Drone-detection startup gets €7.1m to scale low cost radar
Gallium Defence, a Paris-based startup working on drone detection at a fraction of the cost of legacy systems, has emerged from stealth mode with a €7.1m Seed funding round, according to reports by EU-startups.com and Resliencemedia.co.
The round was led by Keen Venture Partners and 360 Capital, with participation from Omnes Capital and Polytechnique Ventures. This announcement coincided with European Defence Week 2026, held from 2nd to 6th November in Paris.
Gallium Defence was founded in April 2026 by Eric Fournier, Florian Lemoine, and Robin Mandel. Fournier spent 17 years advising defence and aerospace leaders at Boston Consulting Group, while Lemoine has over 15 years’ experience in defence and served as a former adviser to NATO SACT. Mandel also brings over 15 years’ experience across industry and consulting through roles at Thales, BCG and Safran.
Gallium’s radar uses components originally developed for 5G telecommunications networks, including GaN amplifiers that Fournier said can be thousands of times cheaper than their radar-specific equivalents. 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 percent, although getting the different technologies to work together has proved tricky.
Their GDS-10 radar 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.
The company says more than 80 percent of critical infrastructure sites and military assets remain exposed to modern drone threats because of lack of affordable, field-ready radars capable of addressing the threat at scale.
“As drones proliferate, traditional radars are reaching their operational and economic limits. At Gallium Defense, we started from a blank sheet with a simple question, asked by operators in the field: how do you meet 80 percent of the need at 20 percent of the price? Our answer: a radically rethought AESA radar architecture that makes extensive use of commercial off-the-shelf components and the power of embedded computing,” said Fournier.
“Our radars are designed to be manufactured and deployed by the hundreds, not one at a time,” said Mandel, COO and co-founder of Gallium Defense.
With the Seed funding raised and monthly field demonstrations underway, Gallium Defence is pitching itself as the sovereign European answer for drone detection at scale. The company plans to open orders for the GDS-10 in the first quarter of 2027.
