Skydio X10D

History

The Skydio X10D is the military and government variant of the Skydio X10, introduced in September 2023 by Skydio, a San Mateo, California-based autonomous drone manufacturer founded in 2014. Unlike the civilian X10, the X10D incorporates a multi-band radio (Connect MH) designed for operation in contested electromagnetic environments. In May 2024, the Defense Innovation Unit added the X10D to the Department of Defense Blue UAS Cleared List, making it the second Skydio platform to receive the designation after the X2D. The listing grants participating government agencies the Authority to Operate and streamlines procurement through General Services Administration and Defense Logistics Agency schedules.

In 2024, the Air Force Office of Special Investigations (AFOSI) initiated a working pilot program with Detachment 111 at Edwards Air Force Base, California, to establish operational proof of concept. In 2026, AFOSI certified its first group of six special agents at Quantico, Virginia, to operate and instruct others on the X10D. The weeklong course comprised approximately 16 hours of classroom instruction covering airspace regulations, FAA requirements, and mission planning, followed by roughly 16 hours of flight scenarios that included license-plate identification at 400 ft altitude and a thermal-imaging search for a hidden person in a wooded area at night. Five X10D airframes are slated for fielding to AFOSI technical operations agents in January 2027.

Design

Airframe and autonomy

The X10D is a compact quadcopter with a folding airframe that transitions from backpack transport to flight-ready configuration in approximately 40 seconds for the Connect SL configuration and 60 seconds for the Connect MH configuration. Unfolded dimensions are 79.0 × 65.0 × 14.5 cm; folded (without battery) they are 35.05 × 16.51 × 11.94 cm. Maximum takeoff weight is 2.49 kg. The airframe carries an IP55 ingress protection rating. Maximum angular velocity is 100°/s in yaw and 225°/s in roll and pitch, with a maximum tilt angle of 40°.

Onboard autonomy is provided by six Samsung 1/2.8-inch 32 MP CMOS vision cameras in a trinocular top-and-bottom configuration, yielding true 360° obstacle sensing to a range of 20 m. Processing is handled by an NVIDIA Jetson Orin SoC and a Qualcomm QRB5165 SoC. NightSense, Skydio's onboard AI system, enables fully autonomous obstacle-avoidance flight in low- or no-light conditions. Blackout Mode extinguishes all external navigation and status lights, rendering the aircraft invisible to the naked eye during covert night operations.

Sensors

The X10D accepts interchangeable sensor packages. The VT300-Z package pairs a 48 MP 0.5-inch telephoto camera (35 mm focal length, f/2.8, 13° diagonal FOV, ISO 100–16000) with a 64 MP 1/1.7-inch narrow-angle camera (10 mm, f/1.8, 50° diagonal FOV) and a Teledyne FLIR Boson+ uncooled VOx thermal imager (640 × 512, <30 mK NEDT, 13.6 mm focal length, 41° diagonal FOV, f/1.0). The telephoto camera is capable of recognizing a person from 2,400 ft and a vehicle from 6,500 ft. The VT300-L package replaces the telephoto with a 50.3 MP 1-inch wide-angle camera (8 mm, f/1.95, 93° diagonal FOV) and adds a 2,800-lumen illumination light. A third option, the VT100-L, carries the wide-angle and narrow-angle cameras with the light but omits the thermal imager. All visible-light cameras record video at up to 3840 × 2880 resolution.

Security and data link

The platform is NDAA-compliant and listed on the DoD Blue UAS Cleared List. The data link uses AES-256 encryption with HSM-protected keys, secure boot, a hardware root of trust, and encrypted internal disk and SD-card storage. The X10D supports ATAK integration and RAS-A compliance. The Connect MH data link operates across multiple frequency bands (1625–1725, 1790–1850, 2040–2110, 2200–2300, 2300–2390, 2400–2500 MHz) with a 38 dBm EIRP and a 10 km (6.2 mi) line-of-sight range.

Controller and power

The Skydio Connect controller features a 6.6-inch 120 Hz AMOLED touchscreen (2340 × 1080, 1,750 nits peak brightness, 392 ppi), weighs 1.135 kg, and has an approximate 5-hour operating time. The flight battery is an 8,419 mAh, 18.55 V lithium-ion polymer pack (156.17 Wh) weighing 707.6 g. A dual charger accepts 230 W input for a 1-hour full charge or 100 W for 1 hour 45 minutes. Operating temperature for both airframe and controller ranges from −20 °C to +45 °C.

Program status

The X10D is in active fielding across multiple U.S. defense organizations. Skydio announced a $52 million U.S. Army order, described as the largest single-vendor tactical sUAS order in Army history. The Air Force expanded its X10D Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) program with a multi-million-dollar follow-on award. Skydio was also selected for the Missile Defense Agency's Scalable Homeland Innovative Enterprise Layered Defense (SHIELD) contract vehicle. Within AFOSI, the train-the-trainer model is intended to extend certification to all agents in the 2nd Field Investigations Squadron and subsequently to broader technical operations units for surveillance, outdoor crime-scene documentation, and protective-service support missions. Five units are scheduled for AFOSI deployment in January 2027.

Variants

• VT300-Z – 48 MP telephoto zoom, 64 MP narrow-angle, and FLIR Boson+ thermal imager.
• VT300-L – 50.3 MP wide-angle, 64 MP narrow-angle, FLIR Boson+ thermal imager, and 2,800-lumen illumination light; optimized for low-light operations.
• VT100-L – 50.3 MP wide-angle, 64 MP narrow-angle, and 2,800-lumen light; no thermal sensor.
• Gen 2 (June 2025) – Updated hardware with an all-gray finish, bring-your-own-plan (BYOP) multi-carrier wireless compatibility, improved battery corrosion prevention for dock-based aircraft, and REV 2 low-friction plastic propellers (introduced October 2025) to address accelerated hub wear experienced with the original REV 1 aluminum/stainless-steel design.

Operators

• United States – U.S. Army ($52 million order); U.S. Air Force (AFOSI surveillance and EOD programs; certification completed 2026, five-unit fielding planned January 2027); Missile Defense Agency (SHIELD contract vehicle).
• Spain – €18 million initial tender for X10D autonomous drones (March 2025).
• Portugal – Portuguese Army (quantity not specified in available sources).

Specifications (Skydio X10D, Connect MH)

General characteristics

• Configuration: Quadcopter, folding
• Length (unfolded, with propellers): 79.0 cm
• Width (unfolded, with propellers): 65.0 cm
• Height (unfolded, with propellers): 14.5 cm
• Weight (incl. battery): 2.14 kg
• Max takeoff weight: 2.49 kg
• GNSS: Multi-constellation
• Ingress protection: IP55
• Operational temperature: −20 °C to +45 °C
• Processor: NVIDIA Jetson Orin SoC; Qualcomm QRB5165 SoC

Performance

• Max horizontal speed (sea level): 20 m/s (45 mph)
• Max speed with obstacle avoidance: 16 m/s (36 mph)
• Max ascent rate: 6 m/s
• Max descent rate: 4 m/s (non-vertical: 6 m/s)
• Max service ceiling: 4,572 m (15,000 ft) density altitude
• Max gust tolerance: 12.8 m/s (28 mph)
• Max hover time: 35 min
• Max flight time: 40 min (ideal lab conditions)
• Wireless range (line of sight): 10 km (6.2 mi)
• Obstacle avoidance: True 360°, 20 m sensing range
• Hovering accuracy: ±10 cm (VIO) / ±1 m (GNSS)
• Max tilt angle: 40°

Related equipment

• Skydio X2D – Predecessor on the DoD Blue UAS Cleared List; core tactical sUAS platform for U.S. service branches.
• Skydio X10 – Civilian variant sharing the same airframe platform; operates on the single-band Connect SL radio.