Neros, Perennial Autonomy lead in Pentagon’s drone competition

Two California-based startups took the top spots in the latest phase of the Drone Dominance competition, a Pentagon effort to find companies that can produce high-quality, low-cost commercial drones at scale. According to the competition’s leaderboard , Neros Technologies scored highest in the confined-environment testing category. Perennial Autonomy claimed the top spot in “deep-strike” testing, in which operators launched attacks beyond the range of enemy defenses. The Pentagon uses the companies’ rankings to determine how many drones to buy, meaning higher-scoring companies receive larger…