware platforms. Bandit is a budget FPV drone for training and one-way missions with 35+ km range and 115 km/h speed. Banshee is a battle-tested platform with IPX7 waterproofing and fiber-optic guidance for jamming immunity, offering 40+ km range and 35+ minutes of flight time.

The fiber-optic guidance on Banshee is a significant technical feature. Fiber-optic control links are immune to electronic warfare jamming, which is the primary countermeasure that adversaries use against drone operations. While most FPV drones rely on radio links that can be jammed, a fiber-optic tether provides a guaranteed control channel.

The software side includes Aerie AI, an agentic swarm coordination system under development that transforms individual drones into synchronized units. Swarm capabilities are the next frontier in military drone operations, enabling coordinated attacks and reconnaissance that overwhelm individual countermeasures.

The customer base includes the UK Royal Marine Commandos and allied nations. Having operational military customers validates both the hardware reliability and the practical utility of the products.

The Verdict

Seeing Systems is building exactly what modern military forces need: cheap, adaptable, jam-resistant drones with intelligent coordination.

At 30 days: how many units are deployed with operational military customers, and what is the operational reliability rate?

At 60 days: how quickly can the modular design accommodate new payloads or countermeasure adaptations?

At 90 days: is the Aerie AI swarm system being tested in field conditions?

I think Seeing Systems is well-positioned in a market that is growing explosively. The combination of affordable hardware, fiber-optic jam resistance, and swarm AI addresses the specific requirements that have emerged from recent conflicts. The defense procurement cycle is slow, but the urgent demand for capable small drones is accelerating acquisition timelines across NATO allies.