French defence technology startup Gallium Defense has raised €7.1 million to develop a drone detection radar that it says could cost as little as €500,000, potentially bringing sophisticated air surveillance capabilities within reach of more military operators.
The Paris-based company, formally established in April 2026 following development work dating back to 2024, has emerged from stealth with a seed funding round led by Keen Venture Partners and 360 Capital, with participation from Omnes Capital and Polytechnique Ventures.
The investment will support development and industrialisation of its first product, the GDS-10, an AI-enabled radar designed to detect small drones at distances of up to 10 kilometres, including first-person-view (FPV) drones increasingly used in modern warfare.
Gallium Defense co-founder and CEO Eric Fournier told Resilience Media that the company hopes to sell the GDS-10 for around €500,000, a fraction of the €2 million to €5 million he says comparable radars typically cost. The final price won’t be settled until April 2027, once further testing is complete.
Much of the cost reduction comes from borrowing technology developed for other industries rather than relying entirely on traditional defence components.
Gallium’s radar uses components originally developed for 5G telecommunications networks, including gallium nitride amplifiers that Fournier said can be thousands of times cheaper than their radar-specific equivalents.
“We said, okay, let’s build a radar antenna, not with radar component, but with 5G telecom component,” Fournier explained. “So that was super hard. It took us time, you know, to make it fly.”
The company has also incorporated Nvidia computing hardware to process radar signals, claiming more than 100 times the computing power of conventional systems.
Fournier said using components from other industries has cut the cost of the antenna by more than 90%, although getting the different technologies to work together has proved tricky.
The GDS-10 can cover a full 360 degrees and is designed to track several drones at once, including swarms. Gallium is working on two versions of the radar, one for the military and another for operators protecting critical infrastructure.
However, Fournier revealed that demand has been considerably stronger from the military than he originally anticipated.
“I was convinced when I started that I would have all the big energy players and data center players coming to us,” he said. “It’s two out of 48 prospects right now. So most of the guys are indeed the armed forces, which was not our entry point.”
The company is now adapting its commercial strategy to reflect that demand, while retaining its ambition to make drone detection affordable for critical infrastructure operators.
Gallium also wants to change how radar systems are deployed. Rather than relying on a small number of expensive installations, Gallium aims to build networks of lower-cost radars that can be deployed in greater numbers and repositioned as operational requirements change.
The company currently has two operational prototypes and is undertaking regular outdoor trials to train and refine the system’s detection capabilities under different conditions.
“Every month we go for two days to five days outside, full day, and we track and we learn in various situations,” Fournier said. “So we expect some fixes that will have an impact on our bill of material.”
Orders are expected to open in the first quarter of 2027, with final pricing targeted for April and the first deliveries potentially beginning in June.
The funding will also support recruitment and further demonstrations as Gallium works towards commercial production.
