What happened to Project Eagle the drone company?: Project Eagle rebranded to Perennial Autonomy. The venture began as White Stork in 2022, was renamed Project Eagle in February 2024, and subsequently rebranded again as Perennial Autonomy — the name under which it won its $500M JIATF-401 IDIQ in May 2026.Source: Defence News, IRIA News
Who is behind Project Eagle drones?: Project Eagle was funded and founded by Eric Schmidt, former CEO of Google and Alphabet. He began the venture after meetings with Ukrainian officials in September 2022.Source: Ukrainska Pravda, Medium reporting
Is Project Eagle the same as Perennial Autonomy?: Yes. White Stork became Project Eagle in February 2024 and then rebranded to Perennial Autonomy. All three names refer to the same Eric Schmidt-backed counter-drone venture that makes the Merops interceptor.Source: IRIA News, Tectonic Defense

Background

Project Eagle is the intermediate operational name (February 2024 onwards) for Eric Schmidt's counter-drone venture, which began as White Stork in 2022 and subsequently rebranded as Perennial Autonomy. It is the entity under which the Merops interceptor drone was developed and first deployed in Ukraine.

Project Eagle developed Merops using live Ukrainian combat data on Shahed intercept patterns. By the time JIATF-401 awarded its $500M IDIQ in May 2026, the company had rebranded to Perennial Autonomy; Project Eagle references in the DB trace back to the earlier deployment and demand context.

10,000 Merops interceptors — developed under the Project Eagle banner — were diverted to the Gulf in March 2026 within five days of the Iran war starting. Early press reporting attributed the system to Project Eagle; subsequent JIATF-401 procurement used the Perennial Autonomy name.

Source Material

Merops (weapon) - Wikipedia Project Eagle

How the World Sees Them

Ukraine

Project Eagle's combat record in Ukraine is the credentialing event; 40% of all Shahed kills attributed to Merops gave the venture its procurement standing with JIATF-401.

United States

Project Eagle's deliberate opacity — multiple entity names, network structure — was by design during the defence startup's early phase; the Perennial Autonomy rebrand signals readiness for institutional procurement rather than covert development.