Eric Schmidt
Ex-Google CEO; founded counter-drone company Perennial Autonomy; chairs US AI-national-security advisory bodies.
Last refreshed: 21 May 2026 · Appears in 2 active topics
How did the former Google CEO become the Pentagon's go-to counter-drone supplier in under three years?
Timeline for Eric Schmidt
Founded company originally as Project Eagle, rebranded from White Stork
Drones: Industry & Defence: Perennial wins first JIATF-401 IDIQ at $500M10,000 drones diverted from Ukraine
Iran Conflict 2026- What drone company does Eric Schmidt own?
- Schmidt founded Perennial Autonomy (originally White Stork, then Project Eagle) in 2022-2023. The company makes the Merops interceptor drone, which won a $500 million JIATF-401 IDIQ in May 2026.Source: Ukrainska Pravda, IRIA News
- Why did Eric Schmidt get involved in defence technology?
- Schmidt chaired the Pentagon's Defence Innovation Board (2016-2020) and the NSCAI (2018-2021) before launching White Stork in 2022 following direct meetings with Ukrainian officials; he saw Ukrainian drone warfare as the proving ground for AI-autonomous systems.Source: Wikipedia, SCSP public filings
- How is Eric Schmidt connected to the Merops drone?
- Schmidt founded the venture that created Merops — first as White Stork, then Project Eagle, now Perennial Autonomy. Merops was designed using Ukrainian combat data on Shahed drone intercept patterns and is credited with over 4,000 Russian drone kills.Source: Lowdown event reporting
- What is the Special Competitive Studies Project?
- Schmidt founded the SCSP in 2021 to develop AI and national security policy recommendations for the US government, building on his time chairing the Pentagon's Defence Innovation Board and the NSCAI.Source: SCSP official announcement, Wikipedia
Background
Eric Schmidt is a US technology executive and investor, former CEO of Google (2001-2011) and chairman of Alphabet (2011-2018), and the founder/backer of the counter-drone company Perennial Autonomy (originally White Stork, then Project Eagle).
Schmidt founded the Perennial Autonomy initiative in 2022-2023 following meetings with Ukrainian officials. His Merops interceptor drone won a $500M JIATF-401 IDIQ in May 2026 — the institutional validation of a direct Schmidt-to-Pentagon supply chain built on Ukrainian combat data.
10,000 Merops interceptors from the Project Eagle/Perennial Autonomy supply pipeline were diverted to the Gulf within five days of the Iran war starting in March 2026, making Schmidt's drone the first battlefield-proven counter-drone system deployed cross-theatre mid-conflict.
