Dutch startup Intelic sets up drone marketplace for European militaries

PARIS — Dutch defense-technology startup Intelic said it set up a European military drone marketplace that brings together drone manufacturers from nine European countries, in a bid to speed up procurement by allowing militaries to compare various available unmanned systems.

With the European drone market fragmented, the new marketplace will “significantly shorten” the process of buying mission-ready drones, Intelic said in a statement on Monday. The company said defense ministries can use the platform, called BASE, to shop for drones from different manufacturers that can work together via its Nexus command-and-control software.

“Our main principle is that governments here can buy plug-and-play systems they know will work within their organization, without having to adjust training and such too much,” Intelic Chief Executive Officer and co-founder Maurits Korthals Altes told Defense News in an emailed reply to questions.

BASE was inspired by procurement models developed in Ukraine, according to Intelic. Ukraine’s Brave1 platform, which connects frontline units with drone manufacturers, has been credited with helping the country field new unmanned capabilities at an unprecedented pace and turning Ukraine into a crucible for drone-warfare innovation.

The company is finalizing an agreement to provide the Royal Netherlands Army’s drone units with its Nexus software that will also give the Dutch access to the procurement platform, Korthals Altes said. Intelic is in talks with several other European ministries of defense, though the CEO declined to name them, saying that could hurt ongoing talks.

Drone manufacturers signed up for the marketplace include Portugal’s Beyond Vision , the Netherlands’ DeltaQuad , Avy , Acecore Technologies and Height Technologies , Germany’s Highcat , Latvia’s Origin Robotics and Slovakia’s Airvolute, according to Korthals Altes. The partners also include drone makers from France, the United Kingdom and Ukraine, Intelic said.

Delivering drones acquired via the BASE marketplace will be the responsibility of the manufacturers, and is not something Intelic will guarantee, the CEO said. Intelic will, however, guarantee interoperability through its Nexus software, though Korthals Altes said additional software developers could join in a later phase.

The Intelic marketplace specifically targets unmanned aerial vehicles for now, with plans to add other types of unmanned systems in the future, the CEO said. He said the drone makers signed up for the first stage are expected to generate combined sales of more than €1.5 billion (US$1.76 billion) this year.

BASE will allow defense ministries to explore systems that are ready to be used in a coalition framework, according to Korthals Altes. One difference with Brave1 is that Ukrainian military units can buy directly from their marketplace, something European Union procurement is not set up for, the CEO said.

The platform will allow buyers to access confidential information about the systems and their use cases, as well as the application of the Nexus software, Korthals Altes said. In a next step, Intelic will add “full life-cycle support,” for example by adding feedback and maintenance requests, he said.

Interoperability between drones from different manufacturers is achieved by having them all run on Intelic’s Nexus command-and-control software, unlike systems offered on a generic marketplace, according to Korthals Altes. “Ultimately, it all comes down to addressing fragmentation.”

Intelic’s Nexus software has been in use in Ukraine since 2025, including by Gurzuf Defence for its Heavy Shot family of drones, and the Dutch startup has also been working to integrate its software on Skyeton’s Raybird UAV platform.

Nexus has “some overlap” with products such as Anduril’s Lattice command-and-control software, according to Korthals Altes, though he said there are important differences, with Intelic’s software primarily platform-agnostic. “We don’t sell hardware; that makes us flexible and much more ecosystem focused.”

Being able to quickly identify interoperable capabilities available in Europe has become a strategic priority, yet procurement remains fragmented, slowing down deployment and reducing visibility of what systems are available, according to Intelic. Ensuring interoperability before any purchasing decision reduces integration risks and cuts time to deployment, the company said.

“For many MoDs, it’s still very much a matter of figuring out exactly what they need and how all of that should work together,” Korthals Altes said. “A large part of accelerating the process therefore also involves supporting the MoD in that decision-making process.”

The CEO said the next steps will be to add more drone manufacturers and countries to BASE. “Our goal is to persuade Europe.”

Editor’s note: This story was updated to remove a company name from the list of marketplace manufacturers, based on new information from Intelic.

Rudy Ruitenberg is a Europe correspondent for Defense News. He started his career at Bloomberg News and has experience reporting on technology, commodity markets and politics.

巴黎——荷兰国防科技初创公司 Intelic 表示，它建立了一个欧洲军用无人机市场，汇集了来自九个欧洲国家的无人机制造商，旨在通过允许各国军队比较各种可用的无人系统来加快采购速度。

Intelic公司周一在一份声明中表示，鉴于欧洲无人机市场分散，新的市场平台将“显著缩短”采购可执行任务无人机的流程。该公司称，国防部可以使用名为BASE的平台，从不同制造商处采购可通过其Nexus指挥控制软件协同工作的无人机。

“我们的主要原则是，各国政府可以购买即插即用的系统，他们知道这些系统可以在他们的组织内部运行，而无需对培训等方面进行太多调整，”Intelic 首席执行官兼联合创始人 Maurits Korthals Altes 在回复《防务新闻》的电子邮件提问时表示。

据Intelic公司称，BASE的灵感来源于乌克兰开发的采购模式。乌克兰的Brave1平台连接了前线部队和无人机制造商，该平台被认为帮助乌克兰以前所未有的速度部署了新的无人作战能力，并将乌克兰打造成为无人机战争创新的摇篮。

科尔塔尔斯·阿尔特斯表示，该公司正在敲定一项协议，将向荷兰皇家陆军的无人机部队提供其Nexus软件，该软件还将使荷兰能够访问采购平台。Intelic公司正在与其他几个欧洲国家的国防部进行谈判，但首席执行官拒绝透露这些国家的名称，称这可能会影响正在进行的谈判。

据Korthals Altes透露，已签约入驻该平台的无人机制造商包括葡萄牙的Beyond Vision、荷兰的DeltaQuad、Avy、Acecore Technologies和Height Technologies、德国的Highcat、拉脱维亚的Origin Robotics以及斯洛伐克的Airvolute。Intelic表示，合作伙伴还包括来自法国、英国和乌克兰的无人机制造商。

Intelic首席执行官表示，通过BASE市场购买的无人机的交付将由制造商负责，Intelic不对此提供保证。不过，Intelic将通过其Nexus软件保证互操作性，Korthals Altes也表示，未来可能会有其他软件开发商加入。

Intelic首席执行官表示，Intelic市场目前专门针对无人机，未来计划纳入其他类型的无人系统。他还表示，首批签约的无人机制造商预计今年的总销售额将超过15亿欧元（17.6亿美元）。

据科尔塔尔斯·阿尔特斯称，BASE将使各国国防部能够探索可在联合作战框架下使用的系统。他表示，与Brave1不同的是，乌克兰军队可以直接从BASE的市场购买装备，而欧盟的采购体系并不支持这种模式。

Korthals Altes表示，该平台将允许买家访问有关系统及其用例以及Nexus软件应用方面的机密信息。他还表示，下一步，Intelic将增加“全生命周期支持”，例如增加反馈和维护请求功能。

据科尔塔尔斯·阿尔特斯称，不同制造商的无人机之所以能够实现互操作性，是因为它们都运行在Intelic的Nexus指挥控制软件上，这与通用市场上提供的系统不同。“归根结底，一切都是为了解决碎片化问题。”

Intelic 的 Nexus 软件自 2025 年以来一直在乌克兰使用，包括 Gurzuf Defence 的 Heavy Shot 系列无人机，这家荷兰初创公司也一直在努力将其软件集成到 Skyeton 的 Raybird 无人机平台上。

据 Korthals Altes 称，Nexus 与 Anduril 的 Lattice 命令控制软件等产品“有一些重叠之处”，但他表示两者之间存在重要差异，Intelic 的软件主要与平台无关。“我们不销售硬件；这使我们更加灵活，也更加注重生态系统。”

Intelic指出，快速识别欧洲可用的互操作能力已成为一项战略重点，但采购仍然分散，这不仅减缓了部署速度，也降低了用户对可用系统的了解。该公司表示，在做出任何采购决策之前确保互操作性，可以降低集成风险并缩短部署时间。

“对许多国防部来说，关键仍然在于弄清楚他们究竟需要什么，以及所有这些要素应该如何协同运作，”科尔塔尔斯·阿尔特斯说。“因此，加快这一进程很大程度上也包括支持国防部进行决策。”

首席执行官表示，下一步计划是增加更多无人机制造商和国家加入BASE。“我们的目标是说服欧洲。”

编者按：根据 Intelic 提供的新信息，本文已更新，从市场制造商列表中删除了某公司名称。

鲁迪·鲁伊滕贝格是《防务新闻》的欧洲记者。他的职业生涯始于彭博新闻社，拥有报道科技、大宗商品市场和政治方面的经验。