The problem is not a lack of drones over a battlefield, but a lack of accuracy once they are there. When GPS signals are jammed or spoofed, an inexpensive quadcopter carrying a mortar shell becomes little more than a noisy, indiscriminate hazard. A new cohort of defense startups is building for that specific, brutal condition, and a team in Vilnius is betting its approach,a compact, AI-powered guidance computer,can retrofit existing platforms into something far more precise.
PDKINEMATICS, founded in 2025, develops what it calls GNSS-independent precision guidance systems. Its flagship product, named Gannet, is a hardware and software kit designed to bolt onto standard multi-rotor drones and their munitions. The core promise is sub-meter accuracy for strikes from altitudes up to 700 meters, a sixfold increase over typical unguided drops, all without relying on satellite navigation [sUAS News, June 2026] [Dalo Industry Days, retrieved 2026]. For military planners confronting widespread electronic warfare, that shift changes the calculus of a drone's utility.
The wedge: retrofitting, not rebuilding
The company's commercial wedge is platform agnosticism. Rather than selling a complete weaponized drone, PDKINEMATICS focuses on the guidance module itself, a low-SWaP-C (size, weight, power, and cost) unit meant for integration by drone manufacturers, defense integrators, or military workshops [Startup Researcher]. This allows forces to upgrade existing, often commercially sourced UAV inventories. The system's reported compatibility with most standard multi-rotor platforms suggests a design philosophy centered on modularity and rapid adoption [EUROPESAYS.COM, retrieved 2026].
Internally, the Gannet system combines a flight control computer with an AI edge processor. This enables real-time target detection and classification from the drone's onboard sensors [Skyborne Technologies, retrieved 2026]. Perhaps more critically from a regulatory and ethical standpoint, the company claims the system can autonomously abort a strike mission if its internal calculations show a heightened risk of collateral damage after the munition is released [Skyborne Technologies, retrieved 2026]. Such a feature, if reliably validated, addresses a key concern in the deployment of autonomous lethal systems.
Funding and early traction
In June 2026, the startup closed a €2 million seed round co-led by Coinvest Capital and Iron Wolf Capital, bringing its total disclosed funding to approximately €3 million [BeeBeez, June 2026] [EU-Startups, June 2026]. The capital is earmarked for product development and scaling. Traction, as often happens in defense tech, is measured in partnerships and testing milestones rather than public customer lists.
- Strategic partnerships. PDKINEMATICS has announced a collaboration with Italian UAV manufacturer SiraLab, a move that aligns with a broader European go-to-market strategy [Tech.eu, June 2026]. It also has a partnership with US-Ukrainian firm Bavovna.ai to integrate Gannet into Bavovna's bomber-class UAV platforms.
- Operational testing. The company was selected to participate in Iron Wolf 2026, Lithuania's largest international military exercise, providing a venue for live demonstration [Startbase, June 2026].
- Reported deployments. While specific contracts are not detailed, multiple sources report that PDKINEMATICS systems have been supplied to Ukrainian forces and other European allies [The Japan Times, August 2026].
The founding team blends finance and technical expertise. CEO Rapolas Markevičius is a former private-equity fund manager from 1 Asset Management, while co-founder Simonas Stasevičius is the aerospace engineer leading the product's technical development [Tech.eu, October 2026] [EU-Startups, June 2026]. The third co-founder, Dominykas Rinkevičius, completes the core trio [Vestbee].
| Founder | Role | Key Background |
|---|---|---|
| Rapolas Markevičius | CEO | Former private-equity fund manager (1 Asset Management) |
| Simonas Stasevičius | Co-Founder | Aerospace engineer |
| Dominykas Rinkevičius | Co-Founder | Not specified in sourced bios |
The path to a proven system
The ambition is clear, but the path for a young hardware company in the defense sector is steep. The primary risk is validation. Claims of sub-meter accuracy and reliable AI-driven abort logic must be proven not in a controlled test field, but in the chaotic, contested environments for which they are designed. Each component,the inertial navigation, the computer vision, the ruggedized hardware,must pass rigorous military qualification standards, a process that is lengthy, expensive, and often opaque.
Furthermore, the competitive landscape, while not named in the company's sources, is crowded. Established defense primes and a growing number of agile startups globally are pursuing similar solutions for GPS-denied warfare. PDKINEMATICS's answer appears to be its focus on the retrofit market and its early European partnerships, which could provide a beachhead within NATO-aligned militaries seeking to rapidly enhance existing drone fleets.
The next twelve months will be telling. Observers should watch for announcements of formal testing agreements with defense ministries or larger integrators, which would signal a move beyond demonstration and into procurement pipelines. Another seed extension or a Series A round would likely be necessary to fund the intensive reliability testing and production scaling required for serious military contracts.
For the patient population in this equation,military units on the front lines,the current standard of care is often grimly simple. It involves manually guided drone drops from low, vulnerable altitudes, or the use of expensive, scarce precision-guided munitions designed for larger aircraft. The alternative, using inaccurate indirect fire from artillery, carries even greater risks of civilian harm. A system that could reliably convert a $1,000 commercial drone into a precision-strike tool represents a potential paradigm shift in tactical affordability and accessibility. PDKINEMATICS is betting that its Gannet kit can be the component that makes that shift possible, turning ubiquitous platforms into decisive instruments only when a target is confirmed, and a strike is justified.
Sources
- [BeeBeez, June 2026] PDKINEMATICS Raises €2M in Seed Funding | https://bebeez.eu/2026/06/23/pdkinematics-raises-e2m-seed/
- [EU-Startups, June 2026] Drone warfare startup PDKINEMATICS raises €2 million for precision-guidance systems out of Lithuania | https://www.eu-startups.com/2026/06/drone-warfare-startup-pdkinematics-raises-e2-million-for-precision-guidance-systems-out-of-lithuania/
- [Tech.eu, October 2026] From private equity to precision strikes: How Lithuania’s PDKINEMATICS is rethinking drone warfare | https://tech.eu/2026/10/28/from-private-equity-to-precision-strikes-how-lithuania-s-pdkinematics-is-rethinking-drone-warfare/
- [The Japan Times, August 2026] Baltic startups take aim at deterring Russia on NATO’s eastern flank | https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2026/08/02/world/baltic-startups-russia-nato/
- [sUAS News, June 2026] PDKINEMATICS raises €2 million for precision drone guidance systems | https://www.suasnews.com/
- [Skyborne Technologies, retrieved 2026] PDKINEMATICS Company Profile | https://skybornetechnologies.com/company/pdkinematics/
- [Startbase, June 2026] PDKINEMATICS Receives 2 Million Euros to Scale Up Precision Guidance Systems for Drones | https://www.startbase.com/news/pdkinematics-erhaelt-2-millionen-euro-fuer-die-skalierung-von-praezisionslenksystemen-fuer-drohnen/
- [Dalo Industry Days, retrieved 2026] PDKINEMATICS Presentation | https://dalodays.com/
- [EUROPESAYS.COM, retrieved 2026] PDKINEMATICS Startup Profile | https://europesays.com/
- [Startup Researcher] PDKINEMATICS Secures 2 Million Seed Round for Precision Drone Guidance System | https://www.startupresearcher.com/news/pdkinematics-secures-2-million-seed-round-for-precision-drone-guidance-system
- [Vestbee, June 2026] PDKINEMATICS raises €2M to scale precision-guided UAV munitions | https://www.vestbee.com/insights/articles/pdkinematics-raises-2-m