Skydio

Skydio is an American manufacturer of drones headquartered in San Mateo, California. The company manufactures drones for use in battlefield situation awareness, policing, and inspection. Their drones can complete fully autonomous missions with the use of a dock to automatically recharge.

As of November 2024, over 50% of Skydio’s business was with military customers, particularly the United States Department of Defense with up to 22,000 reported. The drones are also used by allies of the United States, including the UK Ministry of Defence, the Israel Defense Forces, the Indian Armed Forces, the Royal Canadian Navy and in Ukraine. Skydio drones were sold in the commercial market, where they held a 4% market share as of September 2021, but in August 2023 Skydio announced they were exiting the consumer market.

Skydio drones can carry payloads, such as grenades, but they have been criticized for failing to fly at the distances advertised, or to carry substantial payloads, compared to drones designed for the consumer market such as those manufactured by DJI in China.

A 3D reconstruction application can also be purchased, which has been used to document war crimes in Ukraine during the Russian invasion, as well as inspect ships for the Royal Canadian Navy.