Portuguese company UAVision will test attack drones for the EDA
- Portugal Business News - Valerie Charoux
- 2 days ago
- 2 min read
Defence News Europe - Portuguese company UAVision will test attack drones for the European Defence Agency (EDA) during the EU's OPEX26 exercise in Portugal. The experimentation will focus on Loitering Munition Systems, that is a type of attack drone that searches for a target before striking, under controlled, realistic and operationally relevant conditions. Here is the list of the Top 10 attack drone companies in the EU:
Recent conflicts have turned Loitering Munitions Systems into a rapidly evolving military capability, with technological advances and battlefield adaptations, often outpacing traditional development cycles. As new systems enter the market and technologies evolve at an unprecedented pace, understanding how they perform in realistic operational conditions has become increasingly important.
The results of the experimentation in Portugal will determine the overall winners of the Sentinel Strike Challenge, who are expected to be announced in 2027.
Five drone companies were selected for the OPEX26 exercise and were assessed against predefined administrative, technical and award criteria covering aspects such as technical maturity, operational relevance, safety and demonstration feasibility.
The field testing of attack drones marks the second stage of the European Defence Agency's (EDA) Sentinel Strike Challenge prize contest. The challenge uses a two-stage award procedure that combines competitive evaluation and field testing. This approach enables emerging technologies to be evaluated more quickly and on a common basis, providing EU Member States with comparable operational data on how the different Loitering Munition Systems perform in the same scenarios.
