In late 2024, a group of engineers, venture capitalists, and a former British defence secretary founded a company in Cambridge with a single goal: build a weapon that could kill a Shahed drone for roughly the same price as the drone itself. Fourteen months later, that company just landed a production contract from the UK Ministry of Defence. Cambridge Aerospace’s Skyhammer interceptor went from drawing board to first flight in six weeks. From first flight to government contract in under a year. And from contract to first deliveries — scheduled for May 2026 — in barely a month. In an industry where major procurement programmes routinely take a decade, this timeline is almost surreal. Defence Secretary John Healey announced the deal on April 10 at the London Defence Conference, calling it a model for how Britain should arm itself in the drone age.

From Campus to Combat

Steven Barrett is not a typical defence startup founder. A Regius Professor of Engineering at Cambridge University and former head of aerospace research at MIT, Barrett co-founded Cambridge Aerospace alongside Chris Sylvan — Anduril’s former director for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa — and former UK Defence Secretary Grant Shapps. The company raised over $130 million in its first year, including a $100 million Series A backed by Spark Capital, Lakestar, Lux, Accel, and Ukraine’s D3 fund. The pitch was simple: Western air defences are too expensive. A single ASRAAM missile costs around £200,000. A Shahed drone costs perhaps $20,000. The maths doesn’t work. Skyhammer is designed to close that gap — a turbojet-powered interceptor weighing just 18 kilograms, less than a metre long, with a 1.3-metre wingspan, that costs roughly as much as the drone it’s designed to kill.

The company began flight-testing Skyhammer in February 2025 and has since produced dozens for evaluation. The interceptor uses a bespoke radar seeker for terminal guidance, locking onto its target autonomously in the final phase of flight. It launches from a ground-based tube, making it deployable from almost any terrain — a critical feature for mobile defence against swarming drone attacks.

Why Speed Matters More Than Perfection

The contract timeline tells a story that defence procurement officials across NATO will be studying closely. Cambridge Aerospace went from founding to first flight in roughly six weeks. From first flight to MoD production order in about fourteen months. And Healey promised first deliveries to UK forces within weeks of the announcement. That speed is deliberate. The drone threat is evolving faster than traditional defence programmes can keep up. Ukraine has proven that cheap, mass-produced drones can neutralise armoured vehicles, radar stations, and logistics hubs. Iran’s Shahed programme has demonstrated that the same weapons can be produced at industrial scale and exported to proxy forces worldwide. The UK is not the only customer. Healey confirmed that Skyhammer will also be supplied to unnamed Gulf partners — almost certainly nations facing Iranian-built drone threats in the current conflict. The deal is expected to create 50 new jobs at Cambridge Aerospace, bringing the company’s workforce to roughly 175.

Starhammer: The Next Step

Cambridge Aerospace is already working on a more capable system. Starhammer, a higher-tier interceptor, is designed to reach Mach 2 with a 10-kilometre range, targeting faster threats that Skyhammer cannot catch. If the company can repeat its development speed, Starhammer could move from prototype to production in months rather than years. The broader lesson is one that defence ministries across the West are slowly absorbing: in the age of drone warfare, the winner is not the country with the most expensive missile. It is the country that can produce cheap, effective interceptors faster than the enemy can produce cheap, effective drones. Cambridge Aerospace is betting its future on being that producer.

Sources: The Aviationist, UK Ministry of Defence, Defence Blog, Army Technology