SINGAPORE: U.S. drone manufacturers are stepping up efforts to win customers across Asia, pitching combat-proven technology to regional militaries increasingly focused on countering China's expanding military capabilities.

Several American drone firms made their first appearances at the Singapore Airshow this week, aiming to diversify beyond Pentagon contracts and tap demand from countries reassessing their defence strategies amid rising geopolitical tensions in the Pacific.

The battlefield impact of drones in Russia's war in Ukraine, used extensively by both sides, has accelerated investment in military artificial intelligence and unmanned systems, lifting the profiles and valuations of U.S. firms such as Anduril Industries and Shield AI.

That surge of interest is reshaping the character of major air shows traditionally dominated by commercial aircraft and crewed fighter jets. Drones ranging from palm-sized quadcopters designed for kamikaze strikes to unmanned fighter aircraft are now central attractions for military commanders, politicians, intelligence officials, and defence executives.

While most drones deployed by Ukraine are domestically produced, companies including Anduril, Shield AI, El Segundo, California-based Neros Technologies, and Virginia-headquartered AeroVironment have supplied Kyiv with weapons.

Those firms are now seeking to convince defence forces in Taiwan, the Philippines, Singapore, Australia, South Korea, and Japan that their early battlefield exposure — coupled with initial backing from the U.S. Department of Defense — positions them to deliver systems capable of operating in a contested environment as China expands its military presence in the region.

"They're looking for the ability to conduct intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance operations while GPS and communications are jammed … it's what we're offering to a number of different countries in the region," Shield AI co-founder Brandon Tseng told Reuters at the Singapore show.

Shield AI announced at the event that it will supply Singapore's ST Engineering with Hivemind, its AI autonomy software suite for unmanned systems. The company's 9-foot-long (2.7-metre) V-BAT reconnaissance drone, which costs roughly US$700,000, has logged hundreds of operational hours in Ukraine.

Asia Offices Opening up

Anduril, which holds multiple Pentagon contracts and was valued at $30 billion in a private fundraising round last year, opened offices in Taiwan, South Korea, and Japan in 2025. It has already secured sales of its Altius loitering munition drones to Taiwan.

Alongside smaller drones, Anduril and Shield AI displayed models of Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) — stealth-styled "loyal wingman" drones designed to operate alongside next-generation crewed fighters. The aircraft are expected to cost around $30 million per unit.

Major U.S. defence contractors, including Boeing, General Atomics, Lockheed Martin, and Northrop Grumman, are also developing CCA platforms.

Neros, which has a U.S. Marine Corps contract for its Archer quadcopter attack drone, plans to establish manufacturing facilities in South Korea, the Philippines, Singapore, and Japan, according to its Asia growth lead, Kenneth Inocencio. The goal is to build stockpiles of expendable drones intended to overwhelm Chinese forces in a potential Taiwan Strait conflict.

"Imagine you're a (Chinese) trooper. You're about to board your landing craft ... 5 kilometres (3 miles) away, your landing craft gets hit by 30 Neros Archers. Some of them (listed below) are below the water line. Your landing craft sinks like a few kilometres away from the beach," Inocencio told Reuters.

Neros can produce up to 200 drones per day at its factory in El Segundo and, last year, won a contract from a coalition of countries to supply 6,000 Archer drones to Ukraine.

Red Cat, which will supply the U.S. Army with its Black Widow short-range reconnaissance quadcopter, said at the Singapore Airshow that it had received an order from an unnamed Asia-Pacific country.

"Because of regional conflicts and uncertainty with China and their intentions, a lot of Asia-Pacific allies are tooling up, a handful of them in a big way," said Stayne Hoff, Red Cat's Asia-Pacific director of business development.