The European Defence Agency (EDA) has selected five companies to advance to field testing in its Sentinel Strike Challenge, where competing loitering munition systems will undergo operational trials in Portugal later this year.
Launched in May, Sentinel Strike aims to screen suicide drones up to 25 kilograms (55 pounds) with a maximum range of 40 kilometers (25 miles) to fill tactical gaps of member states across precision strikes, navigation, and scouting missions.
Germany’s Helsing, the Netherlands’ Destinus, Slovenia’s C-Astral, Greece’s Spirit Aeronautical Systems, and Portugal’s UAVision have emerged from more than 140 entries and will each receive a 30,000-euro ($34,523) Stage 1 prize.
Separately, the runners-up from the overall top 10 firms will each receive a 10,000-euro ($11,508) Stage 1 prize.
They include Renegade UxS and Robotto from Denmark, Cerberon Defence Systems from Germany, THALES LAS from France, and ALTUS LSA from Greece.
Winners by 2027
Each of the five finalists’ single-use unmanned aerial systems will be evaluated during the EU OPEX26 operational experimentation campaign at the Santa Margarida military training area in Ribatejo from late September to early October, competing for a total Stage 2 prize pool of 1.8 million euros ($2 million).
Warfighters from EU countries will assess the aircraft throughout the mission cycle, including planning, launch, target detection, engagement, and post-strike reviews under complex, realistic scenarios.
The EDA emphasized that the trials aim to generate “comparable operational data” on emerging loitering munition technologies rather than award procurement contracts.
“Its purpose is to generate evidence that defence ministries can use when deciding which technologies could contribute to future capabilities,” the agency said.
Data from the Portugal experiment will help the EDA select the kamikaze drone initiative’s final winners, who are expected to be announced next year.
