Aveo Engineering to present drone and rocket-assisted interceptors at Future Forces Exhibition 2026.

On October 21, 2026, Aveo Engineering Group will exhibit its complete defense portfolio at the Future Forces Exhibition & Forum 2026 at PVA EXPO Prague. The catalog includes certified aircraft lighting, dark site UAVs, high-speed counter-UAS interceptors, solid rocket motors, electro-optical sensors, electronic warfare equipment, and unmanned ground vehicles. The event provides a platform to present distributed manufacturing capabilities alongside mature aerospace component production to international defense delegations.

Aveo Engineering Group operates over 400,000 square feet of production infrastructure across Czechia, Slovakia, and the United States to supply aerospace systems to customers in more than 110 countries. Its defense line features the AirWing fixed-wing drone series, the Jolt-boosted ConeHead interceptor reaching 350 km/h, and the rocket-assisted Mayhem interceptor capable of 800 km/h during climb.

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The Dark Aveo Mayhem is a high-speed, rocket-assisted counter-UAS interceptor designed to reach speeds of up to 800 km/h during climb before transitioning to electric propulsion for terminal engagement. (Picture source: Aveo)

On October 21, 2026, Aveo Engineering Group will exhibit its wide portfolio at Future Forces Exhibition & Forum 2026 at PVA EXPO Prague, from certified aircraft lighting and avionics to complete drones, counter-UAS interceptors, solid rocket motors, EO/IR sensors, electronic warfare, composites, and UGVs. Incorporated on November 27, 2002, Aveo operates its main Czech production site at Příbram Airport in Drásov, 50 km southwest of Prague, with additional manufacturing lines in Slovakia and Palm Coast, Florida. The group has built more than 900 aerospace lighting products, has customers in more than 110 countries, and possesses more than 400,000 ft² (37,161 m²) of company-owned facilities, including 165,000 ft² (15,329 m²) in Slovakia.

Its aviation production operates under Czech/EASA approval, while its subsidiary Dark Aveo now includes the AirWing and AirWing F-150 UAVs, the ConeHead and Mayhem interceptors, the AveoJolt rocket motors, the AveoVision sensors, the ForceField electronic warfare system, Iguana UGVs, Carbon5D materials, and vehicle-mounted counter-UAS systems. These drones already occupy several performance bands: the AirWing exceeds 175 km/h, the F-150 exceeds 200 km in range, the ConeHead reaches 350 km/h, and the Mayhem reaches 800 km/h during rocket-assisted climb. The industrial base behind this expansion builds on several aerospace capabilities developed since the early 2000s.

Aveo's avionics work dates to 2004, and Conforma aerodynamic structures entered its portfolio in 2010, while aircraft lighting remains its most extensive activity, with more than 900 models covering navigation, anti-collision, landing, taxi, cabin, searchlight, UAV, and visible/IR products used on aircraft including Boeing 737s, Gulfstreams, L-39NGs, Bell and NH90 helicopters, and Predator UCAVs. For instance, one Nubion landing/taxi light produces 37,431 candela while weighing only 192 g and consuming 21 W at 28 V, equivalent to 1,782 candela per watt; it accepts 18-36 V DC and operates from -55°C to +85°C. One Conforma application has also exceeded 9 million flight hours. Five Aveo lights also flew on Intuitive Machines' IM-1 Odysseus lander, which reached the Moon on February 22, 2024, followed by another lunar mission in 2025, exposing the Czech components to surface temperatures from -133°C to +121°C.

These activities gave Aveo an existing base in lightweight electronics, optics, composites, thermal management, and environmental qualification before its move into complete military UAVs. The AirWing now applies these competences to a modular fixed-wing UAV built around wing sections sliding over a central spar and interchangeable reconnaissance, payload, and one-way mission sections. The baseline drone exceeds 175 km/h and can carry daylight and thermal cameras with automatic target recognition and autonomous mission functions. The AirWing F-150 increases the internal volume and exceeds 200 km in range, with several configurations for cargo, small rockets, bomblets and an explosive nose, plus a short-range laser intended against quadcopters. Aveo's manufacturing concept is equally important: customers can receive digital airframe files, produce structures locally from Carbon5D material and integrate standardized Aveo motors, electronics and sensors.

This separates relatively simple structural production from higher-value propulsion, avionics, software and sensor manufacture, allowing a rapid expansion of manufacturing capacity to be distributed without constructing another complete UAV production line at Příbram. Now, the ConeHead and Mayhem extend this architecture into two substantially different counter-UAS speed classes. The ConeHead can use direct kinetic collision or an explosive cone warhead and reaches 350 km/h, or 97.2 m/s, with an AveoJolt booster; at that speed it covers 1 km in 10.3 seconds, 3 km in 30.9 seconds and 5 km in 51.4 seconds. Against a drone travelling at 180 km/h, its nominal tail-chase advantage is 170 km/h, while head-on closure reaches 530 km/h. For its part, the Mayhem instead uses rocket assistance to reach 800 km/h, or 222.2 m/s, during climb before deploying propellers and transitioning to electric flight.

That corresponds to 3 km in 13.5 seconds, 5 km in 22.5 seconds, and 10 km in 45 seconds at boost velocity, allowing the Mayhem to gain altitude rapidly before conducting the terminal phase under electric propulsion. AveoJolt provides the rocket propulsion for these drones through 40, 50, 70, 90, and 120 mm solid motors using sorbitol-based propellant. The diameter increases threefold across the family, but cross-sectional area increases ninefold: relative to the 40 mm motor, the 50 mm engine has 1.56 times the area, the 70 mm 3.06 times, the 90 mm 5.06 times, and the 120 mm nine times. Moreover, Aveo can adapt the propellant formulation and burn duration and use the motors either for rocket-powered flight or short boost phases preceding electric propulsion.

For instance, the ConeHead uses Jolt assistance for interception and the Mayhem for its climb, while C-UAS vehicle configurations carry multiple Jolt-equipped interceptors on pickups or armored vehicles. The Spider 60 adds a fourth propulsion architecture by combining rocket assistance with hydrogen fuel cells; the July 1, 2025 to June 30, 2028 program has CZK 38.143 million in recognized costs and targets a functional prototype. AveoVision, for its part, covers visible, short-wave infrared (SWIR), mid-wave infrared (MWIR), and long-wave infrared (LWIR) sensing rather than limiting the counter-UAS chain to a conventional daylight/thermal pair. SWIR arrays range from 640×512 (327,680 pixels) to 1,280×1,024 (1.31 million pixels), with focal lengths from 9 to 900 mm; the LWIR reaches 1,920×1,080 (2.07 million pixels), while MWIR configurations use cryogenically cooled detectors.

Night vision equipment includes 850 nm and 1,064 nm illumination, 40° and 50° optics, and articulated binocular assets reaching an 85° combined field of view. Hybrid equipment combines image intensification with a 640-resolution thermal channel, while another configuration combines daylight, thermal, and digital night vision at 7× magnification. Millimeter-wave micro-radars cover UAV detection, radar altimetry, obstacle avoidance, and power-line detection. Aveo's ForceField then adds a commercial-UAV identifier and a RF/video-link detection with directional or 360° jamming, to connect radar and RF detection to EO/IR identification, electronic attack, and kinetic interception. Aveo combines this product range with more than 400,000 ft² (37,161 m²) of company-owned infrastructure across Czechia, Slovakia, and the United States.

The 165,000-ft² Slovak composites and aircraft-component facility represents more than 41% of that reference footprint, while Aveo works with more than 250 Czech industrial partners. Its UAV component chain includes brushless motors, graphene propellers, ESCs, flight controllers, FPV headsets, cameras, avionics, software, airframes, Carbon5D composites, and AveoJolt motors. The Carbon5D's development includes radar-absorbing, electrostatic discharge, electromagnetic interference, thermal signature, and embedded sensor properties. Two UAV programs running during 2025-2028 account for CZK 76.963 million in recognized development costs; for its part, the Spider 60 represents CZK 38.143 million, or 49.6%, including CZK 15.218 million in non-public Czech and foreign financing. Production can therefore be divided among Aveo's own facilities, its 250-plus Czech supplier network and licensed airframe fabrication in customer countries.

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Written by Jérôme Brahy

Jérôme Brahy is a defense analyst and documentalist at Army Recognition. He specializes in naval modernization, aviation, drones, armored vehicles, and artillery, with a focus on strategic developments in the United States, China, Ukraine, Russia, South Korea, Türkiye, and Belgium. His analyses go beyond the facts, providing context, identifying key actors, and explaining why defense news matters on a global scale.