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Soren Monroe-Anderson, a champion drone racer, was only 20 years old when he first tried to sell his drones to the U.S. military. He was building them for Ukrainian forces in his parents’ garage with a friend.
The military was not interested.
“‘You can’t just waltz into the Pentagon as 21-year-olds and sell weapon systems to the D.O.D.,’” said the friend, Olaf Hichwa, recalling the response from a senior Department of Defense official.
But two years later, Mr. Monroe-Anderson, now 22, and Mr. Hichwa, who just turned 24, are selling drones to the U.S. Army.
Neros, the company they founded in 2023, has been selected to supply its signature drones, called Archer, to the Army, according to documents reviewed by The New York Times. Neros is one of three American drone manufacturers picked as vendors for the first phase of an Army program that is buying low-cost, expendable drones.
Although specific financial terms have not been disclosed, the Trump administration has budgeted more than $36 million for the “Purpose-Built Attritable Systems” program in 2026.
Neros’s selection comes as military leaders are scrambling to catch up with adversaries who have the ability to mass-produce small drones, which have become crucial to modern warfare. The Army aims to buy at least one million drones in the next two to three years, Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll told Reuters on Friday.
