Introduction In November 2025, no serious conversation about military power can avoid aerial systems. They are not an add-on capability—they are the primary means by which modern forces see, decide, and act at range while keeping people out of the kill chain. From platoon-level reconnaissance to theater-wide suppression of enemy air defenses, aerial systems have become the decisive instrument of conflict. Firestorm Labs, the San Diego-based defense company founded in 2022, ha