Neros

Lore & Background

Neros was founded in 2023 by Soren Monroe-Anderson and Olaf Hichwa, who met in 2017 at a drone racing competition in Muncie, Indiana. Motivated by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, they began building drones for Ukrainian forces from a garage, using Chinese-sourced components and personally delivering them to Kyiv in late 2023. To address the strategic vulnerability of relying on Chinese supply chains, the pair moved operations to El Segundo, California, to develop a fully American-made drone platform, becoming part of an aerospace and hard-tech hub known locally as 'Gundo'.

The company's primary product is the Archer, a small, quadcopter-style FPV drone designed for asymmetric warfare. It is a modular 5–10 inch quadcopter carrying a 1.5–7 lb payload with a range exceeding 15.3 miles. Unlike commercial drones reliant on foreign components, the Archer is designed to be attritable and resistant to electronic jamming, using low-cost, non-military grade chips such as those found in parking meters to keep costs low while avoiding Chinese supply chains.

Neros operates a manufacturing facility in Torrance, California, using manual assembly lines. Production scaled rapidly: The New York Times reported 2,000 units per month in November 2025, while Bloomberg reported around 1,200 drones per week by August 2026. The workforce of over 250 includes former engineers from SpaceX, Palantir Technologies, and Anduril Industries. The company emphasizes hard-tech manufacturing and vertically integrates production to comply with U.S. Department of Defense supply chain requirements prohibiting Chinese components.

Reader's Guide

Neros Technologies represents a new wave of American defense startups focused on low-cost, attritable drones for modern warfare. Its significance lies in its deliberate break from Chinese supply chains, a strategic vulnerability highlighted by the war in Ukraine. The company's Archer drone, using non-military grade chips, demonstrates that expendable systems can be produced affordably and in volume without foreign dependencies. Neros secured major contracts, including a $500 million U.S. Army award in July 2026 under the Purpose Built Attritable Systems program, and a $17 million U.S. Marine Corps contract. It also supplied 6,000 drones to Ukraine via the International Drone Coalition. The company's rapid scaling—from garage operations to over 250 employees and weekly production exceeding 1,200 units—illustrates the growing demand for such systems. Being placed on a Chinese sanctions list in December 2024, which the company called a 'badge of honor,' further underscores its geopolitical relevance. Neros's legacy is tied to proving that a fully domestic, non-Chinese supply chain for military drones is viable at scale.

Did You Know?

• Neros was founded in 2023 by former professional drone racers Soren Monroe-Anderson and Olaf Hichwa.
• The Archer drone uses low-cost chips similar to those found in parking meters to avoid Chinese supply chains.
• The company was placed on a Chinese sanctions list in December 2024, which it described as a 'badge of honor.'
• By August 2026, Neros was producing around 1,200 drones per week, according to Bloomberg.