EngineeringA New Eraof American dominance

Born in Alabama. Defending all democracy

The agility to adapt and win.

As the old ways rapidly collapse, the innovation cycle shortens

PDW Logo MarkWe adapt to the unexpected in an unpredictable, high-risk world

Built for the future. A decade in the making.

  • Racing heritage

    The precursor to PDW, DRL is the world’s first televised competitive drone racing league where elite pilots race drones through complex 3D courses at speeds up to 90 MPH.


  • AIRR

    Partnering with Nvidia, PDW hosts an international competition to rapidly scale autonomous drone systems with the world’s top autonomous software groups.

  • Training Initiative

    A new initiative begins to train special forces on high performance FPV drones.  From this effort, the DRL team begins to understand the potential and future disruption small drones will have on the battlefield.

  • PDW founded

    Key leadership, engineering, and software team members from DRL officially form a new company: Performance Drone Works. 

  • Series A

    Backed by RSE Ventures, PDW continues to develop advanced drone capabilities for the DoD. Headquarters move to Huntsville Alabama.

  • World Record flight time

    A prototype C100 flies for 2 hours, 14 minutes and 15 seconds, the longest continuous flight for a battery-powered sUAS.

  • C100 Launched

    The world’s most capable multi-mission drone system, the C100 is a modular, tactical quadcopter designed for military use.

  • Tony Thomas, Chairman of the Board

    Former Commander of U.S. Special Operations Command and Joint Special Operations Command.

  • AM-FPV launched

    The PDW Attritable Multicopter is purpose-built for harsh, contested environments with best-in-class endurance and payload capacity.

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STRENGTHAT SCALE