How did Israeli start-up XTEND go from gaming company to drone warfare leader?

In 2018, as Hamas launched thousands of incendiary kites and balloons across the Gaza border, Israel’s military had tanks, guns, and fighter jets, but nothing sensible to stop a burning kite. Rubi Liani, then the founder of the FPV Racing Israel League and co-founder of a VR gaming startup, saw it differently: “Let’s pop the balloons.” He packed his gear, drove south without asking permission, and showed soldiers what his racing drones could do.

Three weeks later, he had his first defense contract. In this episode of The Jerusalem Post’s Defense and Tech podcast, Liani tells editor and journalist Anna Ahronheim how that improvised start grew into XTEND, now one of the world’s most active autonomous robotics companies, with a role in the US Drone Dominance program and a factory in Latvia. He also admits to some frustration: XTEND understood in 2018 what drones could do on a battlefield, years before the war in Ukraine made it obvious to everyone else.

Liani’s vision goes well beyond the hardware. He compares today’s battlefield to the smartphone revolution: drones are becoming as cheap and common as phones, and the real value lies in the operating system and the “app store” that connects them.

XTEND’s XOS platform is designed to coordinate robots from many manufacturers while keeping humans firmly in charge. Commanders give the intent, such as “search the room,” and the machine handles the flying.

Does AI have its limits?

Liani is blunt about the limits of AI. Combat-trained models learn to recognize doors and windows, he explains, but after an operation those doors and windows may no longer exist. And no algorithm, he argues, will notice what one soldier did through a drone’s camera: a cigarette on a table, still trailing smoke, inside a building troops were about to enter.

The conversation also touches on what three years since October 7 have taught the company, including how to keep delivering to the warfighter when 40% of your staff are suddenly called up for reserve duty. Liani explains why he believes Israel is not behind the US on autonomy, why Western armies will not copy Ukraine’s improvised approach, and why a modern drone factory needs to be able to build both “Lamborghinis and bicycles.”

With one million drones a year on the table and nowhere near a million operators to fly them, Liani makes the case that autonomy is no longer optional.