Silent Arrow

What Silent Arrow does

Silent Arrow is a product line of attritable autonomous cargo delivery unmanned aircraft systems developed by Yates Electrospace Corporation, a privately held California corporation founded in 2012 by Chip Yates and headquartered in Aliso Viejo, CA. The company builds tandem-wing, GPS-guided gliders and powered aircraft designed to deliver 350 to 2,000 pounds of cargo into contested, remote, or humanitarian environments where overland delivery is infeasible. Its five platforms — the GD-2000, GD-2000 Widebody, SA-PGB Precision Guided Bundle, CLS-200, and CLS-300/500 — combine disposable economics (reportedly half the cost of existing airdrop systems) with precision navigation better than 100 meters, modular payload configurations, and compatibility with a wide range of host platforms including the C-5, C-17, C-130, V-22, and CH-53.

The company's customers are exclusively governmental: the U.S. Air Force (via AFWERX and AFRL), the U.S. Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory, the U.S. Army's 1st Special Forces Group, and allied foreign militaries, with the first operational deployment occurring in 2022 with a U.S.-allied Middle East government. Revenue is generated through direct, long-cycle defense contracts and hardware sales with milestone-based payments; no commercial distribution channel exists. Manufacturing is split between Orange County, California and a European production partnership with The MEL Group in Sudbury, UK, and flight testing is conducted at Inyokern, CA and Pendleton, OR. The company has no disclosed venture capital or institutional ownership, operates with 11–50 employees, and holds 24+ patents alongside recognition including a 2021 Robert J. Collier Trophy finalist designation and 2024 Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum induction.

Name

Silent Arrow

Legal name

Yates Electrospace Corporation

Website

https://silent-arrow.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2012

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Silent Arrow, a Yates Electrospace product line, designs and manufactures attritable autonomous cargo delivery UAS for the U.S. Department of Defense and 16 allied partner nations, providing contested logistics and humanitarian resupply capabilities.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Military Unmanned Aircraft Systems

NAICS

Aircraft Manufacturing (336411)

SIC

Aircraft (3721)

akta.pro primary industry

Military Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) & Autonomous Aerial Platforms (IMABAMAC)

Keywords

• Autonomous cargo aircraft
• Military cargo drones
• Contested logistics systems
• Attritable UAS platforms
• Precision airdrop systems

Headquarters

HQ city

Aliso Viejo

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices4 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Supply Chain, Technology or R&D, Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Defense Department Contracts: Silent Arrow generates revenue primarily through direct contracts with the U.S. Department of Defense and allied government militaries. Contracts include AFWERX awards ($1.25M for CLS-300 development), Phase II Air Force contracts, and operational evaluation agreements. Revenue is project-based with milestone payments tied to development, testing, and production phases.
2. Military Hardware Sales: Sale of attritable autonomous cargo aircraft platforms including GD-2000, Widebody, CLS-200, and CLS-300/500. The company has transitioned from development/testing phase to mass production, with orders expected to reach into thousands of units. Unit economics are designed for single-use disposable operations at significantly lower cost than existing cargo airdrop systems.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Silent Arrow develops and manufactures attritable (single-use disposable) autonomous cargo delivery unmanned aircraft systems for military contested logistics and humanitarian resupply missions. The product line consists of five platforms — GD-2000, GD-2000 Widebody, SA-PGB, CLS-200, and CLS-300/500 — capable of delivering 350 to 2,000 pounds of cargo with precision GPS-guided navigation from standoff distances of up to 500NM, deployable from C-5, C-17, C-130, V-22, and CH-53 aircraft. The systems are sold directly to the U.S. Department of Defense and allied military forces.

Product overview

Silent Arrow is a product line of attritable (single-use) autonomous unmanned aircraft developed for the U.S. Department of Defense to conduct resupply missions when overland delivery is infeasible or undesirable. The product line consists of five platforms: GD-2000 (glider/disposable/autonomous with 1,500 lbs cargo/36NM range), GD-2000 Widebody (glider/disposable with 2,000 lbs cargo/36NM range), SA-PGB (Precision Guided Bundle with 350 lbs cargo/17NM range), CLS-200 (powered with 500 lbs cargo/200NM range), and CLS-300/500 (powered with 850-1,000 lbs cargo/500NM range). These platforms provide contested logistics capabilities to the warfighter for military and humanitarian response missions.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• GD-2000: World's first standoff resupply platform to enter mass production, disposable autonomous glider carrying 1,500 lbs cargo with 36NM range.
• GD-2000 Widebody
• SA-PGB
• CLS-200
• CLS-300/500

Products and services

• GD-2000 The world's first standoff resupply platform to enter mass production, this glider/disposable/autonomous aircraft delivers over 1,500 lbs of cargo through contested spaces with GPS accuracy. It offers 32 cu/ft cargo capacity and 36NM glide range, deployable from C-130, C-17, and C-5 platforms. Designed for the U.S. Department of Defense and allied militaries for contested logistics and humanitarian response.
• GD-2000 Widebody

Quantifiable outcome

• Landing accuracy within 30 meters (Green Beret testing at Yuma Proving Ground)
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers4 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature5 records

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Kratos Defense & Security Solutions: Kratos produces attritable military UAS (XQ-58 Valkyrie, MQM-178 Firejet, Tactical Missiles) targeting affordable mass for the DoD. Its low-cost UAS roadmap overlaps directly with Silent Arrow's attritable cargo-glider value proposition.
• Anduril Industries: Anduril builds autonomous defense systems including UAS (e.g., Ghost/Bolt, Roadrunner) and the Lattice software platform for defense logistics. It competes with Silent Arrow for AFWERX, AFRL, and DoD contested-logistics and autonomous-systems program dollars.
• AeroVironment: AeroVironment is an established military UAS manufacturer (Puma, Switchblade, JUMP 20) supplying attritable and tactical UAS to U.S. and allied forces. Its Switchblade loitering munition and JUMP cargo-capable platforms directly overlap with Silent Arrow's contested-logistics mission.
• Shield AI: Shield AI develops autonomous military UAS (V-BAT) and the Hivemind autonomy stack, directly overlapping with Silent Arrow's autonomous-flight and contested-environment positioning for DoD customers.

Broad incumbents

• Textron Systems: Textron Systems manufactures military UAS (Aerosonde, Shadow) and integrated cargo/aerial delivery systems for U.S. and allied forces. Its established defense customer relationships and broader portfolio make it a relevant incumbent peer in attritable and tactical UAS.
• Northrop Grumman: Northrop Grumman operates broad military UAS programs (RQ-4 Global Hawk, MQ-8 Fire Scout) and autonomy initiatives. As a broad incumbent, it can field contested-logistics solutions as part of larger program-of-record bids against standalone vendors like Silent Arrow.
• Lockheed Martin: Lockheed Martin is a broad defense prime with extensive UAS and autonomous-systems programs. Its scale, prime-contractor relationships, and ability to bundle attritable cargo UAS into larger platform programs position it as a long-term incumbent competitor.
• General Atomics Aeronautical Systems: General Atomics is the prime manufacturer of the MQ-9 Reaper and a major DoD UAS incumbent. As a broad incumbent it competes for adjacent autonomous-cargo and contested-logistics program funding and could expand attritable offerings to compete with Silent Arrow.

Emerging players

• Performance Drone Works (PDW): PDW builds small tactical UAS for U.S. military and allied special operations forces. While primarily focused on ISR, its DoD small-UAS footprint and government-customer overlap make it a relevant emerging peer in the contested-environment autonomous UAS space.
• Zipline: Zipline began as a commercial medical-delivery drone operator and has expanded into defense logistics contracts. Its autonomous fixed-wing delivery platform and government-services business overlap with Silent Arrow's contested-logistics and humanitarian-supply use cases.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Silent Arrow