Top Defense Startups in 2026

Our vision is to reinvigorate American innovation - strengthening national security, restoring domestic capability, and supporting the warfighter.

Michele "Mike" Cimmino began working as a freelance software engineer in 2010. He turned it into a small business a few years later. In 2015, Mike registered Lasting Dynamics as an SRL in Italy. This is a software house. Our company helps partners develop and maintain successful digital products across devices. We aim for long-term partnerships. Potential partners can join our waiting list. The main services of Lasting Dynamics are: - Custom Software Development - Development Team Augmentation - Software Quality Assurance - Recruiting & Training The teams of Lasting Dynamics can work on any digital project, in any industry, for any timezone. We are senior full-stack software engineers, UI/UX experts, and talented product owners. In Agile teams, we develop web and mobile applications for entrepreneurs worldwide. Each Agile team quickly becomes a solid tech partner, providing turnkey solutions. The quality and transparency of our work distinguishes it. With our workflow management system, Roundrush, we share full visibility of daily tasks. Every client and partner can watch progress in real-time. Learn more at lastingdynamics.com Employee testimonials: "I love innovation and doing quality-oriented work – this is something in which Lasting Dynamics never misses and it’s very hard to find in other software houses out there." - Software Engineer "What I truly like about Lasting Dynamics is the multicultural environment I get to be a part of. I'm lucky to have the chance to work with many different people from different cultures, and thanks to this, to build new friendships too." - Software Engineer "I like working at Lasting Dynamics because I get to work on multiple projects simultaneously, with direct feedback from developers and true Agile values. As a designer, it provides me with a rich experience." - UI/UX Designer

Clear Ridge Defense services equip organizations with the protection and expertise they need to defend against and respond to security incidents. With a complete portfolio of security consulting offerings that help organizations prepare to stop the next breach, Clear Ridge Defense's comprehensive approach to security blends human expertise, real-time incident response technology and threat intelligence to help organizations stay ahead of attackers and ensure that threats do not go undetected.

Mach9 builds location intelligence software to help civil engineering and government customers analyze massive amounts of geospatial sensor data. We've been working on software automation for common surveying workflows and are driven to bring perception software from self-driving to industries that need it today. Our team spun out of the Carnegie Mellon Robotics Institute and previously worked at Tesla Autopilot, SpaceX GNC, and Apple Performance Engineering. We went through YC last summer, raised a seed round last December, and have been rapidly growing our team.

AeroVironment, Inc. designs, develops, produces and supports a portfolio of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), supplied to organizations within the United States Department of Defense (DoD), charging systems for electric vehicle batteries and power cycling and test systems supplied to commercial and government customers. The Unmanned Aircraft Systems business segment focuses primarily on the design, development, production and support of UAS. The Efficient Energy Systems business segment focuses on the design, development, production and support of electric energy systems, which addresses the demand for clean transportation.

ABOUT Founded in 2017, Percipient.ai is a Silicon Valley based advanced analytics firm building highly scalable and advanced analytics products. We utilize state of the art research in Computer Vision, Artificial Intelligence and Deep Learning solving the most pressing intelligence and national security missions. We are offering an opportunity to get in on the ground floor of an early stage startup with significant growth potential. You will be working alongside the world’s best Scientists and Engineers in the fields of AI and Computer Vision to deliver the highest quality of products.

Our business lines include: Aluminum, Automation, Cement/Minerals, Combustion, Cryogenics/Energy, Cutting Tools/Abrasives, Filling/Sealing, Glass, Grinding/Ultra-Precision, Induction, Intralogistics, Maintenance, Metal Cutting/Composites, Piping Solutions, Steel, Sugar/Bio-Energy, Tube/Pipe, and more. We build the plants of the future through our unrivaled spirit of innovation. We currently hold 2,113 patents in 645 families. In 2018 alone, we patented 45 new inventions and invested over $37 million dollars in R&D. We are leading the way towards Industry 4.0 and the Industrial Internet of Things (IOT).

AnySignal was developed to reimagine how RF capabilities are delivered for the most difficult tasks around the globe. offers complete solutions for modern aircraft, satellites, and national security that span communications, radar, navigation, and RF sensing. Current solutions are overpriced, unimaginative, and provide little end-to-end capability. To shift this paradigm, they are bringing the appropriate talent, procedures, and technologies together. They are developing communications systems for satellites, launchers, space stations, and aircraft. They provide full-stack connectivity solutions that include software modems, hardware for use in flight and on the ground, data management software, ground station integration software, and vehicle telemetry software.

We are building a family of smart turrets that can take precision shots at swarm drones to neutralize the threat at a very low cost per engagement.

Digital Identity and Security Businesses and governments rely on Thales to bring trust to the billions of digital interactions they have with people. Our identity management and data protection technologies help banks exchange funds, people cross borders, energy become smarter and much more. Aerospace Thales is the only player in the marketplace with the expertise in avionics, IFE, support & services, ATM systems and cybersecurity needed to develop this new ecosystem. Space For more than 40 years now, Thales Alenia Space has designed, integrated, tested, operated and delivered innovative space systems. Transport Helping countries, cities and transport operators to create the digital railways of the future and meet new mobility demands.