Skydio X10 is the ultra-powerful, American-made drone reshaping military and enterprise operations

The Skydio X10 is the American drone maker‘s most advanced drone to date. And since it was first announced in 2023, the drone has proven itself not just as a flagship for American drone manufacturing — but also as a cornerstone in the country’s rapidly expanding military and enterprise drone programs.

Initially announced at Skydio’s Ascend event in September 2023, the X10 marked a clear turning point for the California-based company. After sunsetting its consumer drone division earlier that year, Skydio committed fully to building drones for high-stakes missions — and the X10 has become the embodiment of that pivot.

Now in 2025, the X10’s military-grade variant, the Skydio X10D, is the first system delivered under Tranche 2 of the U.S. Army’s Short Range Reconnaissance (SRR) Program of Record. That puts Skydio front and center in the Department of Defense’s plan to equip frontline soldiers with cutting-edge, American-made drone technology.

Skydio X10: The next-generation American enterprise drone

The Skydio X10 is designed for professionals who need rugged, intelligent, and reliable unmanned systems. The drone supports a broad range of sectors, including defense, energy, public safety, transportation, construction, and communications. And with advanced autonomy powered by AI and unmatched sensor packages, the X10 has set a new standard.

The Skydio X10 cameras

As has been the trend on drones lately, the Skydio X10 doesn’t simply have one camera— it’s got multiple, custom-designed, high-resolution cameras. They are:

• A 48 MP Zoom Camera: The resolution on this camera is so powerful that Skydio claims it can read license plates from as far away as 800 feet.
• A 50 MP Wide Field of View Camera: Given the high-resolution, this camera is ideal for detecting minute details, like 0.1 mm cracks in concrete.
• A 640×512 FLIR Boson+ Radiometric Thermal Camera: This camera is perhaps a crown jewel in distinguishing the X10 as a true enterprise powerhouse, as it can do everything from measuring temperature differences in challenging environments, such as finding a missing person on a hot desert floor. That’s an improvement upon what we saw in the Skydio X2E, which is the roughly $11,000 enterprise model of the Skydio 2 drone and includes upgraded features like a FLIR® 320×256 thermal sensor. 

Skydio X10’s autonomy (and other smart features)

Skydio has long been a leader in autonomous flight, harkening back to when its original R1 drone could genuinely claim the title of one of the first fully-autonomous consumer drones thanks to its sensors on all sides, which at the time was completely unparalleled and really made Skydio a leader in the follow-me camera drone space.

The autonomous inventions continue on this new Skydio X10 drones too. The drone relies on onboard AI for computing power using high-fidelity, custom-designed navigation cameras.

In theory, the drone should be able to better navigate around thing obstacles that older obstacle avoidance tech might have missed, while also just better navigating in generally more challenging conditions, including places with electromagnetic interference.

And among its smartest features is NightSense, a software designed to enable autonomous flight even in zero-light environments. That feature is largely what pits the Skydio X10 against another American competitor, the Teal 2, which is made by Utah-based Teal (whose parent company is Red Cat). The Teal 2 is the first drone to be equipped with Teledyne FLIR’s Hadron 640R sensor. 

It also got smarter in mapping environments. That’s thanks to the X10’s Spatial AI engine, which enables real-time environment mapping and fully automated modeling via its 3D Scan and Onboard Modeling functions.

The Skydio X10 airframe

Unlike many other enterprise drones that can be pretty bulky, the Skydio X10 is far from that. It’s designed to fold up and fit in a backpack. And the unfolding part is quick, with Skydio claiming an operator could get the drone from backpack to air in less than 40 seconds.

The airframe is also designed to be pretty durable, carrying an IP54 weather resistance rating.

The design also enables the Skydio drone to evolve thanks to its modular and open style with four payload bays, meaning you could connect all sorts of gimbals or other sensors to the drone — giving it even more power.

And then there’s one more incredibly standout feature on the drone largely designed to fight against potential drone jamming situations. That’s Skydio Connect, a connectivity system with a redesigned point-to-point link. The system uses a multi-band radio which is critical for flying in contested and jammed environments.

Plus, should you be flying in an area with cellular coverage, you’re looking at infinite range given the drone’s 5G radio.

And experts are taking well to this new drone, suggesting that this could be a top-tier, American-made drone:

What the Skydio X10 means for the drone industry

Up until the Skydio X10, Skydio’s primary enterprise offerings were centered around the X2 drone, which was really just a plussed-up version of the Skydio 2 consumer drone (the company took the consumer drone and put it on steroids of sorts with improved features). Then, Skydio made additional X2 modifications, such as launching a military-focused version called the Skydio X2D — which for its part has been widely used by the U.S. military and its allies worldwide, including a delivery to fighters in Ukraine.

The launch of the X10 marked Skydio’s boldest move yet into the defense and enterprise space. While its earlier Skydio X2 and X2D drones were already gaining traction in government contracts (including a $99.8 million Army deal), the X10 and X10D signal a more mature product — built from the ground up for tactical deployment and industrial scalability.

Though originally positioned for industries like utilities and public safety, the X10’s potential for military use became clear quickly. In fact, it’s the military-ready version — Skydio X10D — that’s now leading the charge in U.S. Army adoption.

In May 2025, Skydio announced it had delivered hundreds of X10D drones to a deploying U.S. Army unit under Tranche 2 of the Short Range Reconnaissance program. That program is designed to provide platoon-level troops with lightweight, rucksack-portable drones for real-time ISR (intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance) on the battlefield.

The X10D isn’t just built for tough environments — it’s built to resist electronic warfare, thanks to onboard AI that maintains navigation without GPS or RF signals.

What else is Skydio up to?

Other key projects for Skydio include working with the Japan Civil Aviation Bureau (JCAB) to remotely fly drones using Skydio Dock and Remote Ops beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS). It’s also working with the Alaska Rural Remote Operations Work Plan (ARROW) Program to test BVLOS flights around rural Alaska communities. Other major clients Taser-maker Axon and natural gas company Dominion Energy.

But since the company’s launch in 2014, this is perhaps its biggest step yet in going all-in on the enterprise side.

With Chinese drone makers like DJI facing rising tariffs and mounting restrictions in the U.S., American drone companies have seized the moment. Skydio’s Hayward, California-based manufacturing plant now builds drones in under nine minutes each, and the company has shipped over 55,000 drones to date — including units to every branch of the U.S. military and 25 allied nations.

Who is the new Skydio X10 best for?

With onboard 5G capabilities, it can be launched by an officer and operated remotely to provide situational awareness. It’ll also useful for energy utilities and other critical infrastructure operators seeking an aerial inspection tool. That’s largely because the drone’s advanced sensors and obstacle avoidance capabilities enable confident operation in challenging environments. The X10 can detect faults and defects with unmatched precision, and its AI capabilities pave the way for automated inspections.

Skydio is one of just about a dozen companies participating in the U.S. Department of Defense’s pilot program called Blue sUAS 2.0, where the selected companies work with the government to prototype a new process of approving U.S. military-compliant drones.

All of Skydio’s products are designed and assembled in the U.S. That’s critical now more than ever as customers demand not just high standards in terms of tariff-related pricing, supply chain and manufacturing, but also data security.

If you’re seeking a high-performance, secure, autonomous drone made in America — this is it. The Skydio X10 is ideal for:

• Public safety teams seeking night flight autonomy, fast deployment, and secure data workflows.
• Infrastructure inspectors who need precision imaging and AI-powered modeling.
• Military users operating in contested, GPS-denied environments.

As the U.S. drone industry turns its focus from recreational flyers to rugged, real-world applications, the Skydio X10 stands out as the next-generation system leading the charge.