A French startup is betting that the most effective way to stop a cheap drone is with another drone — one that can fly sideways, upside down, and hit 200 kilometers per hour without losing stability.
Aerix Systems, based in Mérignac near Bordeaux, announced €5 million in new funding in early March 2026, led by Odyssée Venture with participation from an undisclosed fund. The company — founded in 2020 by two engineering students — builds omnidirectional drone propulsion systems that allow aircraft to maneuver in any direction without reorienting their frame. That capability, which the company describes as a world first, is the technical core of what makes its interceptor platform different from conventional counter-drone approaches.
The platform, called AXS Micro, has a 40-centimeter wingspan and weighs 4 kilograms. It can reach a top speed of 200 kilometers per hour, fly on its side or inverted, and maintain stability in crosswinds up to 100 kilometers per hour. The co-founder and CEO, Clément Picaud, described the interception logic in blunt terms: the speed allows the robot to close on a target drone, then correct its flight path to collide with it. The company calls this a "hard-kill" solution — physically neutralizing the threat rather than disrupting it electronically.
The counter-drone problem Aerix is targeting is well-established. Jamming struggles against autonomous or hardened drones that operate without continuous signal links. Missile-based defenses cost more per intercept than the drones they are shooting down — a problem that becomes acute as UAV swarms grow denser, particularly in the conflict in Ukraine, where first-person-view racing drones have been deployed at scale by both sides. Static defenses lack the flexibility to track dynamic, low-altitude threats.
Aerix's approach — a mobile, reusable aerial interceptor — attempts to close that gap. The pitch is a lower cost-per-intercept than missiles, combined with the agility to pursue maneuvering targets at close range. The company has been selected for DIANA, NATO's accelerator for dual-use technology, an endorsement that signals institutional credibility in the defense market.
The funding will move Aerix from prototype development to pre-series industrial production. The company had previously raised €1.6 million in 2024.
What the funding announcement does not specify is how the system performs in actual operational conditions — against live adversaries rather than test ranges — or how the intercept logic handles the decision-making required in contested airspace where friendly and hostile drones may operate in proximity. The hard-kill model requires the interceptor to reliably identify and engage the right target. That is a non-trivial autonomy problem, and the gap between controlled demos and operational deployment is where most counter-drone systems have historically stalled.
DIANA selection is not a contract. The company is not yet in the field. But the gap Aerix is trying to close — affordable, agile, reusable interception against cheap autonomous drones — is a real one that defense planners are actively trying to solve. Whether Aerix closes it is the open question.
