What Perennial Autonomy Does
Perennial Autonomy is a California defense-tech company building AI-enabled counter-drone (C-UAS) systems. Its Merops interceptor is a low-cost, fixed-wing autonomous drone designed to detect and destroy attack drones at machine speed, with a unit cost around $15,000, less than half the price of the Shahed drones it counters. Merops has been credited with downing more than 4,000 Russian drones over Ukraine.
Origins and Contracts
Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt quietly stood the venture up as White Stork in 2023 after meetings with Ukrainian officials, rebranding to Project Eagle and then Perennial Autonomy. The team includes former Pentagon innovation chief Will Roper and engineers recruited from Apple and SpaceX. In May 2026, Joint Interagency Task Force 401 awarded Perennial a three-year $500M indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract, the largest single C-UAS award the Pentagon has issued.