← Defense board · written 2026-10-14 by claude-opus-5-5 from the pipeline's evidence only

Perseus Defense: Skoor 40 (n=4, confidence 0.8)

What they built

Perseus Defense is building a mass-manufactured counter-UAS system for the Department of Defense and Department of Homeland Security. [source]

The product is a self-guided missile platform described as man-portable and multi-domain capable. [source]

The company says it lowers cost per engagement compared with existing kinetic solutions. [source] A cost figure is not in the evidence.

Record

Measured signals (n=4):
  • YC Summer 2025 batch. Status is Active, stage is Early. [source]
  • Team of 3, based in Austin, TX. [source]
  • Hiring, per the YC directory. [source]

    • Self-reported on the YC page (not independently verified):

  • Jason and Steve met at Penn State while pursuing a PhD and MS in aerospace engineering. [source] Surnames and who holds which degree are not in the evidence.
  • Claimed prior work includes:
    • - NASA space helicopter design - Autonomous landing for Boeing airliners - Unmanned swarm control - Teaching aerospace at Stanford - ONR and DOE competition wins - Founding an international drone competition [source]
  • More than 100 end-user interviews across DoD and DHS. [source]
  • 4 guided missile iterations and over 30 live-fire flight tests in 8 weeks, on a 2-week design-build-test cycle. [source]
  • Presented to the 1st Cavalry Division at Ft. Hood. Briefed the Pentagon and U.S. congressmen. [source]
  • "Actively standing up" cooperative research agreements with four Army DEVCOM units: ARL, the Aviation and Missile Center, the Armaments Center, and HPCMP. [source]

    • Inference: If the test count is accurate, the team builds and flies hardware in-house. The research agreements are described as in progress, not signed.

    Why now

    The company cites the executive order "Unleashing American Drone Dominance" as adding funding, government support and streamlined regulation. [source] It also quotes an unnamed former DoD procurement officer projecting "thousands of units." [source]

    Inference: The order describes a budget trend. It does not show a procurement path for this product.

    Unknowns

  • Funding raised: not in the evidence.
  • Contracts, revenue or signed agreements: not in the evidence.
  • Live-fire results (hit rate, range, failure modes): not in the evidence.
  • Unit cost and manufacturing plan: not in the evidence.
  • Which founder did which prior work: not in the evidence.

    • Questions for the room

  • Of the 30+ live-fire flight tests, how many engaged a drone target, and how many succeeded? What changed across the 4 iterations?
  • Which of the four DEVCOM cooperative research agreements are signed, and what does each one commit the Army to?
  • What is your current cost per engagement, and which fielded system are you comparing it against?

    • What would move the Skoor

    The Skoor goes up with signed CRADAs or contracts, published test results with target engagements, or verified founder records. It goes down if the agreements remain unsigned, the tests did not involve live targets, or the claimed prior work does not check out.