DSEI 2025: NATO members evaluate Black Widow UAV as it joins NSPA catalogue

Red Cat announced at DSEI 2025 that the Black Widow had been approved for the NATO Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA) catalogue, which enables NATO members to procure the uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) through NSPA-managed channels, including direct catalogue ordering and sponsored tenders.

Geoff Hitchcock, chief revenue officer (CRO) at Red Cat, told Shephard on the show floor that the approval “opens up contracts to everybody in NATO”. In an accompanying statement, he noted that it helps “customers move from requirement to fielding faster”.

NATO countries are already interested in the Black Widow, with Hitchcock confirming to Shephard that the drone was in the evaluation stage for two NATO country programmes of record, with contract awards expected in November.

Related Articles

AUSA 2024: Red Cat unveils Black Widow as development continues on Arachnid UAS family

Red Cat expands its manufacturing capacities to surge production of UAVs and USVs

Teal Drones delivers first Black Widows as parent company reports six-month loss

Any contract would follow on the heels of the UAV’s success in the US Army’s Short Range Reconnaissance (SRR) programme. Red Cat signed a low rate production (LRP) contract in July 2025 to deliver 690 Black Widow UAVs, with Skydio’s X10D also being contracted under the same effort.

As Shephard reported last month, the first batch of Black Widow drones has been delivered to the US Army. At DSEI, Hitchcock highlighted the fast-moving pace of the UAV market, stating companies like Red Cat had to “iterate or die”. As part of this philosophy, Red Cat is working with its partners and the US Army to develop a heavy-lift and dropping mechanism for the UAV, further enhancing the system’s capabilities.

Collaboration is crucial

Hitchcock believes one of Red Cat’s key strengths is its willingness to partner with and work with other companies. “We will play with anybody,” he said, adding that around 15 partners are working on the Black Widow, with around 20 being evaluated at present, bringing various capabilities to the platform from swarming technology to voice control.

This collaborative approach can be evidenced by the universal GCS, dubbed the Warfighter Electronic Bridge (WEB), that the company was also showcasing at DSEI. Red Cat and Booz Allen Hamilton are developing the system that can control a range of Red Cat’s platforms, including the Black Widow, Fang, Edge 130 and perhaps the USVs in the future, too.

The GCS uses the ATAK UAS tool, a networking AI that helps reduce the cognitive load of operators, meaning “control is not a full-time job”, enabling soldiers to be “hands-free to do what [their] real mission is”.

Expansion to the naval domain 

The collaborative approach is also evidenced by the company’s announcement earlier this week that Blue Ops, its maritime division, is to expand its manufacturing capabilities by partnering with Hodgson Shipbuilding to produce the first five uncrewed surface vessel (USV) prototypes at its facilities in the Boothbay region and in Damariscotta, Maine.

Hodgson will also serve as a research and development site for Blue Ops as it continues to iterate and refine mission-specific variants of its USV systems. Hitchcock told Shephard that the company had partnered with a “combat-proven system” with ISR, kinetic, surface-to-air and drone carrier mission sets.

Regarding manufacturing, Red Cat announced that Blue Ops had leased a 155,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Valdosta, Georgia and is to open a headquarters and showroom in West Palm Beach, Florida, to support operations and customer engagement.

Scaling up production

Alongside these naval facilities, Red Cat is increasing its UAV manufacturing capacity to meet the demand that future SRR contracts and other future procurements could bring. Hitchcock noted that the company is “scaling rapidly” to produce 1,000 units in 2026, initially aiming to scale up to 400 per month by the end of November.

To meet these goals, Red Cat raised US$30 million in March and a further $50 million in June to increase production, with its Salt Lake City, Utah, facilities expanding to produce more Black Widows, as Shephard reported last month.

In addition to increasing its facilities, Hitchcock also noted that components with long lead times have been purchased ahead of time by Red Cat to ensure the product is consistently available to buyers; one of many facets that gives the company “supply chain resilience”, according to the CRO.

Related Programmes in Defence Insight

Short Range Reconnaissance (SRR) (Tranche 2) / Rucksack Portable UAS (RPUAS) [USA]

Related Equipment in Defence Insight

Fang

Edge 130

Black Widow