writes Ezenwa Olumba
Africa-Press – Eswatini. There is a new generation of weapons being developed by the private sector, outside of government regulation. The fear is that they will be used in Africa before we fully understand their consequences.
At first glance, Ethan Thornton does not look like a revolutionary. The 21-year-old MIT dropout is the founder of Mach Industries, one of the fastest-growing defence technology start-ups in the US; probably the world. Backed by more than £141 million in venture capital, his company is now valued at roughly £378 million. Mach Industries recently secured a major US Army contract to develop advanced aircraft that combine artificial intelligence (AI) and radio-frequency sensing technologies, which enables its drones to operate even in environments rigged with electronic jamming systems.
Ethan Thornton is part of a new generation of private tech entrepreneurs who are quietly shaping how wars are fought today and may be fought tomorrow. Another major player in this sector is Palmer Luckey. Luckey is a “flip-flop and Hawaiian shirt-wearing tech billionaire” who founded his defence start-up, Anduril Industries, from a camper trailer in his parents’ driveway, from which he made a £1.5 billion fortune aged 19. Luckey’s net worth, according to Forbes’ 2025 World’s Billionaires List, is £2.75 billion.
This new breed of defence tech entrepreneurs differs from traditional defence contractors such as Lockheed Martin or BAE Systems. Those legacy firms depend on government-funded research and highly regulated procurement processes. The new generation and their start-ups follow a Silicon Valley–style venture capital model built on speed, secrecy, and private investment. This approach allows the development and sale of military-grade autonomous systems with little or limited public oversight and even formal safety assurance.
Professor Elke Schwarz of Queen Mary University of London argues that this new generation of tech entrepreneurs is pushing defence policy towards weaker regulation and oversight. This shift raises serious concerns about transparency, accountability, and democratic control over the design and deployment of AI-enabled weapons.
Defence start-ups such as Mach Industries and Anduril design, build, and sell advanced weapon systems directly to governments and civilian agencies, something once unthinkable outside state-led or traditional defence procurement channels. Their lethal weapons are not being deployed in violent conflicts taking place in places like Ukraine and Gaza.
These tech startups are well-funded by venture capitalists. Since 2021, investors have poured an estimated £118 billion into defence technology start-ups worldwide. Funding, therefore, is a problem for these tech startups. The demand for their lethal weapons systems is equally strong. For instance, Palmer Luckey’s Anduril Industries secured a £1.3 billion deal to supply Ghost Shark submarine drones to Australia, a £490 million anti-drone contract with the US Marine Corps, and an £66 million agreement with US Special Operations Command to coordinate autonomous systems on the battlefield. Another firm, Skydio, also led by young entrepreneurs, is valued at £1.9 billion and produces drones for both military and civilian use.
This influx of private capital, combined with government anxiety about ‘missing out’ in the AI arms race, is driving the rapid expansion of this sector, compounded by narratives of crisis, patriotism, and technological inevitability, making it easier to channel funding into these defence ventures. Nonetheless, profit-making remains a central factor shaping the rise of these tech startups, the development of these technologies, and where these lethal weapons are deployed.
Global implications
That a group of young, venture-backed entrepreneurs now steers the design and sale of lethal weapons should concern anyone interested in global peace and security. With weak regulation and limited oversight, these youngsters and their firms wield growing influence over the future of warfare globally. Such an arrangement risks concentrating power in private hands without the capacity to exert accountability and oversight. If comparable levels of investment were directed towards peacebuilding, governance, and arms-control innovation, humanity would surely benefit.
Instead, the fear is that Africa will be used as a testing ground for this new generation of warfare, before the necessary safeguards and guardrails are in place. These new autonomous weapons will be deployed under the banner of counterinsurgency, regime change, or democracy promotion. And Africans will suffer the consequences.
There is precedent for this. The first known deployment of an autonomous drone occurred in Libya in 2020. A combatant for the Government of National Accord deployed an autonomous weapon system, the Kargu-2 (Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle, UCAV), to target and attack opponents.
Rather than letting a ‘fear of missing out’ and other factors drive the rush to arm for future AI-driven wars, industrialised countries should channel that urgency into building enforceable, human-centred governance and regulatory systems that uphold accountability while supporting the responsible development of technology. Governments must close gaps in the growing lack of regulation and oversight of the activities of these tech startups.
Regulation should not be sacrificed to national security or competition. Instead, rules ensuring ‘meaningful human control’ in weapons design and requiring pre-market testing of high-risk autonomous systems must be established to limit the dangers of this emerging AI-driven war.
LSE
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