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Defense / space · S3 and above incidents

19 documented incidents where industry is Defense / space and severity is S3 and above, across 14 companies, 2019-2026. Every row cites its source; severity runs S1 (near miss) to S5 (fatal or catastrophic). Entity pages: Defense / space · S3 and above.

19Unique incidents
14Companies involved
S4Highest severity
100%Verified
0%From regulators
2019-2026Years covered

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Incident list

SevDateCompanyTypeLocationIncidentSource
S419 Aug 2026Katalyst Space Technologies mission-loss Earth orbitNASA and Katalyst end Swift Observatory rescue mission after spacecraft failure · 1 spacecraft (Link) Bloomberg
S413 Aug 2026General 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) lost The Washington Post / Je
S404 Aug 2026Kratos Defense & Security Solutions crash Dugway Proving Ground, UT, USAXQ-58 Valkyrie crashes at Dugway Proving Ground, flights paused · 1 aircraft TWZ
S403 Aug 2026Tekever mission-loss Russia-Ukraine borderTekever AR3 StormShroud UAV shot down and recovered by Russian forces · 1 UAV (AR3 StormShroud) Euronews
S426 Jul 2026Baykar crash —Bayraktar Akıncı shot down over Yemen (first confirmed combat loss) Defence Security Asia
S4~Jul 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 Rescue Mission) Ars Technica
S422 Dec 2025JAXA mission-loss JapanJapanese H3 rocket fails during launch of navigation satellite Space.com / Asahi
S3~Oct 2025STARK Defence malfunction —Stark Defence's Virtus loitering munition fails all four strikes in military trials · 4 of 4 trial strikes failed DroneXL
S431 Aug 2025General Atomics Aeronautical Systems crash —MQ-9 Reaper lost in Middle East due to chafed wire · 1 aircraft Air & Space Forces Magaz
S4~Jun 2025Turkish Aerospace Industries crash Konya, TurkeyTAI Anka-3 UCAV prototype lost in hard-landing crash near Konya Aviation Week / Militarn
S4~Jan 2025Baykar crash LibyaBayraktar Akıncı drone crashes in Libya Military Africa
S412 Dec 2024AVIC (Aviation Industry Corporation of China) crash ChinaYilong-2H drone crashes into Olympic Sports Center in Jingzhou, China Militarnyi
S412 Jun 2023Starfish Space mission-loss —Spinning spacecraft adds unwelcome twist to Starfish Space's docking test mission · 1 spacecraft (Otter Pup / LEO Pathfinder) GeekWire
S314 Jun 2022Momentus malfunction —Momentus orbital transfer vehicle suffers power problem after launch · 1 vehicle (Vigoride) Spaceflight Now
S313 Jul 2021Momentus regulatory —Stable Road and Momentus reach SEC settlement over false claims SpaceNews
S408 Mar 2021STM (Savunma Teknolojileri Mühendislik) regulatory LibyaUN report: STM Kargu-2 loitering munition may have autonomously engaged targets in Libya NPR / New York Times
S329 Dec 2020Tekever malfunction Kent, England, UKAAIB report: Tekever AR5 Evolution Mk 2 double engine shutdown near Lydd, Kent GOV.UK / AAIB
S3~Dec 2019Safran crash —Safran works to correct Patroller UAV after December crash FlightGlobal
S4not documentedSpace Machines Company mission-loss —Optimus-1 orbital servicing satellite lost after communications failure · Optimus-1 orbital servicing satellite psnews.com.au

Companies involved

Katalyst Space Technologies 2General Atomics Aeronautical Systems 2Tekever 2Baykar 2Momentus 2Kratos Defense & Security Solutions 1JAXA 1STARK Defence 1Turkish Aerospace Industries 1AVIC (Aviation Industry Corporation of China) 1Starfish Space 1STM (Savunma Teknolojileri Mühendislik) 1Safran 1Space Machines Company 1

More Defense / space views

S4 and above (14)

More S3 and above views

S3 and above (278)AV trucking (75)2025 (70)recall (69)2024 (48)2026 (47)Other (46)fatality (46)Medical robotics (42)regulatory (40)crash (33)Tesla (28)injury (26)2023 (23)Drones / eVTOL (23)malfunction (23)USA (22)Waymo (21)fire (19)Warehouse automation (14)Energy storage (13)mission-loss (13)2019 (11)Consumer robotics (11)
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