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Defense / space · S4 and above incidents

14 documented incidents where industry is Defense / space and severity is S4 and above, across 11 companies, 2021-2026. Every row cites its source; severity runs S1 (near miss) to S5 (fatal or catastrophic). Entity pages: Defense / space · S4 and above.

14Unique incidents
11Companies involved
S4Highest severity
100%Verified
0%From regulators
2021-2026Years 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
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
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
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 2Baykar 2Kratos Defense & Security Solutions 1Tekever 1JAXA 1Turkish Aerospace Industries 1AVIC (Aviation Industry Corporation of China) 1Starfish Space 1STM (Savunma Teknolojileri Mühendislik) 1Space Machines Company 1

More Defense / space views

S3 and above (19)

More S4 and above views

S4 and above (133)fatality (46)2025 (37)Other (35)AV trucking (28)2024 (27)crash (22)2026 (20)injury (18)Tesla (16)mission-loss (13)2023 (12)regulatory (12)
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