Teledyne FLIR wins $17.5 million Swiss deal for Black Hornet 4 nano-drones
Teledyne FLIR Defense has secured a $17.5 million contract from Switzerland’s federal defense procurement office to supply Black Hornet 4 personal reconnaissance systems.
The award places the nano-drone in Switzerland’s Piranha 8x8 armored engineering vehicle program as an airborne, dismountable intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance sensor. Black Hornet 4 has been adapted to work with the vehicle’s digital architecture, allowing live video, target data and coordinates to be shared across onboard displays used by commanders and crew. The system connects through standardized military interfaces to the vehicle’s Integrated Combat Solution, supplied by Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace. That turns the drone from a standalone scout into a networked sensor tied directly to the vehicle’s wider combat system.
Operators can link the Black Hornet control tablet to the combat system for both mounted and dismounted use. Crews can hand-launch the drone from the vehicle and conduct reconnaissance while data streams back in real time. The aircraft can also receive waypoints from the Integrated Combat Solution and generate target points for the vehicle’s remote weapon station. Teledyne FLIR said the setup is fully detachable, allowing soldiers to dismount and reconnect while the drone remains in flight. For armored engineering units, that offers a practical way to scout obstacles, routes and threat areas ahead of the vehicle without exposing troops too early.
Black Hornet 4 weighs 70 grams and carries a 12-megapixel daylight camera and a high-resolution thermal imager. It can fly for more than 30 minutes and operate at ranges beyond 3 km, including in GPS-denied environments, rain and winds of up to 25 knots. The drone also includes advanced obstacle avoidance. Those specifications help explain the platform’s appeal in the nano-UAV segment, where low visibility, fast deployment and close-range tactical intelligence matter more than payload size. Initial vehicle-integrated systems were delivered in 2025, with remaining deliveries scheduled through 2026. Teledyne FLIR has supplied more than 35,000 Black Hornets to users in over 45 countries.
For Switzerland, the contract signals a broader shift toward embedding ultra-small UAVs into armored vehicle digital networks rather than using them as isolated infantry tools. For Teledyne FLIR, it extends Black Hornet’s role from dismounted reconnaissance into vehicle integration, a move that could widen its addressable market. If the concept performs as intended, it may influence future armored modernization programs that seek tighter links between airborne sensors, battlefield awareness and onboard weapons.