About
Milliray builds millimeter-wave radar and sensor systems that detect, track, and classify small drones, including low-signature quadcopters and autonomous swarms. It sells to airports, critical infrastructure operators, defense organizations, venues, and VIP-protection teams, differentiating through real-time separation of drones, birds, and clutter, plus standalone or networked all-weather deployment.
Market
Milliray competes in the counter-UAS and airspace-security market, focusing on detection, tracking, and classification of low-signature nano- and micro-drones for airports, critical infrastructure, and defense environments. Its differentiation is a first-principles high-frequency radar stack specialized for small drones, combined with camera/acoustic sensor fusion, onboard processing, and scalable standalone or distributed deployment; competitors include broader radar and counter-drone platforms such as Echodyne, Blighter, Thales, Dedrone, and Robin Radar Systems.
Milliray targets mid-to-large operators of high-value sites and public-sector defense organizations, including airports, critical infrastructure operators, defense users, venues, and VIP-protection teams. The likely buyers are security, airspace-operations, infrastructure-protection, and defense leaders responsible for detecting small UAS threats, rather than consumer or small-site customers.
At a Glance
Problem
Small drones have become a difficult and economically consequential security threat: they are cheap, widely available, increasingly capable, and can appear over airports, substations, refineries, prisons, venues, and defense sites. Conventional counter-UAS and airport radar systems were generally designed for much larger aircraft, so they can generate false positives while missing small, low-signature drones. The clearest killer use case is airport protection: a single drone can close a runway and cost airlines millions, while the drone itself may cost only around $50.
The underlying pain is reliable detection in cluttered, real-world environments rather than merely detecting a drone under test-range conditions. Critical infrastructure and defense operators need to know what is in their airspace, particularly as inexpensive quadcopters and autonomous or improvised swarms create an asymmetric threat whose defensive cost can otherwise be disproportionate to the attacker’s cost.
Product / Service
Milliray’s DroneTector is a hardware-and-software counter-UAS system centered on high-frequency millimeter-wave radar. The radar is purpose-built for small, low-signature targets and is combined with camera and acoustic arrays so that the modalities can compensate for one another. The system detects, tracks, and classifies drones, separates drones from birds and other clutter, and uses onboard computing for low-latency operation.
The sensor units can be deployed standalone at one site or networked into a distributed detection mesh, scaling from a single tower to a multi-site perimeter. Milliray positions the system for all-weather, 24/7 operation across airports, critical infrastructure, defense sites, venues, and VIP-protection environments. The benefit is earlier and more reliable awareness of small drones, with fewer false alarms and the ability to detect targets that conventional systems miss; the delivery model appears to be enterprise and government deployment of integrated sensor hardware rather than a consumer or purely software product.
Market
Milliray competes in the counter-UAS, drone-detection radar, and broader airspace-security markets. Comparable alternatives include integrated counter-drone providers such as Dedrone and Leonardo DRS, as well as radar-focused suppliers including Blighter, Echodyne, and Thales. Milliray’s stated wedge is the detection and classification of very small drones, where incumbent radar and broader counter-UAS systems may be less effective. The underlying market is expanding: one industry estimate puts the global drone-detection market at $660 million in 2024 and $2.33 billion by 2029, while a broader anti-drone estimate projects growth from $4.48 billion in 2025 to $14.51 billion in 2030.
Publicly visible traction is principally institutional and technical: Milliray is listed by Y Combinator as an active Winter 2026 company with a three-person team, and it says it has been supported by the UK Ministry of Defence’s Defence and Security Accelerator, NATO DIANA, and the Royal Academy of Engineering. Its website solicits work from airports, critical-infrastructure operators, defense organizations, venues, and VIP-protection teams, but the available public materials do not disclose named customers, deployment counts, revenue, or sales metrics. The best-supported characterization is therefore early-stage with meaningful program backing and an undisclosed commercial status, rather than confirmed revenue traction or definitively proven pre-revenue operations.
Founders & Leadership
Funding History
Y Combinator, Ooshma Garg
Y Combinator, NATO DIANA
Recent News
Y Combinator’s drones directory lists Milliray as an active Winter 2026 company with three employees in London. It describes the company as making radars that can detect small drones and serve security, critical-infrastructure, and frontline-defense use cases.
StartupHub profiled Milliray as a YC W2026 startup building millimeter-wave radar hardware and software to detect, track, and classify small unmanned aircraft. The article describes sensor fusion with camera and acoustic arrays and deployment as standalone or distributed detection grids.
Y Combinator’s Milliray profile identifies the company as an active W2026 startup in London focused on technology for detecting and tracking small drones. The company’s solution is described as millimeter-wave radar integrated with camera and acoustic arrays.
Active Roles
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Get notified when they postBusiness Model
Milliray monetizes enterprise and government sales of its radar and sensor systems, supplemented by professional services for integration, site deployment, and regulatory support. Public pricing was not disclosed in the available evidence.