In this list, you’ll meet ten of the most interesting drone makers based in the United States – from huge tech giants to startups. Each one brings something unique, from autonomous flying cameras and lifesaving delivery aircraft, to gear used in protecting the homeland. They’re a symbol of American innovation, built by manufacturers proud to keep it made in the USA.

We’ll cover where they’re based, what types of drones they produce, and their hottest models. See how far this field has come as the clampdown on foreign-made UAVs continues. 

Who Builds The Most Impressive US Drones?

Here’s a look at the homegrown U.S. tech that’s giving overseas competitors a run for their money:

1. Skydio – The Push For Autonomy

Skydio (Redwood City, California) makes smart quadcopters and even Blue UAS models for public safety departments and the military. 

One of the company’s big selling points is autonomous flying technology that uses computer vision and AI, letting you focus on the shot or mission instead of the joysticks. Skydio started out selling to consumers and camera enthusiasts, but in 2023 they decided to stop offering consumer models and go all-in on enterprise and government markets. (It turns out competing with DJI on price was tough, but getting big contracts from the U.S. government was a sweet opportunity when Chinese-made drones got banned.)

Popular Drones: The Skydio 2+ was a hit with action sports videographers for its uncanny obstacle avoidance. Now their flagship is the Skydio X10, launched in late 2023 as part of Skydio’s enterprise pivot. It’s a foldable quadcopter packed with high-end sensors – a 48 MP main camera with 16× zoom (sharp enough to read a license plate from 800 feet!) and a thermal camera for night and search-and-rescue ops. It flies for up to 40 minutes and is built tough (IP55 weather-sealed). Basically, it can do the jobs that police, inspection crews, and even the Army need, without a pilot babysitting its every move.

The new X10 was unveiled at their Ascend conference can even fly in total darkness using an AI feature called NightSense. Skydio also offers docking stations for automated charging and software like 3D Scan for autonomous inspection missions.

Skydio has raised a ton of money – over $700 million so far – and is valued around $2+ billion. They formed partnerships to embed their tech in public safety: for example, teaming with Axon (the taser company) to integrate Skydio drones into 911 response systems. Skydio’s drones have also been chosen for various government programs as a U.S.-made alternative to Chinese drones

2. Zipline – Delivering Medical Supplies by Drone

Zipline (San Francisco, California) has made a name for itself in drone delivery. If you’re in a remote area and need medicine, or even if you just want a burrito delivered in the suburbs, Zipline’s drones come in handy. Founded in 2014, Zipline built a reputation by delivering blood and vaccines across Rwanda and Ghana, long before drone delivery was cool. Their fixed-wing drones look like small planes with a red tail and nose, and they’ve flown over 100 million autonomous miles to date.

Popular Drones: Zipline’s original workhorse is called Platform 1 – a plane-style drone that carries about 4 pounds of cargo up to 100+ miles round-trip. It drops packages with parachutes – which is fine when you’re dropping blood to a rural clinic (accuracy isn’t critical, and a parachute landing is gentle). In 2024, Zipline unveiled Platform 2 (P2), a new next-gen delivery drone built for ultra-precise home deliveries. P2 is a hybrid style: it has wings plus rotors so it can hover.

When it gets to your house, it doesn’t drop your order from the sky. Instead, it lowers a “delivery droid” on a tether – a little robot that steers the package onto your porch or patio, then ziplines (pun intended) back up to the drone.

This system is so precise it can land a package on a patio table or front step rather than just the general area. P2 carries 6–8 pounds up to ~10 miles away, so it’s perfect for things like takeout orders or pharmacy meds in town.

Zipline’s momentum is incredible. By March 2025 they had surpassed 1.4 million deliveries worldwide, making them the leader in drone delivery by volume. They announced partnerships in the U.S. with retail and healthcare – for example, working with Walmart in Arkansas and healthcare providers in North Carolina. Also, they’ve been testing the P2 system, showing off how the little tethered droid can even move on the ground to find a safe spot. One fun fact: Zipline’s drones fly so routinely in Rwanda now that the country’s airspace logs more Zipline flights than traditional flights. In the U.S., Zipline began operating distribution centers to serve communities in states like Utah and Arkansas, and they’re working through FAA certification to expand services.

3. Wing (Alphabet) – Google’s Drone Delivery Wing

Wing (Mountain View, California) is Alphabet (Google’s parent company)’s drone delivery venture – in other words, Google’s drones. Wing’s drones are unique: they have a fixed wing for efficient forward flight but also multiple rotors so they can hover like a helicopter. They deliver by lowering packages on a line (no need to land), and they’ve focused on delivering things like snacks, coffees, and pharmacy items in suburban communities.

Popular Drones: Wing doesn’t give its drones catchy names; they’re usually just referred to by model. By 2024, Wing had a fleet that included a primary delivery drone that carries about 3 lbs per load. In early 2024 they announced a new larger drone that can handle 5-pound packages to serve about 30% more delivery requests (many customers were ordering items that were too heavy or too many for the old drone). This new model still has about a 12-mile round-trip range and zips along around 65 mph. It’s basically an upgrade to carry that extra burrito or big bag of dog food. 

Wing operates an “aircraft library” approach – multiple drone models for different needs – but all use the same core tech. They also have cool software: Wing developed an app for consumers to order stuff and a UTM (Unmanned Traffic Management) system that coordinates drone air traffic automatically. In May 2025, Wing made history by sharing airspace with another drone company (Flytrex) in Dallas, where both companies’ drones intermingle thanks to an automated traffic control system. Normally, drone services kept to separate zones; Wing helped prove multiple fleets can safely fly over the same town without colliding, which is huge for scaling up deliveries.

Wing has been piloting delivery programs in Texas, Virginia, and Australia for a few years. In 2024, they partnered with Walmart for a drone delivery expansion around Dallas-Fort Worth – basically flying orders from stores to customers’ yards. By 2025, Wing also teamed up with DoorDash to start delivering food and retail items via drone in suburban areas (there’s a trial in the suburbs of Charlotte, NC for example). They’ve completed over 450,000 deliveries as of 2023, putting them among the top drone deliverers globally (only Zipline has done more). 

The company’s big focus now is building a “Wing Delivery Network” – an automated logistics network of drones, pads, and charging stations that can dispatch and recharge with minimal human labor.

4. Amazon Prime Air – The (Bumpy) Quest for Delivery Drones

Amazon Prime Air (Seattle, Washington) – this is the drone division of Amazon that promises to drop packages at your doorstep in under 60 minutes. You’ve probably heard about Amazon’s drone dreams for years. By 2025, those dreams are finally inching into reality, albeit with some growing pains. Amazon’s Prime Air drones are distinctive: they’re hexagonal rotors with a fat fuselage and Amazon’s smile logo on the side, looking a bit like a mini flying saucer. 

The newest model, MK30, is an impressive piece of engineering – it can fly twice as far and is 50% quieter than Amazon’s older drones. It carries packages up to 5 lbs (which covers the majority of Amazon’s product catalog) and uses sophisticated sense-and-avoid tech to dodge obstacles like trees, powerlines, and curious birds.

Popular Drones: The MK27 was Amazon’s earlier design that was tested in 2022. The current star is the MK30 (first rolled out in late 2023). MK30 is designed with aerospace-level reliability (Amazon says there’s no single point of failure – they built in backups for every critical system). It transitions from vertical takeoff to airplane-like forward flight to cruise efficiently. When it delivers, it descends to a safe height over a customer’s yard and drops the package. In trial runs, they have designated landing pads in some yards or drop zones. The drone’s cameras and AI will make sure the drop zone is clear of people, pets, or, say, a clothesline, before releasing the box. 

Notably, Prime Air drones won’t fly in bad weather yet – they avoid heavy rain or wind, but light rain is okay after extensive waterproofing tests (engineers literally hosed these drones down to validate rainproofing).

Amazon’s drone program had a rocky start, but it’s moving forward. In 2024, Amazon expanded limited drone deliveries to parts of Texas (College Station) and Arizona (the Phoenix area). They even announced plans to start in their first major metropolitan area – Kansas City – which would be the biggest trial to date. However, it hasn’t been all smooth sailing: 

In early 2025, Amazon voluntarily paused its drone deliveries drone for a couple of months due to some safety concerns. One was was tiny specks of dust confusing the drones’ altitude sensors in the dry Arizona climate. While no accidents happened during deliveries, some test flights crashed because of software bugs (two MK30 test drones crashed in Oregon due to rain-triggered software issues, one even catching fire). Amazon took a step back, did over 5,000 test flights with fixes, got FAA approval on the fixes, and resumed flights by April 2025. They claim the drones are much more robust now. 

Still, Amazon has delivered only a few hundred packages via drone so far – around 100 deliveries by mid-2023 (no, that’s not missing any zeros). For comparison, Alphabet’s Wing had 400k+ and Zipline over 1 million by that time. So Amazon is playing catch-up, and there have been complaints: in College Station, some neighbors said the drones sound like a “leaf blower running all day”, and local officials pushed back on expansion due to noise.

 Amazon is now tweaking operations (for instance, they’re not renewing the lease on one test location near homes). They also have a bold goal of 500 million drone deliveries per year by the end of the decade. Ambitious? Absolutely. Whether Amazon hits that or not, one thing is certain: they’ve invested heavily and are determined to make drone delivery an Amazon thing. So if you’re an Amazon Prime customer, don’t be too surprised if one of these days a flying widget shows up with your order – after a very long journey through R&D.

5. Matternet – Pioneering Drone Delivery for Hospitals (and Now Homes)

Matternet (Mountain View, California) is a startup that’s been in the drone game for a decade and was first non-military drone company to receive full FAA Type Certification on September 2022. 

Matternet’s focus has been on medical and laboratory deliveries – think blood samples, COVID tests, medications between hospitals and labs. The Matternet M2 is a quadcopter with a clean white body about 3 feet across. It flies autonomously between designated stations, often carrying small payload boxes. Matternet partnered early with UPS and hospitals like WakeMed in North Carolina to show that drones can slash delivery times for urgent medical items.

Popular Drones: The Matternet M2 is their workhorse. It carries roughly 2 kilograms (about 4.4 lbs) up to 12 miles. It uses a vertical takeoff and landing system and navigates via pre-approved flight routes. The M2 has a secure payload box to hold things like vials or test samples safely. Getting the UAS Type Certification from the  FAA in 2022  as well as a later Production Certification was a big deal. It gave Matternet an edge in deploying commercial operations in the U.S. They also have a cloud platform to monitor and operate the flights. In late 2024, Matternet introduced a variant of the M2 with a tethered delivery mechanism (similar to Zipline’s idea) for precise home deliveries. They started using it in pilot programs to lower packages right to someone’s doorstep.

Matternet spent years on hospital networks – for example, running routine drone courier flights in Switzerland and in U.S. hospital campuses. It was actually the first company authorized for commercial BVLOS drone deliveries over Swiss cities. In 2024, they made a splash by expanding into home delivery in Silicon Valley. They launched a pilot service around Mountain View and Sunnyvale, CA, delivering things like prescriptions and food from a central hub to people’s homes. The pilot uses their M2 drone with a few tweaks: a “tether drop” system to lower packages, and a network of docking stations for battery swaps. It’s like a mini-drone delivery network in an upscale neighborhood, all operated by Matternet.

On the regulatory side, Matternet also secured approvals to fly in other countries – e.g., Saudi Arabia approved their M2 for operations, which they announced in January 2025. The company has been steadily raising money and is often mentioned as a takeover target in the drone delivery race. They’re smaller than Zipline or Wing, but punch above their weight by being first through a lot of regulatory hoops. If you ever get a lab sample to your doctor same-day by drone, there’s a good chance Matternet was behind it. And now that they’re eyeing broader e-commerce and consumer deliveries, you might see more Matternet drones buzzing around your neighborhood in the near future.

6. BRINC Drones – Drones for SWAT Teams and First Responders

BRINC Drones (Seattle, Washington), a startup founded in 2019 by a teenager-turned-CEO, has quickly become a popular choice for America’s public safety and tactical drones. Its signature product, the LEMUR, is designed to help police and rescue teams in situations like hostage standoffs, search & rescue missions, and disaster response. These drones aren’t about taking pretty aerial videos – they’re rugged, can break through windows, fly in the dark, and even act as a two-way communication device (yes, a flying loudspeaker and microphone).

Popular Drones: BRINC’s first product was the LEMUR S, a small quadcopter with a carbon fiber cage that can survive crashes and literally break glass with a special attachment. In 2023, they unveiled the LEMUR 2, an upgraded version loaded with more autonomy and a LIDAR sensor for indoor mapping. The Lemur 2 can create 3D maps of a building’s interior as it flies, which is incredibly useful when officers need to know the layout remotely. It also has improved obstacle avoidance and a mesh communication system so multiple drones can relay signals.

Another newer product is the BRINC Ball – not a drone but a gadget that acts as a “throw phone” for negotiators (the kind of device SWAT can toss into a building to communicate with suspects). And BRINC introduced a larger drone called the Responder designed for outdoor missions like searching wide areas or delivering critical supplies (this was shown in the founder’s photo op alongside Lemur 2). All of BRINC’s drones are NDAA-compliant (no Chinese components) and built in Seattle. In fact, BRINC is so proudly American-made that it’s one of the U.S. companies that China retaliated against, putting BRINC on an “unreliable entities” list in 2023. (That hasn’t hurt BRINC; if anything it burnishes their cred as a secure domestic supplier.)

Lately, BRINC has been on a tear. In April 2025 they raised a $75 million Series C funding round with investors including Motorola Solutions (maker of police radios). This came with a strategic alliance: Motorola will help distribute BRINC drones to public safety agencies, and they’re integrating Motorola’s communication tech so 911 dispatchers could launch drones directly when calls come in. This is big because it means your local police or fire department might easily get their hands on BRINC drones via the same channels they buy radios and gear.

BRINC has delivered Lemur 2 units to major agencies like NYPD, and many departments have been openly praising how drones have de-escalated dangerous situations (for example, using a Lemur to locate a barricaded suspect instead of sending officers in blind). Another cool development: BRINC is working on enabling BVLOS (beyond visual line of sight) operations for their drones so they can fly longer distances in emergencies – they even partnered with a radar company (Echodyne) to help detect other aircraft and get FAA permissions. With total funding over $150M and even OpenAI’s CEO Sam Altman as an early backer, BRINC’s growth has been explosive.

7. Teal Drones (Red Cat Holdings) – Small Military-Grade Drones

Teal Drones (Salt Lake City, Utah) is a domestic drone maker focusing on military and security drones. If you’re a soldier or border patrol agent, Teal wants to put a high-tech flying camera in your rucksack. Teal was originally a startup by a young drone racer who set out to build a fast consumer drone, but they pivoted to defense, which in the U.S. drone scene is a lucrative move. Teal is now a subsidiary of Red Cat Holdings, a company that also owns other drone tech firms. Teal’s flagship product is the Teal 2, a compact quadcopter that’s one of the approved platforms on the U.S. Army’s Blue UAS list.

Popular Drones: The Teal 2 is notable for its night vision capabilities – it was advertised as the world’s first drone equipped with EO/IR technology through FLIR’s Hadron 640R payload when it launched in 2023. That allows it to see people and vehicles in complete darkness, a key edge for military and law enforcement users. 

The Teal 2 is a backpackable drone with a rugged design, about the size of a loaf of bread, and it can fly roughly 30 minutes. It’s designed to be easy to operate, even for troops under stress. Teal also had an earlier model called the Teal Golden Eagle, which was used in some government evaluations for reconnaissance. The Teal 2 basically took that concept and supercharged it with better imaging and secure communications. It even supports swarm capabilities – multiple Teal drones can operate as a team. 

In terms of payload, Teal 2 carries electro-optical and infrared cameras. Red Cat (Teal’s parent) also recently acquired a company called Athena AI to bolster the drone’s ability to automatically detect and label objects on video (using AI). So the idea is a Teal drone could fly over an area and instantly tell an operator about the people and vehicles it sees based on AI recognition – pretty cool.

Teal scored a win when the U.S. Army selected Teal’s drones for its Short Range Reconnaissance (SRR) program. This program aims to equip every Army squad with a lightweight drone for scouting. Being picked as a “program of record” supplier means steady business and validation that Teal’s tech met the Army’s rigorous requirements. In 2024, Red Cat announced contract orders from two NATO allied countries totaling $2.5M for Teal 2 drones, indicating international interest (likely countries looking for non-Chinese, secure drones for their militaries). They also landed a $1.6M deal to supply drones to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (through a partner), getting their “eyes in the sky” along U.S. borders. Meanwhile, Red Cat has been marketing Teal 2 as the solution for nighttime operations and was demoing it in Ukraine for potential use in the war there.

Teal’s parent Red Cat had earlier dabbled in some odd ventures (like FPV drone racing and even drone-related blockchain ideas), but it has since focused purely on defense. For the average person, Teal might not directly affect you unless you’re in public safety or the armed forces. But big picture, companies like Teal mean that U.S. troops and agencies aren’t reliant on foreign drones. And that ultimately touches everyone – for privacy, security, and helping keep critical drone tech in American hands. In 2025, Teal is a smaller player compared to Skydio or big defense primes, but it’s carving out a solid niche supplying the eyes in the sky for America’s protectors.

8. AgEagle Aerial Systems – From Farming to Fighting (the Drone All-Rounder)

AgEagle (Wichita, Kansas) is a bit of a chameleon in the drone industry. As the name hints, they started with a focus on agricultural drones (spraying, crop monitoring), but through acquisitions, AgEagle has become a multi-faceted drone manufacturer making everything from mapping UAVs to military-targeted drones. 

AgEagle is one of the few publicly traded U.S. drone companies (traded under the ticker UAVS), and they’ve aggressively snapped up other companies to boost their tech. For example, they acquired MicaSense (makers of precision agriculture cameras) and senseFly (a Swiss drone maker known for fixed-wing mapping drones). Now their product lineup features the well-known eBee fixed-wing drones, among others.

Popular Drones: The eBee is the star product in AgEagle’s stable. It’s a small fixed-wing drone (imagine a styrofoam mini-airplane) used for mapping and surveying. You hand-launch it, it flies a lawnmower pattern taking high-res images, and then lands belly-first. The eBee has been popular with farmers, surveyors, and environmental researchers for mapping fields, construction sites, etc. There’s the eBee X for general mapping and specialized versions like eBee Ag for crop analysis and eBee TAC for “tactical” mapping (aimed at military and government users who need to map areas quickly).

AgEagle also developed a multirotor called the RX-48 (initially for crop spraying, though that hasn’t been their focus lately). And they have a software platform, Measure Ground Control, which came from another acquisition, to handle drone flight planning and data.

Recently, AgEagle has notched some big wins that show how U.S. drone makers can find business both commercially and with defense. Going by their FY2024 results, the French military ordered 49 eBee drones from them for reconnaissance, and the United Arab Emirates’ security forces ordered 20 eBees. These are notable because a few years ago, those customers might have bought from Chinese or Israeli drone makers; now they’re coming to a U.S. company. AgEagle also sold 60 of their multispectral cameras to a customer in East Asia. The company slimmed down expenses (cutting $6.8M) and reoriented to focus on what’s working – primarily the mapping drones and sensors.

In December 2024, AgEagle announced it had achieved Green UAS certification from a Pentagon-supported program, meaning its drones are verified secure and NDAA-compliant. They even got invited to the White House to discuss the future of commercial drones with government officials, which is a nice nod to their prominence.

For farmers and businesses, AgEagle’s moves mean the trusted eBee line is here to stay and getting better – new software updates in April 2025 enabled things like GNSS-denied navigation (so the drone can still map accurately even if GPS is jammed or lost). And if you’re in the defense sector, you’ve now got a U.S. supplier for tactical mapping drones – for example, an eBee TAC can be carried by troops and launched to create a map of a conflict area on the fly. 

AgEagle’s journey from farming to defense shows how commercial drone tech is dual-purpose. In plain terms, a drone that maps your farm can also map a battlefield. AgEagle is riding that line, and doing it under the U.S. flag.

Also Read: How to Start a Drone Photography Business in the U.S.

9. Freefly Systems – Hollywood’s Heavy-Lift Drones Go Industrial

Freefly Systems (Woodinville, Washington) is a darling among filmmakers and aerial cinematographers, known for building some of the highest-end camera drones in the world. Freefly’s roots go back to camera stabilization (their MoVI camera gimbals were a hit for Hollywood shooting), and they carried that expertise into drones that can carry large cameras. Their drones, particularly the Alta series are pretty powerful and precise – and with a price tag to match. These days Freefly also caters to industrial uses, from heavy sensor lifting to drone delivery experiments, all while being a proudly U.S.-made, NDAA-compliant manufacturer.

Popular Drones: The Freefly Alta X is the flagship – a big heavy-lift quadcopter (actually it has 4 arms but 8 rotors in coaxial pairs). It can carry up to 35-40 pounds of payload (!), enough for high-end cinema cameras or multiple sensors. Despite its size, the Alta X folds down for transport, which users love on set. It’s used not only in film but also for tasks like LIDAR scanning, large-scale photogrammetry, and tests like delivering cargo. 

Freefly also launched the Astro in 2020, a smaller “industrial” drone aimed at mapping and inspection – think of Astro as Freefly’s answer to the DJI Matrice series. Astro carries a smaller payload (like a Sony mirrorless camera or sensors) and is designed for everyday jobs like utility line inspection or survey mapping. Both Alta and Astro are Blue UAS listed and have remote ID compliance kits available. Freefly even integrated parachute recovery systems into these drones in 2024 in collaboration with Drone Rescue Systems, so if something goes wrong, a chute deploys to let the expensive gear down easy (and satisfy safety regulations for flying over people). That’s indicative of Freefly’s market: professionals who can’t afford to have a 50-pound drone falling from the sky onto a crowd or a set.

Freefly tends to be a bit quieter in media hype, but in the last year they’ve been pushing into new arenas. Like being used by some defense customers for to carry military sensors; with demos of Alta X carrying communications relays or radar for rapid deployment.

On the cinematic side, Freefly keeps the lead – whenever a new camera like the RED V-Raptor comes out, Freefly ensures the Alta can handle it. The Alta X can also be used in drone light shows to carry very bright lights or heavy pyro, with how stable and strong it is to handle unusual payloads. 

For the everyday person, Freefly’s impact is indirect but visible: the stunning aerials in your favorite TV show, the perfectly smooth live drone shots at a sporting event, or even the detailed 3D model of a new building development – that might be Freefly’s handiwork. So not all drones are small. Some are beasts meant to carry other hefty tech into the sky, and Freefly makes some of the best beasts out there – all built in the USA. They may not dominate headlines, but in the industry, Freefly is revered. 

10. Lockheed Martin – Big Defense Player, Small Drones Too

Lockheed Martin (Bethesda, Maryland) – you might know them as the aerospace and defense giant behind F-35 jets and NASA spacecraft. But Lockheed is also in the drone business, applying its massive R&D might to unmanned systems. While most of Lockheed’s drone projects are military (think large surveillance UAVs or the autonomous K-Max helicopter), they have one foot in the commercial/enterprise drone door with offerings like the Indago quadcopter. Lockheed’s inclusion here represents how even the biggest U.S. defense companies are paying attention to the commercial drone sector, especially where it overlaps with civil government and public safety needs.

Popular Drones: The Indago 4 is Lockheed’s key small drone. It’s a high-end foldable quadcopter that can be carried in a backpack and deployed in minutes. Indago looks a bit like a beefed-up hobby drone, but under the hood it has mil-spec secure radios, advanced gimbaled cameras, and can fly about 50 minutes – long for its class. 

It’s used by the military (e.g., for reconnaissance) and also by firefighters and farmers (for mapping wildfires or crops). One interesting spec: Indago 4 can carry a payload that’s 60% of its own weight, which is impressive lift capacity. It also features “on-edge” computing, meaning it can process video onboard to track targets or do AI tasks without needing a high-bandwidth link.

Lockheed provides different sensor packages for Indago – from optical zoom cameras to infrared. Another Lockheed drone is the Stalker XE (a small fixed-wing that can transition to vertical flight), which has seen use by special forces and was tested for things like border surveillance. And beyond that, Lockheed has experimental projects like swarming drone systems and cargo drones (e.g., they’ve shown concepts of using small drones to deliver supplies to soldiers). But Indago remains the one they actively market for commercial-esque use.

Lockheed Martin teamed up with various tech partners to boost their drone capabilities. In 2024, they integrated Elsight’s Halo connectivity into Indago, giving it resilient Beyond Visual Line of Sight comms via multi-network links (so it can fly further safely with constant connectivity). This is a nod to pushing Indago for more enterprise use – like allowing a utility company to inspect powerlines 5 miles away from the operator.

They also worked with IBM’s Red Hat in 2024 to develop a framework for drone swarms with rapid software updates, showing how they plan to deploy fleets of drones that can be re-tasked on the fly (something that could be useful for disaster response as much as combat).

Through the TIQUILA program—an initiative aimed at modernizing the UK’s Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition, and Reconnaissance (ISTAR) capabilities—the UK Ministry of Defence began adopting platforms like Indago 4 alongside the Stalker UAS. This effort is part of a broader push to shift from one-off procurements to a continuously evolving service model. Since March 2023, more than 250 air vehicles have been delivered under TIQUILA, with initial training provided early to ensure operators are ready to roll. By March 2025, the program had already reached its Initial Operating Capability milestone, backed by UK-based teams and a growing network of local suppliers.

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For Lockheed, every win in allied countries is a validation of their drone tech. On the civilian side, Lockheed has been pitching Indago to agencies like the U.S. Forest Service for wildfire overwatch and to oil & gas companies for pipeline monitoring (Indago’s secure data links and long flight time make it appealing where data security is crucial). 

When giant companies like Lockheed put their weight behind small drones, it accelerates technology and trust in the whole industry. Lockheed helps set standards for safety, cybersecurity (Indago is built to be hack-resistant), and performance. So the drone that might one day check the power lines after a storm in your town could be descended from a Lockheed design. 

Related Reading: Key FAA Drone Regulations Every U.S. Pilot Should Know

FAQs About US Drones

What are commercial drones used for in the U.S. today? 

Commercial drones are used for everything from package delivery and medical transport to police surveillance, filmmaking, mapping, and farming. They’re essential tools in logistics, agriculture, construction, defense, and public safety.

Which U.S. drone company leads in delivery services?

Zipline is the leader in drone delivery, having completed over 1.4 million deliveries globally. They started with medical supplies in Africa and now serve American homes with ultra-precise tethered deliveries.

Are Amazon drones actually delivering packages yet? 

Yes, but it’s still in limited areas as of June 2025. Amazon Prime Air has started deliveries in Texas and Arizona with its MK30 drones, though it had to pause operations briefly in early 2025 due to safety concerns. They’ve resumed with updated tech and FAA approval.

How do Wing drones deliver packages? 

Wing drones don’t land. They hover mid-air and lower your package on a tether. They’re built for suburbs and smaller payloads like food or medicine, and have completed hundreds of thousands of deliveries already.

Are any drones made specifically for emergency responders? 

Yes, both BRINC and Skydio build drones tailored for emergency services. BRINC’s LEMUR drones are tough, can fly through windows, map building interiors, and allow two-way communication—perfect for SWAT and rescue teams. Skydio, on the other hand, offers the X2 and X10 models with AI-powered obstacle avoidance, thermal cameras, and autonomous navigation, making them ideal for search and rescue, firefighting, and law enforcement missions.

Which U.S. drone is best for agricultural mapping and surveying? 

The eBee series from AgEagle is a top choice. These fixed-wing drones are designed for tasks like crop monitoring, environmental surveys, and even tactical mapping in defense operations.

Can any U.S. drone fly beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS)? 

Yes. Companies like Matternet, Zipline, and Amazon have received FAA approvals for BVLOS flights, meaning their drones can operate far beyond the pilot’s line of sight—a key milestone for large-scale drone delivery.

Are any of these drones used in the military? 

Absolutely. Teal Drones and Lockheed Martin both produce drones for defense and reconnaissance. Teal 2, for example, has advanced night vision and is backpack-ready for soldiers.

How secure are American-made drones? 

Most U.S. commercial drones are NDAA-compliant, meaning they avoid Chinese components and meet security standards for government use. This includes models from Skydio, BRINC, Teal, and AgEagle.

What is Freefly Systems known for? 

Freefly builds heavy-lift drones for cinema and industry. Their Alta X can carry professional cameras or large sensors and is widely used in Hollywood and construction.

Why did the U.S. government start investing more in domestic drone companies? Mainly for security. After concerns about Chinese tech in government systems, federal agencies pushed for U.S.-made alternatives. This opened big opportunities for companies like Skydio, Teal, and BRINC.

Which U.S. drone maker is backed by Google? That would be Wing, a subsidiary of Alphabet (Google’s parent company). Wing focuses on fast, light package delivery with automated traffic coordination systems.

What is the FAA’s role in drone operations? 

The FAA regulates all drone use in the U.S. It issues commercial licenses, approves waivers for advanced operations like BVLOS, and maintains the national drone registry.

Are any of these U.S. drone companies public? 

Yes, AgEagle is publicly traded under the ticker symbol UAVS. Others like Amazon and Alphabet (Wing’s parent) are also public, though their drone divisions are part of larger operations.

Which company builds drones that can deliver blood or medical samples? 

Both Zipline and Matternet specialize in medical deliveries. They work with hospitals and health systems to move critical supplies like blood, vaccines, and test kits quickly.

Are U.S. drones affordable for small businesses? 

Some are, especially models like AgEagle’s eBee X for mapping, Freefly’s Astro for inspections, and Skydio X10 for autonomous surveying.