Milanion signs partnership agreements at WDS 2026

Above: (left to right) Mitesh Purohit – VP Global Sales, Milanion Group and Rick Blighton, VP Global Sales Aerospace & Defence, Novatel.
Courtesy Milanion 

The agreements establish new partnerships with Elistair and NovAtel to enhance persistent ISR, assured navigation and mission resilience across its autonomous and unmanned systems portfolio. 

Elistair, a French company recognised globally as a leader in tethered unmanned aerial systems, brings long-endurance, automated aerial surveillance and resilient communications capabilities used by military and security forces worldwide. Integrating Elistair’s tethered drone technology with Milanion’s unmanned ground and maritime platforms enables persistent overwatch and extended communications resilience for mobile and static operations. This provides a continuous, elevated sensor and communications layer that significantly improves situational awareness, threat detection and decisionmaking – giving commanders a reliable ‘eye in the sky’ that moves with the mission and is unaffected by battery limitations or spectrum constraints.

NovAtel, a Canadian company and global authority in high-precision GNSS, anti-jamming, anti-spoofing, inertial navigation and assured-PNT technologies, strengthens Milanion’s ability to deliver secure navigation and mission integrity across land, air and sea. By embedding NovAtel’s APNT and anti-jam technologies, Milanion’s platforms are equipped to operate in the most challenging operational theatres – where GNSS denial, electronic warfare and cyber threats are the norm, rather than the exception. This ensures secure navigation, route integrity and mission reliability even when GPS is compromised, enhancing autonomy performance, guidance stability, targeting accuracy and overall survivability.

These partnerships support Milanion’s broader strategy to deliver a connected autonomy architecture that integrates elevated sensing, secure communications, assured-PNT, and mission-level autonomy across unmanned ground vehicles, autonomous maritime conversions, mobile indirect fire systems and loitering munitions. Defence delegations at WDS 2026 have consistently highlighted the need for systems that remain effective in contested environments, operate independently of vulnerable networks and can be delivered rapidly with sovereign-ready integration – priorities directly addressed by these new collaborations. 

“Persistent ISR, resilient communications and assured navigation are the three pillars of effective autonomous operations,” said Mitesh Purohit, VP Global Sales, Milanion Group. “These partnerships reinforce each of those pillars with proven, deployable technologies that directly support the operational needs of our customers. This is about building an integrated capability ecosystem that enhances decision-making, survivability and mission success across land, air and sea.”

Technical integration discussions with both partners will begin immediately following WDS 2026, with joint development pathways and capability demonstrations planned for later in the year.

Milanion is assembling a coalition of best-in-class technology providers to build a next-generation autonomy eco-system – a decisive step in strengthening its multidomain capability and long-term strategy to deliver autonomous systems that are more connected, more resilient and more operationally effective in the environments where modern forces must operate.