The Department of War’s Office of Strategic Capital (OSC) has announced a conditional loan commitment of up to $450 million to Neros, Inc., a U.S.-based developer and manufacturer of dual-use small unmanned aircraft systems (sUAS).
“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.
“OSC’s investment will turbocharge Neros’ ability to manufacture drones and components critical for the production of drone systems.”
Neros designs and produces low-cost, high-performance drones. The company’s manufacturing facility in Torrance, California will help onshore the production of complete drone systems as well as critical subcomponents including propulsion motors, flight stacks, radios, and thermal sensors. This vertically integrated capacity will support both Neros’ internal production and the supply of critical, NDAA-compliant components to other U.S. and allied drone manufacturers.
“Winning the drone industrial-base competition requires the United States to be able to manufacture complete systems at scale and at competitive prices for both military and non-military applications. This starts with bolstering the domestic supply of critical components inside all drone systems,”
said James R. Shanahan, Senior Managing Director (Investments) at OSC.
“Neros’ vertically integrated approach would support the creation of significant incremental domestic component capacity for Neros and the broader unmanned-systems ecosystem.”
The conditional loan commitment specifies additional steps Neros must complete before financial close, including satisfying various financial, legal, technical, investment, due diligence and other requirements.
“I applaud OSC for helping to strengthen the domestic drone supply chain. Achieving Secretary Hegseth’s mandate for American drone dominance requires a secure and resilient industrial base here at home,”
said Emil Michael, Under Secretary of War for Research and Engineering.
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. 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.
Soren Monroe-Anderson, CEO and Co-Founder, Neros
Sources: U.S. Department of War; Neros