Honeywell joins Odys Aviation

Honeywell and Odys Aviation are turning a cargo drone into an airborne anti-drone platform, extending counter-drone defenses beyond fixed sites and vehicles. (aerospace.honeywell.com) Honeywell said on March 31 that it is adapting its Stationary and Mobile UAS Reveal and Intercept system, called SAMURAI, for Odys’s Laila unmanned aircraft after more than a year of joint development and integration work. Breaking Defense reported the pairing publicly on April 1. (aerospace.honeywell.com) (breakingdefense.com) The aircraft is a hybrid-electric vertical takeoff and landing drone, which means it can lift off without a runway but uses a fuel-burning generator and electric systems to stay aloft longer than a battery-only craft. Honeywell and Odys said Laila can fly up to eight hours, cover 450 miles, carry 130 pounds, and use Jet A, Jet A-1, or JP-8 fuel. (odysaviation.com) (aerospace.honeywell.com) Counter-unmanned aircraft systems are layered defenses that detect, track, identify, and stop hostile drones before they reach a target. Honeywell launched SAMURAI in September 2024 as a modular system for vehicles and fixed sites, and said the United States Air Force selected it for a January 2025 demonstration against swarm threats. (aerospace.honeywell.com 1) (aerospace.honeywell.com 2) The new step is putting that defense layer in the air. Honeywell said Laila will be the first airborne application of SAMURAI, aimed at protecting refineries, pipelines, offshore platforms, and other wide-area infrastructure where ground systems leave gaps. (aerospace.honeywell.com) The Pentagon has been shifting money and organization toward cheaper drones and cheaper ways to stop them. A September 2024 memorandum launched Replicator 2 to accelerate counter-drone capabilities, and the Army said in January 2026 that Joint Interagency Task Force 401 had made its first Replicator 2 purchase for homeland drone threats. (media.defense.gov) (army.mil) That push follows a broader Pentagon effort to field uncrewed systems at scale. A Congressional Research Service update in January 2026 said the original Replicator initiative, unveiled on August 28, 2023, was built to field thousands of attritable autonomous systems by August 2025. (congress.gov) Odys has been pitching Laila as a dual-use aircraft for defense, logistics, and civil missions, while using the drone as the first product ahead of its larger Alta cargo aircraft. The company said in its 2025 review that its pre-production Laila completed ground testing, first customer deliveries are planned in 2026, and its order book reached $11 billion across aircraft and propulsion systems. (odysaviation.com 1) (odysaviation.com 2) Honeywell and Odys were already working together before this defense announcement. In July 2024, the companies said they would develop ground control stations for Odys aircraft as part of logistics plans in Oman and the Gulf region. (aerospace.honeywell.com) The bet behind the new partnership is simple: keep an interceptor airborne long enough to meet cheap drones farther from the target, instead of waiting to fire costly defenses at the last minute. Honeywell and Odys are now tying that idea to an aircraft they say can launch quickly in remote areas without charging infrastructure. (aerospace.honeywell.com) (breakingdefense.com)