The sky’s been noisy for a while, buzzing drones, satellites flexing, endless talk about “real-time intel.” But endurance? That’s where most fall short. Hoverfly Technologies didn’t just enter the drone game, they tethered themselves to something deeper: staying power. Their tethered systems don’t run on hype or battery life. They run on a power-and-data line that doesn’t quit, keeping eyes in the sky long after the rest have powered down. That’s not gadgetry, it’s precision born from purpose, engineered by people who’ve lived where seconds and signals matter.
Steve Walters, President & CEO, isn’t some desk-born exec chasing headlines. He’s a retired U.S. Army Colonel with an M.S. in Aeronautical Engineering from the Naval Postgraduate School, a man who’s seen what happens when tech fails under pressure. Beside him, Bruce Tuftie, Chief Strategy Officer and former U.S. Special Operations aviator, knows that strategy isn’t about buzzwords, it’s about winning the next mission before it starts. Together, they’ve turned University of Central Florida flight control research into one of defense tech’s most trusted power moves.
Their Series B haul, $20M, isn’t about survival; it’s about scale. Leonardo DRS dropped $15M into the round, KRM added $5M, and together they signaled something bigger: Hoverfly’s tethered platforms aren’t concepts, they’re contracts. 800+ systems sold. Trusted by the U.S. Army. Certified to operate in denied, dirty, GPS-jammed environments where most UAVs become paperweights. Hoverfly Sentry and Spectre systems deliver persistent ISR, secure comms relay, and EW payload support with setup times under 10 min. Unlimited endurance. Encrypted data links. Modular payloads. Real tech for real operators.
This isn’t a “better drone” story, it’s a redefinition of altitude itself. Hoverfly isn’t reaching higher; it’s holding steady longer. The Sentry’s your 200-ft persistent lookout; the Spectre’s your airborne comms backbone. Both built to endure, adapt, and deliver. When others chase autonomy, Hoverfly perfects reliability.
Leonardo DRS is scaling U.S. production under a new agreement, while KRM builds a U.S. component facility to harden the domestic supply chain. That’s how you build capacity with conviction. From Sanford, FL, Hoverfly’s footprint is expanding globally just as the tethered drone market gears up to explode, from $140M in 2023 to $2.6B by 2032, a 38% CAGR that’s got defense investors taking notes.
