SYOS Aerospace CEO Sam Vye says the Government’s NZ Defence Industry Strategy announced today will help build the capability of New Zealand’s defence tech ecosystem to support national security and earn export dollars.

“We’re excited to see the Ministry of Defence and the New Zealand Defence Force investing in industry partnerships,” said Vye. “SYOS is already well-aligned to support their strategic priorities and we look forward to deeper collaboration.”

He said the clear identification of strategic defence priorities including space, uncrewed systems, counter-systems and sustainment combined with a commitment to providing an annual procurement pipeline with regular updates would help the New Zealand defence tech sector to anticipate needs and plan.

Vye is also enthusiastic about the Government’s intention to strengthen collaboration between the Ministry of Defence, NZDF, industry, academia and allies.

“The Technology Accelerator is a fantastic initiative for New Zealand industry that will help more companies bring advanced tech to defence faster.

“We’re also keen to see the Defence Industry Advisory Council re-invigorated  and would value the opportunity to contribute. SYOS is committed growing New Zealand’s defence tech ecosystem – we want to partner, mentor and build talent.”

Founded four years ago in Mt Maunganui, where it is still headquartered, SYOS opened an advanced production facility at Fareham in the UK in 2024. The company employs 100 highly skilled engineers and can produce 40 state-of-the-art uncrewed surface vehicles (USVs) a month.

“The cost of uncrewed vehicles can be much lower than traditional crewed vehicles, both in terms of purchase and operating costs. But it goes further than that as the use of robotics unlocks much greater capabilities with use of AI, computer vision and swarming capabilities. This is a capability step change.”

In April this year SYOS won a £30 million contract to supply the UK government with a fleet of cutting-edge drones. In May SYOS was named PwC Hi-Tech Company of the Year at the 2025 NZ Hi-Tech Awards.

In September SYOS took part in REPMUS (Robotic Experimentation and Prototyping with Maritime Unmanned Systems) 2025 in Portugal, the world’s largest multinational experimentation exercise focused on unmanned maritime systems involving more than 20 NATO nations and partners.

SYOS also exhibited at DSEI UK in London, a pivotal event for the global defence industry, that attracts the world’s leading defence organisations and most influential stakeholders.