Israeli startups Kela and eyesAtop to power IDF's autonomous attack drones
The two companies will build the autonomous command-and-control platform for the military's next-generation attack drone fleet after defeating U.S.-based rival Ondas.
Two relatively young Israeli startups, Kela and eyeAtop, have won a Ministry of Defense tender to develop the autonomous command-and-control system for the IDF's "Digital Bat" attack drone program, Calcalist has learned.
The companies were notified on Tuesday that they had been selected to exclusively provide the autonomous control and management platform for the IDF's future attack drone swarms. They beat competition from the American company Ondas, which has built a significant Israeli drone business through acquisitions including Aerobotics and Iron Drone and is managed by veterans of Israel's major defense companies.
The tender follows an earlier Ministry of Defense competition for attack drones, won by Israeli startup Xtend, which is currently preparing for a Nasdaq listing at a reported valuation of $1.5 billion.
Under the new contract, Kela and eyesAtop will jointly develop what is effectively the national platform for the autonomous management, command and operation of the IDF's attack drone fleet. The two companies will be responsible for integrating and operating the system.
Kela, founded after the October 7 attack by Hamutal Meridor and Alon Dror, will provide the platform's open, modular architecture. The company, which recently raised $200 million, has developed a system that collects information from a wide range of military and commercial sources, processes it in real time, and presents it through a unified command interface.
EyeAtop will contribute the operational "brain" of the project through its ASR system. The company, led by former Unit 8200 members Udi Oster and Daniel Almog, has developed technology that enables a single operator to command and control multiple drones simultaneously, monitor their activity in real time, and rapidly close the sensor-to-shooter loop.
According to the companies, the technology is already widely deployed by IDF infantry brigades and has accumulated more than 500,000 operational flight hours in complex combat environments.
The Ministry of Defense expects the combination of Kela's open architecture and eyesAtop's autonomous operational software to enable the rapid integration of new technologies and drone platforms without replacing core systems. The modular approach is also intended to allow the IDF to adapt offensive drone capabilities more quickly to changing battlefield threats.
