Evolve Dynamics has spent a decade developing UAVs for military surveillance, but the company’s next challenge may have less to do with flight performance than with the way defence buys and funds new technology. We caught up with them at DVD 2026 and interviewed the company’s CEO, Tom Redman.
The British drone maker employs around 60 people, with approximately a quarter of its workforce based permanently in Kyiv. Its current portfolio includes the Skymantis, a mature intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance platform, and two newer systems, the Foxe and the Wolfe. It’s a business that has delivered products to the UK Ministry of Defence and NATO customers, while continuing to invest in UK-designed systems and supply chains.
Evolve UAVs
The Skymantis is built for demanding weather and can be used as a tethered platform, allowing it to provide persistent surveillance while power and data travel along the tether. Evolve says the system has been used by the UK armed forces and NATO nations, including for base protection and perimeter surveillance.
The newer Foxe and Wolfe are smaller aircraft aimed at a different operational need: putting capable drones in the hands of troops without the cost and scale associated with larger systems. The Fox weighs less than 250 grams and is designed to be carried in a compact kit. Tom contrasted it with the Black Hornet, arguing that the Foxe is more resilient in wind and costs substantially less. He said the system had been tested in conditions of up to 30mph winds.
The Wolfe is larger than the Foxe but about half the size of the Skymantis. It offers a reported flight time of around an hour, can operate in winds of up to 40mph and has capacity for additional payloads, including onboard computing. That flexibility is also being used in a collaborative programme with the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl). Evolve has been working on a “Wolfe Pack” capability in which eight aircraft coordinate through software, without individual controllers, to conduct tasks such as sweeping an area for surveillance.
Design work is carried out in the UK, with an emphasis on retaining control over key parts of the system. It develops its own electronics and batteries, uses suppliers from NATO countries for radios and computing components, and is moving its motors to Western suppliers. Tom said integrating the overall system helps Evolve manage its supply chain, but also acknowledged that the UK cannot yet manufacture some components, including motors and thermal cameras, at the scale required.
Evolve has seen recent growth. Tom said the Foxe had been selected for the Army’s Battle Group ISR programme, with hundreds delivered during the year. The company had also delivered around 50 Wolfe aircraft for the Dstl-related swarming work. The firm is seeing interest from NATO countries, including demonstrations and trial purchases following the launch of the Foxe and Wolfe.
But, according to Tom, this commercial momentum has not been matched by consistent UK procurement. Something of a sore point amongst other SMEs that e spoke to at DVD. He pointed to funding constraints following the Defence Investment Plan and said programmes involving the company had slowed, despite the time and expense required for SMEs to prove their products. The result, he argues, is a mismatch: military demand for affordable, attritable systems is growing, while orders that would allow manufacturers to maintain production and invest in further development remain uncertain.
Our discussion also raised questions about how government defines “sovereign” capability. Tom argued that the label should be supported by clearer measures: where a company is based, where assembly takes place and how much of the technology and manufacturing supply chain is genuinely domestic. Without such measures, he said, it is difficult to know whether public spending is building durable industrial capacity.
Procurement timelines are another concern. Tom cited Commercial X and RAP as examples of processes that can move more quickly, but said conventional procurement can still take a long time. Securing the Foxe programme required about 18 months of work, he said, representing a substantial commitment for a small company. He also contrasted the UK’s pace with programmes in countries including Germany, France, the United States, and the Nordic and Baltic states, where he said manufacturers were moving more quickly from trials to orders.
For SMEs, the pressure is not simply whether the Ministry of Defence pays promptly once a product is delivered. The difficulty, Tom explained, is that suppliers often need to be paid during production, while MOD contracts commonly place payment at delivery. That can leave a growing company financing the order itself, including deposits and interim payments to its own suppliers. Evolve was able to negotiate mobilisation payments on a Commercial X project, but Tom said such arrangements were not common enough.
Funding barriers remain the central risk
Looking at the broader funding ecosystem that is developing around the Defence industry in the UK, Evolve is considering combinations of equity and debt, but Tom argued that orders are a healthier foundation for growth than repeated fundraising. Investment can dilute founders and early backers, while exceptionally high valuations may create pressure to meet revenue expectations that are difficult to sustain. In his view, predictable orders would give companies a clearer basis for investing in staff, production and research and development.
He suggested that relatively modest, multi-year contracts could make a meaningful difference to smaller manufacturers, while costing little in the context of the overall defence budget. Instead, competition for large, occasional programmes can leave unsuccessful suppliers waiting years for another opportunity, and, in some cases, unable to survive that wait. Tom warned that this is pushing some UK SMEs to consider relocating, particularly to the United States.
The broader message from Evolve is that Britain’s drone industry does not only need promising prototypes or private capital. It needs a procurement system that can turn proven capability into timely, repeatable orders. And funding arrangements that do not require small suppliers to bankroll delivery on the state’s behalf.
