Defense contractor Neros announced a $450 million conditional loan commitment from the Pentagon's Office of Strategic Capital to accelerate vertically integrated production of multiple drone platforms and related critical components. The company plans to contribute $165 million in equity, bringing the total project size to $615 million.
The Pentagon stated that the funding will support Neros' production of dual-use sUAS platforms, ground control systems and critical components like motors, radios, flight electronics, sensors and batteries. The department also expects the company's manufacturing facility in Torrance, Calif. to help onshore the production of these systems and subcomponents.
Neros CEO and Co-Founder Soren Monroe-Anderson said the capital would help the company achieve an annual production capacity of 1 million drones by 2028.
"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," OSC Senior Managing Director of Investments James Shanahan said. "This starts with bolstering the domestic supply of critical components inside all drone systems. 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.
