EU Strategic Autonomy for UxV Propulsion – DRV Solutions
Modern conflicts don’t wait. They demand scale, sustainment, and rapid replenishment — from day one. Yet most defence-grade UxVs run on propulsion systems tied to Chinese supply chains. Rare-earth magnets, copper conductors, mass manufacturing: all vulnerable. DRV Solutions is building Europe’s answer. An e-motor platform engineered for sovereign, scalable production — so European UxV programs don’t stall when it matters most.
And in answering this challenge, DRV Solutions (and 19 others) have been selected — out of more than 450 applicants across Europe — to join the EUDIS Business Accelerator Cohort #2. This EU‑level recognition validates both the urgency of the propulsion challenge and the credibility of our solution. It places us among Europe’s most promising defence‑innovation companies, giving us direct access to defence stakeholders, testing pathways, and accelerated support to scale what we’re building. In other words: Europe sees the need — and we’re positioning to deliver.
Multi-stage Design Strategy: From Stator to Rotor
Our development roadmap follows a deliberate, stepped approach that first strengthens the stator — where manufacturability and efficiency gains have the greatest immediate impact — and then uses this foundation to unlock meaningful rotor innovation and full strategic autonomy.
1 — First optimise the stator: manufacturing as the foundation (GEN 1.0)
We begin with an advanced stator concept inspired by automotive winding technologies, introducing an automated, high‑fill‑factor aluminium winding process. This approach not only reduces critical‑material use and enables EU‑based automated production, but also boosts efficiency and lowers overall motor and battery mass. These improvements create the performance margin required to compensate for the expected penalties of later rare‑earth‑free rotor designs. This phase provides the architectural backbone for all subsequent propulsion innovations.
2 — Then optimise the rotor: the path to full material independence (GEN 2)
Building on the high‑performance stator, we pursue a next‑generation rotor architecture that significantly to completely reduces rare‑earth magnet content. This allows us to maintain strong performance while moving toward complete material sovereignty.
Designed for European Manufacturing
Unlike traditional UxV motors, which rely on hand winding or semi‑automated processes optimised for low‑volume production, our design targets the highest degree of production automation with:
Automotive‑inspired, hairpin‑style winding principles
Axial wire insertion and robust end‑winding geometry
Innovative busbar design for low‑complexity assembly
Direct inverter integration (no AC cables, multiphase‑ready)
An IP‑protected architecture built for automation
targeting to serve NATO (STANAG 4670) CLASS I – SMALL UAS
Design Specifications: Building Performance While Breaking Dependency
As the propulsion platform evolves from Gen 0 to Gen 2, each development step is engineered to push performance forward while systematically removing strategic vulnerabilities. The early stator‑focused milestones are critical: by introducing high‑fill, automated aluminium windings and automotive‑grade slot architectures, we unlock major gains in efficiency, thermal behaviour, and mass reduction. These improvements create the performance headroom needed to absorb the penalties that naturally arise when reducing — and ultimately eliminating — rare‑earth magnet content in later rotor generations.
The result is a roadmap where each generation reduces rare‑earth dependency without compromising operational capability. NdFeB usage drops from 100% today to ≤90% in the first optimisation cycle, then toward 70–30% in Gen 1.1, before targeting 0% in Gen 2, all while cruise motor losses improve by 14 → 35 → 45% and total mass is reduced stepwise from the benchmark by 9–11% and beyond. These cumulative gains ensure that resilience and manufacturability increase dramatically — while performance remains not only protected, but in several metrics improved.
The table below summarises this controlled evolution: a propulsion architecture that becomes more efficient and fully sovereign, generation by generation, without sacrificing the high‑performance envelope required for defence‑grade UxV platforms.
