ACCESS Newswire·Sep 23, 2026, 8:31 AM ET

First Breach Completes First Untethered Flight of Proprietary Drone Prototype, Advancing American-Made Unmanned Systems Program

First Breach completed its first untethered flight of a proprietary drone prototype on September 23, 2026, validating airframe & vehicle systems.
The flight utilized commercial flight electronics while the company's proprietary flight controller developed under a Hellbender agreement runs on Betaflight firmware.
Initial prototypes are targeted for completion in Q4 2026, with production scaling planned for Q2 2027.
A strategic agreement with Hellbender covers engineering, design, technical support, & domestic component manufacturing while First Breach retains ownership of platforms & IP.
The current proof-of-concept is a four-rotor Class 1 platform weighing ~2.2 kg with a ~500 g payload capacity & 2 km effective range.
Performance specs include a 10-minute endurance, 50 km/h cruise speed, 120 km/h maximum speed, 900 MHz MAVLink control link, & GNSS navigation with visual-inertial augmentation.
Target production capacity is over 2,500 drones per week, subject to development & manufacturing readiness.
The aircraft uses swappable LiPo batteries & is designed for field assembly in under ten minutes.
First Breach is an ISO 9001:2015 certified U.S. defense company manufacturing ammunition & developing unmanned systems at its Hagerstown, Maryland facility.
Hellbender is a Pittsburgh-based engineering firm with over 25% military veteran staff supporting domestic manufacturing capabilities.