US drone makers seek Asia sales as China threat rises

Several U.S. drone firms made their debuts at the Singapore Airshow this week, seeking to expand their business beyond the Pentagon to countries in Asia that are increasingly concerned about the threat posed by China's military build-up.



The lethal success of drones on both sides of Russia’s war in Ukraine has sparked a surge of Silicon Valley investment in drone and military artificial intelligence startups, boosting the valuations of U.S. firms like California-based Anduril Industries and Shield AI.



This wave of interest in the next generation of warfare is reshaping the character of major air shows that have been long-dominated by gleaming commercial airliners, daredevil fighter jets and troop-carrying helicopters.



Drones - from palm-sized quadcopters built for kamikaze strikes to unmanned fighter jets - have moved from the margins to centre stage as military commanders, politicians, intelligence officers and defense industry executives converged this week to assess which technologies might give them the edge in a future conflict in the Pacific.