Teledyne FLIR $94M US Army deal includes drones for Ukraine

The US Army will be receiving considerable reinforcements of tactical Black Hornet micro drones to its current fleet, under a nearly $94 million agreement Washington has signed with producer Teledyne FLIR Defense that also involves an undisclosed number of the tiny reconnaissance UAVs heading to Ukraine.

Just a day after the defense unit of California tech company Teledyne FLIR revealed the deal, the US yesterday issued a fact sheet listing Black Hornet drones among military supplies it is providing Ukraine under a recently announced $43.7 billion security assistance package. The nano UAVs have proven extremely effective in performing undetected reconnaissance and intelligence work against Russian troops.

That US Army accord follows similar contracts Teledyne FLIR Defense concluded with Norway over the past year. Those include a $48 million transaction in 2022, and a second agreement this month whose value was not revealed. Under details of…