RobotRisk Autonomous Systems Incident & Risk Register
RobotRisk / defense space
Category

Defense Space

118 companies tracked, 16 with documented incidents. Ranked by RobotRisk index; tick marks category median where nonzero.

Analyst brief

The category's sole entity, Starfish Space, is represented by one severity-4 event: an uncontrolled spin during a spacecraft docking test mission resulting in mission loss. The dominant failure mode on record is a test-mission control failure rather than an operational-asset or crewed-mission incident. With only one entity and one event, the data shows complete concentration in a single company and a single test-phase failure. The record is press-driven, based on reporting of the test mission rather than a regulatory finding.

Entries by year and severity

362019 S3: 11192020 S3: 11202021 S3: 12021 S4: 12212022 S2: 12022 S3: 12222023 S4: 11232024 S4: 11242025 S2: 12025 S3: 12025 S4: 46252026 S4: 6626
S1S2S3S4S5

By incident type

By severity

Highest-index companies

Company risk ranking

CompanyRobotRisk index (0-100)Category percentileBandIncidents
Katalyst Space Technologies
30.5
100% Elevated 2
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems
29.2
99% Elevated 2
Baykar
26.2
98% Elevated 2
JAXA
24.2
97% Elevated 1
Kratos Defense & Security Solutions
22.9
97% Elevated 1
Turkish Aerospace Industries
20.5
96% Elevated 1
Tekever
19.2
95% Elevated 2
Space Machines Company
16.5
94% Elevated 1
Momentus
16.3
93% Elevated 2
Starfish Space
16.1
92% Elevated 1
STARK Defence
14.1
92% Low 1
AVIC (Aviation Industry Corporation of China)
13.3
91% Low 1
STM (Savunma Teknolojileri Mühendislik)
12.2
90% Low 1
Northrop Grumman
9.0
89% Low 1
Safran
5.3
87% Low 1
Astroscale
5.3
87% Low 1
Kodiak AI
0.0
0% None documented 0
Scout AI
0.0
0% None documented 0
Firestorm Labs
0.0
0% None documented 0
Neros Technologies
0.0
0% None documented 0
Vannevar Labs
0.0
0% None documented 0
Chaos Industries
0.0
0% None documented 0
Palantir Technologies
0.0
0% None documented 0
EpiSci
0.0
0% None documented 0
Vatn Systems
0.0
0% None documented 0
BlueHalo
0.0
0% None documented 0
L3Harris Technologies
0.0
0% None documented 0
Leidos
0.0
0% None documented 0
Fortem Technologies
0.0
0% None documented 0
Auterion
0.0
0% None documented 0
DZYNE Technologies
0.0
0% Not yet assessed 0
Kraus Hamdani Aerospace
0.0
0% Not yet assessed 0
BRINC Drones
0.0
0% None documented 0
Rebellion Defense
0.0
0% Not yet assessed 0
General Dynamics
0.0
0% None documented 0
Epirus
0.0
0% Not yet assessed 0
Firefly Aerospace
0.0
0% None documented 0
Blue Origin
0.0
0% Not yet assessed 0
SpaceX
0.0
0% Not yet assessed 0
Redwire Space
0.0
0% Not yet assessed 0
Motiv Space Systems
0.0
0% Not yet assessed 0
Honeybee Robotics
0.0
0% None documented 0
Sierra Space
0.0
0% None documented 0
Nanoracks
0.0
0% None documented 0
Orbit Fab
0.0
0% None documented 0
Impulse Space
0.0
0% None documented 0
Lunar Outpost
0.0
0% None documented 0
Venturi Astrolab
0.0
0% None documented 0
UVision Air
0.0
0% None documented 0
Roboteam
0.0
0% None documented 0
BlueBird Aero Systems
0.0
0% None documented 0
Helsing
0.0
0% None documented 0
EMT Penzberg
0.0
0% None documented 0
Rheinmetall
0.0
0% None documented 0
Diehl Defence
0.0
0% None documented 0
OHB SE
0.0
0% None documented 0
Airbus Defence and Space
0.0
0% None documented 0
Milrem Robotics
0.0
0% None documented 0
WB Group (WB Electronics)
0.0
0% None documented 0
Saab
0.0
0% None documented 0
QinetiQ
0.0
0% None documented 0
BAE Systems
0.0
0% None documented 0
Thales Alenia Space
0.0
0% None documented 0
China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation
0.0
0% None documented 0
ClearSpace
0.0
0% None documented 0
D-Orbit
0.0
0% None documented 0
Space Applications Services
0.0
0% None documented 0
ISRO
0.0
0% Not yet assessed 0
Zen Technologies
0.0
0% None documented 0
Electro Optic Systems
0.0
0% None documented 0
DefendTex
0.0
0% Not yet assessed 0
SYPAQ Systems
0.0
0% Not yet assessed 0
Hanwha Aerospace
0.0
0% None documented 0
LIG Nex1
0.0
0% Not yet assessed 0
Korea Aerospace Industries
0.0
0% Not yet assessed 0
Canadensys Aerospace
0.0
0% Not yet assessed 0
HDT Global
0.0
0% None documented 0
Pratt Miller Defense
0.0
0% None documented 0
Merlin
0.0
0% None documented 0
Citadel Defense
0.0
0% None documented 0
Liteye Systems
0.0
0% None documented 0
DeDrone
0.0
0% None documented 0
AEVEX Aerospace
0.0
0% None documented 0
Near Earth Autonomy
0.0
0% None documented 0
SRC Inc
0.0
0% None documented 0
Numerica Corporation
0.0
0% None documented 0
True Anomaly
0.0
0% None documented 0
Turion Space
0.0
0% None documented 0
Rogue Space Systems
0.0
0% None documented 0
Arkisys
0.0
0% None documented 0
Maxar Technologies
0.0
0% None documented 0
Slingshot Aerospace
0.0
0% None documented 0
Aeronautics Ltd
0.0
0% None documented 0
SmartShooter
0.0
0% None documented 0
ParaZero
0.0
0% None documented 0
D-Fend Solutions
0.0
0% None documented 0
Skylock
0.0
0% None documented 0
Robotican
0.0
0% None documented 0
DroneShield
0.0
0% None documented 0
Sentient Vision Systems
0.0
0% None documented 0
Greenroom Robotics
0.0
0% None documented 0
HEO Robotics
0.0
0% None documented 0
Uconsystem
0.0
0% None documented 0
Hyundai Rotem
0.0
0% None documented 0
Bharat Electronics Limited
0.0
0% None documented 0
Hindustan Aeronautics Limited
0.0
0% None documented 0
Paras Defense and Space Technologies
0.0
0% None documented 0
Grene Robotics
0.0
0% None documented 0
Alpha Design Technologies
0.0
0% None documented 0
Dhaksha Unmanned Systems
0.0
0% None documented 0
ARX Robotics
0.0
0% None documented 0
ESG
0.0
0% None documented 0
Terma A/S
0.0
0% None documented 0
MyDefence
0.0
0% None documented 0
Robin Radar Systems
0.0
0% None documented 0
Delft Dynamics
0.0
0% None documented 0
Kongsberg
0.0
0% None documented 0
MARSS
0.0
0% None documented 0

Recent incidents

SevDateCompanyTypeLocationIncidentSource
S408/19
2026
Katalyst Space Technologies mission-loss Earth orbitNASA and Katalyst end Swift Observatory rescue mission after spacecraft failure · 1 spacecraft (Link) Bloomberg
S408/13
2026
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems mission-loss US lost roughly 25% of MQ-9 Reaper drone fleet during Iran war · 25% of US Reaper fleet (~45 aircraft) … The Washington Post / Je
S408/04
2026
Kratos Defense & Security Solutions crash Dugway Proving Ground, UT, USAXQ-58 Valkyrie crashes at Dugway Proving Ground, flights paused · 1 aircraft TWZ
S408/03
2026
Tekever mission-loss Russia-Ukraine borderTekever AR3 StormShroud UAV shot down and recovered by Russian forces · 1 UAV (AR3 StormShroud) Euronews
S407/26
2026
Baykar crash Bayraktar Akıncı shot down over Yemen (first confirmed combat loss) Defence Security Asia
S407/2026Katalyst Space Technologies malfunction Attitude control and reaction wheel failures leave LINK spacecraft spinning uncontrolled, forcing NASA to abandon Swift rescue/reboost · LINK servicing spacecraft (Swift Rescu… Ars Technica
S412/22
2025
JAXA mission-loss JapanJapanese H3 rocket fails during launch of navigation satellite Space.com / Asahi
S310/2025STARK Defence malfunction Stark Defence's Virtus loitering munition fails all four strikes in military trials · 4 of 4 trial strikes failed DroneXL
S209/16
2025
Northrop Grumman disruption NASA, Northrop Grumman postpone Cygnus XL arrival to ISS following propulsion issue · Cygnus XL cargo mission Google News aggregated
S408/31
2025
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems crash MQ-9 Reaper lost in Middle East due to chafed wire · 1 aircraft Air & Space Forces Magaz
S406/2025Turkish Aerospace Industries crash Konya, TurkeyTAI Anka-3 UCAV prototype lost in hard-landing crash near Konya Aviation Week / Militarn
S401/2025Baykar crash LibyaBayraktar Akıncı drone crashes in Libya Military Africa
S412/12
2024 · 11:10
AVIC (Aviation Industry Corporation of China) crash ChinaYilong-2H drone crashes into Olympic Sports Center in Jingzhou, China Militarnyi
S406/12
2023
Starfish Space mission-loss Spinning spacecraft adds unwelcome twist to Starfish Space's docking test mission · 1 spacecraft (Otter Pup / LEO Pathfind… GeekWire
S306/14
2022
Momentus malfunction Momentus orbital transfer vehicle suffers power problem after launch · 1 vehicle (Vigoride) Spaceflight Now
S201/2022Astroscale malfunction Astroscale pauses debris-removal demo following anomaly SpaceNews
S307/13
2021
Momentus regulatory Stable Road and Momentus reach SEC settlement over false claims SpaceNews
S403/08
2021
STM (Savunma Teknolojileri Mühendislik) regulatory LibyaUN report: STM Kargu-2 loitering munition may have autonomously engaged targets in Libya NPR / New York Times
S312/29
2020
Tekever malfunction Kent, England, UKAAIB report: Tekever AR5 Evolution Mk 2 double engine shutdown near Lydd, Kent GOV.UK / AAIB
S312/2019Safran crash Safran works to correct Patroller UAV after December crash FlightGlobal
S4Space Machines Company mission-loss Optimus-1 orbital servicing satellite lost after communications failure · Optimus-1 orbital servicing satellite psnews.com.au
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