By: Arie Egozi
The battlefield performance of XTEND’s AI-enabled first-person-view (FPV) drones in recent conflicts has propelled the Israeli company into the spotlight. It recently secured large orders from both the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD). With new production in Tampa, Florida, and a focus on modular, human-in-the-loop autonomy, XTEND is positioning itself as a key player in the fast-growing market for affordable, one-way attack drones and loitering munitions.
Massive IDF Order for AI-Enabled FPV Assault Drones
The IDF has ordered 5,000 FPV assault drones from XTEND under a contract valued at around 6 million U.S. dollars, signaling strong confidence in the system’s combat performance. Each drone can carry a payload of approximately 2.5 kilograms, which makes them suitable for small explosive charges and other mission-specific payloads.
Primarily designed as low-cost, single-use attack drones, these systems are expected to be fielded with combat battalions, likely at the company level, to provide organic precision-strike capability. Operational details from recent campaigns in Gaza and Lebanon remain classified, but defense sources attribute “very high combat capability” to the drones in those engagements.
U.S. DoD Taps XTEND for Loitering Munitions and Swarm Missions
XTEND’s success is not limited to Israel. The U.S. DoD has selected the company to develop and supply AI-enabled one-way attack drones, commonly referred to as loitering munitions. This marks a notable U.S. shift toward affordable, autonomous and semi-autonomous drone systems, heavily influenced by lessons from conflicts such as the Russia‑Ukraine war.
XTEND’s drones are designed to operate in coordinated swarms, enabling multiple aircraft to work together for complex missions such as massed strikes, coordinated reconnaissance or multi-axis attacks. To support U.S. demand and address supply-chain security concerns, XTEND has opened a manufacturing facility in Tampa, Florida, ensuring American-made production with no Chinese components.
Modular Design and Electronic Warfare Resilience
XTEND co-founder and CXO Matteo Shapira and co-founder and CTO Rubi Liani emphasized the company’s modular approach to drone and system design. The drones feature interchangeable payloads, standardized command-and-control (C2) stations and layered safety systems built to withstand electronic warfare (EW) and jamming.
XTEND’s architecture allows a single operator to control swarms of disposable attack drones, an approach intended to increase mission effectiveness while reducing operator exposure in complex and congested combat environments. By focusing on common components and modular payloads, XTEND aims to deliver a “flying toolkit” concept that can be rapidly tailored for different missions without redesigning the entire platform.
AI Perception, “Mark & Fly” and Reduced Cognitive Load
Shapira explained that XTEND tightly integrated AI capabilities into the operating system rather than bolting them on as an afterthought. The drones use AI perception algorithms to autonomously detect and classify targets, navigate complex terrain and operate inside buildings or in GPS-denied environments.
AI also plays a major role in easing the burden on human operators. Soldiers can now offload tasks such as detecting open doors and windows, or managing fine-grain flight control in tight spaces, to the system. This allows operators to use a “Mark & Fly” style interface that combines AI efficiency with human judgment. This human-in-the-loop design philosophy is central to XTEND’s philosophy that AI handles routine or high-workload tasks, while people retain responsibility for critical decisions.
AR/VR Interfaces and Multi-Drone Control
XTEND built its systems to support simultaneous control of multiple drones through augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) interfaces. These immersive controls are intended to give operators a more intuitive sense of situational awareness during complex reconnaissance or attack missions, even when they are operating remotely from the battlefield.
By blending multi-drone control with AR/VR displays, XTEND aims to make swarm operations more accessible to a wider range of operators, not just highly specialized pilots. This could prove especially important as militaries scale up the use of small, expendable drones at the tactical edge.
Multi-Mission Payloads and Human-in-the-Loop Autonomy
According to the company’s leadership, XTEND’s drones can carry a wide range of payloads, including robotic arms, electro-optical (EO) or other reconnaissance sensors, munitions and Wi‑Fi extenders to support communications. This modular payload concept allows a single platform family to support missions from explosive ordnance delivery to intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) and communications relay.
XTEND stresses that it designed its AI-driven autonomy to support, not replace, human operators. Autonomous mission segments, such as navigation through complex environments or automated loiter patterns, are combined with human oversight for target verification and final decision-making. Liani noted that the company can develop variants with heavier payloads based on customer needs and is steadily advancing toward higher levels of autonomy while keeping humans firmly in the loop.
Global Footprint: Singapore Hub for GPS-Denied Operations
XTEND has also expanded its global footprint through the acquisition of Performance Rotors, a Singapore-based drone company known for platforms optimized for GPS-denied environments. Under XTEND’s ownership, the Singapore facility has become the company’s Asian hub, supporting sales and customer engagement across the region.
This acquisition strengthens XTEND’s position in missions that require close-in, indoo, or underground operations where traditional GPS-based navigation fails. It also aligns with the company’s broader strategy to deliver AI-enabled, modular drones that can operate reliably in some of the most challenging electromagnetic and physical environments.