Fiducial brings frontline-tested autonomy to counter-drone fight
From industrial 3D positioning to intercepting Shaheds: Dutch startup pivots fast and aims for massive scale.
Published on November 24, 2025
Andreas Verbruggen, CEO Fiducial © Nadia ten Wolde
Bart, co-founder of Media52 and Professor of Journalism oversees IO+, events, and Laio. A journalist at heart, he keeps writing as many stories as possible.
When drone activity shut down Eindhoven Airport for two hours last weekend (and similar incidents set off alarm bells near the Volkel and Kleine Brogel military bases), a disturbing reality was underscored: hostile drones are becoming faster, cheaper, more autonomous, and harder to stop. Countering them requires more than just detection. Interception is needed and, increasingly, autonomy in the systems that provide it.
This is precisely where Fiducial, a Delft-based 3D positioning and navigation company, has unexpectedly become one of the fastest-growing newcomers in the defense industry in Europe. Like BeephoniX (read their story here), Fiducial can add crucial elements to our sometimes seemingly endless battle against drones.
“We only made the switch to defence half a year ago,” CEO Andreas Verbruggen told the audience at Blue Magic Netherlands. “Before that, we were focused on maintenance and quality-assurance solutions. But we realised the IP we had built over the first years, including patented 3D positioning, could directly address problems we were hearing from Ukraine.”
The pivot has been breathtakingly fast.
On the frontline in months, not years
Verbruggen has travelled to Ukraine five times since the summer, working directly with units and manufacturers. Skilled drone pilots, he said, are now “one of the biggest bottlenecks” in the war. Intercepting a 200 km/h Shahed while watching a grainy analogue feed is nearly impossible. Add GPS jamming and communication denial across the front, and the need for autonomy becomes obvious.
So Fiducial built it.
In June, the company began developing software for the autonomous interception of long-range attack drones, such as Shahed drones. By late summer, they were already performing field tests, both day and night, where their software detected, tracked, pursued, and closed in on targets.
In several test runs, the autonomous system reached the interception point before the human pilot could react. “In some tests, the pilot had to take over to avoid collision, because our system would actually hit the drone,” Verbruggen noted.
The goal for early 2026: deploy more than 20,000 autonomous interception drones per month with Ukrainian partners.
A non-AI approach that works day and night
One of the most striking claims: Fiducial’s interception core does not rely on AI. “Most solutions today use AI models, but we don’t,” Verbruggen said. “The benefit is it works out-of-the-box, day or night. If a drone changes shape or speed, we don’t need to retrain anything.”
The system runs on accessible hardware - Jetson, Orange Pi, and other low-cost compute boards - making mass deployment possible despite supply-chain volatility. It can be integrated into both quadcopters and fixed-wing interceptors.
A human operator remains in the loop for now, though the system could operate independently. “It’s not necessary, but we choose to include the operator for now,” Verbruggen said.
GNSS-denied navigation: turning a sideways camera into a 3D map
Fiducial’s second major offering is GNSS-denied navigation, using only the drone’s own sideways-facing camera to determine position. The sideways orientation, Verbruggen argued, is crucial.
“Looking downward is easier for a prototype, but unreliable in real missions,” he said. “Sideways gives you horizon data, more 3D structure, higher robustness, and the ability to fly much lower and faster.”
The system requires no IMU, making it platform-agnostic and simple to integrate. Early tests show it can fly using only visual cues and a low-resolution map (even Google Maps-level imagery is enough). Discussions with Ukrainian drone makers are leading to first deployments in early 2026.
Counter-UAS from the ground: distributed, cheap, hard to kill
A third area of development addresses ground-based detection. Using multiple cheap (€70) cameras to triangulate targets, the system can locate drones down to sub-pixel precision.
“Our solution is over 2,000 times cheaper than radar,” Verbruggen said. “It’s passive, distributed, and you can carry several systems in a backpack.”
He emphasised it’s not a replacement for radar but a complementary layer that fills gaps, especially against low-flying or slow-moving drones. Combined with acoustic detection systems such as BeephoniX, the two solutions could cue each other. “That’s exactly what we want,” Verbruggen confirmed during Q&A. “Launch based on one sensor, track with another.”
Scaling, hiring, and raising
Fiducial sells software, with drone manufacturers doing the hardware integration. Its engineers get continuous feedback directly from Ukrainian frontline units, enabling rapid iteration. Encryption provider EmProof ensures deployed software cannot be stolen, and Fiducial is working with Emergent on integrated solutions.
The company is hiring 5 to 7 people, including a chief commercial officer with deep defence experience, and is close to closing a funding round. Another, larger raise is planned for 2026 to support European expansion and mass deployment.
A bold ambition
Asked about long-term goals, Verbruggen didn’t hesitate: “We want to become the number one supplier for 3D vision and 3D navigation software for UAV autonomy.”
As drone incursions in the Netherlands increase - from Eindhoven’s temporary shutdown to ongoing surveillance near Volkel and Kleine Brogel - European defence forces are looking for fast deployable, scalable autonomy. Fiducial is betting that software, not hardware, will be the key.