Founded in Paris in April 2026, Gallium Defense has emerged from stealth after securing 7.1 million euros in a seed funding round led by Keen Venture Partners and 360 Capital. Omnes Capital and Polytechnique Ventures also participated in the round. The startup is developing the GDS-10, a software-defined X-band active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar capable of detecting first-person-view (FPV) drones from up to 10 kilometers away. To overcome the cost and scalability issues of conventional systems, the founders opted to utilize existing commercial technologies rather than developing entirely new bespoke military components.
For the radar's antenna, the startup adopted gallium-based components widely used in the 5G telecommunications sector. To boost signal processing capacity, they are utilizing NVIDIA's high-performance computing hardware by relaxing traditional size and energy consumption constraints. The company claims this approach has reduced antenna unit costs by more than tenfold and increased processing capacity by more than 100 times compared to some conventional methods. The radar system is being designed with the targets of offering 360-degree horizontal and 90-degree vertical coverage, drone swarm tracking, and all-weather operational capability.
Gallium Defense announced that it has successfully detected drones at a distance of 10 kilometers under controlled conditions using two operational antennas. Developed in two versions for critical infrastructure protection and military applications, the radar is intended to fill the market gap between shorter-range systems and high-end systems costing millions of euros. Planning to expand its team from approximately 15 to 50 employees, the company expects to begin taking commercial orders in the first quarter of 2027.