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The term ‘combat drone’ is an imprecise term. it can include anything from what is little more than a guided flying one-way attack munition through to some of the world’s most cutting-edge next-generation autonomous aircraft intended to complement or even replace manned fighter jets.
The cost range reflects this range, with costs ranging from hundreds of dollars to tens of millions of dollars. For this article, select examples will be used from across the range. However, it is important to remember that there are now hundreds of types of combat drones in service and under development of various descriptions. This article will just mention a handful of them. It’s also important to note that the lifespan of a consequential drone can be a flash in the pan.
In small conflicts before 2022, the Turkish TB2 Bayraktar was useful in conflicts in Syria, Libya, and Azerbaijan. It rocketed to fame in the opening weeks of the Ukraine conflict before essentially becoming obsolete as soon as Russian air defense adapted. The drones below are examples selected to illustrate much, much larger tiers of combat drones.
FPV Drones
Standard models between $400 and $600
This opening ‘combat drone’ listing is a catch-all for the myriad of FPV (First Person View) drones that now dominate the battlefield near the frontline in Ukraine. It is not possible to list the thousands of varieties out there, but they are increasingly taking over missions that previously required artillery and making up for artillery shell shortages. They are also replacing the traditional ‘frontline’ with a large gray zone and making up for shortages of infantry.
The core strengths of FPV drones are their affordability and mass. Around 10,000 FPV drones are estimated to be used by both sides in Ukraine every day. This is far more than the large-caliber artillery shells they are using at this stage. FPV drones allow even cash-strapped non-state actors to have an aerial capability. This is something now proliferating around the world, from militias in Iraq to Mali, Sudan, Myanmar (Burma), Hezbollah, and beyond (including Mexican drug cartels).
While these small quadcopters may look similar, this is misleading. In Ukraine and Russia, they are extensively modified to resist jamming, hacking, and backtracing the operator. They have little in common with hobbyist drones. Many components of the military FPV drones in Ukraine are now domestically produced in Ukraine. China’s DJI (Da-Jiang Innovations) single-handedly dominates civilian drones (such as Mavic), while China’s iFlight, GEPRC, SpeedyBee, Axis, FlyingT-Motor, Foxeer, and RunCam also produce FPV drones.
With that being said, the US produces its own military FPV drones (Neros, Skydio, AeroVironment, Red Cat, Anduril, and others), as do some states in Europe. In places like Mali, these FPV drones remain much more crude and something more akin to a hobbyist drone with a bomb duct-taped on it. These largely unmodified drones are OK in Mali because of the current status of that particular threat environment.
Shahed-Type One-Way Munitions
Standard models between $35,000 and $70,000
In the 1980s, West Germany developed the Dornier Drohne Anti-Radar, but it was later abandoned by Germany. Israel took the concept and developed the IAI Harpy drone, which Iran then developed into the famous HESA Shahed 136 one-way attack munition. In 2022, Russia purchased the Shahed in large numbers and produced and developed it locally as the Geran 2. The Geran 2 family is now a large share of Russia’s long-range strike capability.
For a couple of years, the Shahed-type drone remained a mostly Iranian and Russian combat drone. More recently, the US reverse-engineered the Shahed, producing the LUCAS (FLM-136 Low-cost Uncrewed Combat Attack System) and using it in combat for the first time in 2026. CENCTOM has called LUCAS ‘indispensable’ for its efforts in Iran.
Now it appears the Shahed-type one-way attack drone is proliferating. France, Ukraine, Poland, and others are all producing their counterparts of the drone. Additionally, its roles have evolved, with Russia fitting other systems like R-60 air-to-air missiles on them to threaten Ukrainian helicopters and aircraft intercepting them. Russian jet-powered Shaheds have become more common in an effort to outrun Ukraine’s proliferating interceptor drones.
Fire Point FP-1/-2 One-Way Attack Drones
Between $50,000 and $200,000 (approx)
Ukraine’s Fire Point FP-1/-2 one-way attack drones are still a one-way attack munition, but appear to be a significant step up from the Shahed-type drone in terms of capabilities. These are one of the dominant drone types Ukraine is using in its 2026 middle-strike campaign that is currently devastating Russian logistics, merchant shipping, air defense, forward airbases, and other targets.
The FP-1 is the longer-ranged variant compared with the FP-2, and comes with a smaller warhead; it is used for deeper strikes, including oil refineries. Currently, Ukraine’s FP-1/-2 combat drones, along with other comparable drones like the Antonov An-196 Liutyi, are reshaping the conflict at a seemingly breathtaking pace.
This has been enabled by factors like access to Starlink, which is denied to Russia. Other factors include design improvements enabling larger payloads and longer ranges, resistance to jamming, various degrees of increased autonomy, better navigation, relay drones, and other advancements.
As of mid-2026, it is almost impossible to overstate the impact of these drones in the Ukrainian theater. However, every theater is different, and conflicts in the Middle East generally use a different suite of drones and capabilities. In response, Russia is rapidly moving to build its own localized Starlink-like internet-providing constellation that would enable it to close part of the capability gap that has opened up with this type of combat drone.
Anduril FQ-44A
Targeted between $25 and $30 million
Jumping from low-end one-way attack drones to next-generation fighter-jet-like loyal wingman drones is the Anduril FQ-44A (there are many combat drone layers in between). This is powered by Shield-AI’s Hivemind autonomous system and is being developed and procured in parallel with the General Atomics FQ-42A Dark Merlin, powered by Collins Aerospace’s Sidekick ‘brain.’
The Air Force gave the go-ahead for the FQ-44 and FQ-42 in 2024 for Increment 1 of its transformational Collaborative Combat Aircraft program to deliver loyal wingman drones to manned fighter jets. The US Air Force is developing the CCAs as part of its greater Next Generation Air Dominance program (NGAD) that includes the manned sixth-generation F-47 air dominance fighter jet.
Select key US CCA contractors/potential contractors | Notable product | Status (per Anduril) |
|---|---|---|
Anduril | FQ-44A | In production for Increment 1 |
General Atomics | FQ-42A | Nearing production for Increment 1 |
Shield AI | Hivemind | Integrated into Increment 1 |
Collins Aerospace | Sidekick | Integrated into Increment 1 |
Lockheed Martin | Vectis | In development for Increment 2 |
Northrop Grumman | YFQ-48 | In development for Increment 2 |
Boeing Australia | MQ-28A | In development for RAAF/Increment 2 |
The USAF sees these drones as a critical part of future airpower and central to its ability to maintain and restore mass as the number of fighter jets shrinks due to becoming increasingly expensive, complicated, and capable. The Air Force is planning to procure over 150 aircraft as part of its Increment 1 program. The type is now in production and undergoing testing with plans to enter service around 2029. Importantly, Increment 1 is the forerunner to Increment 2.
Increment 1 is intended to get a more basic CCA capability operational and in service as fast as possible. It will then build on that to develop a much more capable CCA aircraft that will have the range to operate in the Asia-Pacific and be able to carry out much more complicated missions. These will have a combat radius of at least 700 nautical miles, and the Lockheed Martin YFQ-48 Talon and the Lockheed Martin Vectis are considered candidates.
Shield-AI’s X-Bat
Targeted between $27 and $30 million
Numerous US contractors, including Kratos, Anduril, General Atomics, Boeing, Lockheed, Northrop, Hermeus, and others are racing to develop high-end combat drones (of various levels) designed to complement manned fighter jets. However, Shield AI has been one of the few credible defence companies to publicly present a concept for a highly autonomous combat aircraft intended to perform many of the missions traditionally carried out by manned fighters.
Other companies are marketing their large combat drones as unmanned fighter jets (such as Turkey’s Baykar Kızılelma), but these aircraft are not considered particularly autonomous (at least to the extent of Hivemind) and are not direct fighter jet replacements. However, the Shield AI tail-sitting VTOL X-Bat concept looks different, according to Shield AI.
“A single commander flies a team of N-number of X-BATs to autonomously execute the mission. Hivemind’s open architecture design ensures X-BATs plug-and-play into current and future Navy and Air Force operations.”
It also says that “Hivemind unlocks AI-powered mission autonomy for X-BAT. Resilient execution in denied, degraded, or disconnected conditions, [with] no GNSS, no comms, no human input required.” Anduril also has long-term ambitions for combat drones to start replacing fighter jets. As envisioned, the X-Bat would be able to carry out a range of missions, including air-to-air missions. The concept may be a long way from becoming reality.
However, it does demonstrate that the future of high-end combat drones is in flux and being developed and debated. Some contractors with impressive credentials believe it will be possible to replace manned fighters. In this, the Shield AI drone may be considered the very top tier, representing one of the most ambitious publicly disclosed autonomous fighter concepts.
Separately, almost all these combat drones are subsonic. As another indication of how the future of these combat drones is being hashed out, Hermeus is developing a supersonic high-end combat drone with plans to eventually produce a hypersonic version.
