The US defense company EagleNXT has announced a contract with the US Army to deliver its eBee Vision drone, designed for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) operations as well as training missions. Specifically, the company will supply two drones for “advanced training and operator readiness programs.” Zona Militar had an exclusive conversation with Bill Irby, CEO of EagleNXT, about the company’s current and future plans.
The global drone market is highly competitive, with many new entrants. In Latin America, regional armed forces are procuring UASs from international suppliers but also manufacturing them domestically. EagleNXT wants to expand its footprint into the Latin American market; Irby explained, “we are actively engaged with several Latin American countries evaluating the eBee VISION for both training and operational ISR roles.”
The CEO confirmed Paraguay’s interest, “EagleNXT is currently preparing demonstration events in Paraguay during the second quarter of the year.” (Asunción and Washington have growing defense relations, as Zona Militar has previously analyzed). The executive explained, “these activities will showcase the eBee VISION’s real-time ISR capabilities in operational environments and ability to execute the missions even in Latin America’s challenging terrain.”
EagleNXT’s partners in Latin America include Geo Agri and Santiago & Cintra in Brazil, GESTECNER in Paraguay, eCompass in Colombia, and “trusted distributors” in Argentina and Peru, among other countries.
Irby is confident that the eBee Vision drone can perform efficiently in Latin America’s challenging environments, including the Andes mountains and the dense Amazon jungle. The company told ZM that their drone is “specifically engineered to operate in austere, unpredictable, and demanding environments, making it well-suited for these conditions.”
The drone’s capabilities include “effectively” operating even in GNSS-denied conditions, thanks to its advanced imaging, real-time navigation tools, and software. “This is highly relevant for dense rainforest regions like the Amazon, where canopy cover and humidity often affect GPS performance, and for narrow Andean valleys prone to signal obstruction,” Irby noted.
Moreover, because the eBee Vision drones are person portable, they can be easily deployed in jungle clearings, mountainous ridges, or desert outposts. “This portability ensures that small patrol teams or special operations units can carry and deploy it during long-range missions.” For example, the drone’s 32x zoom, thermal camera can help dismounted units in sensitive locations to identify targets like clandestine narcotics labs, illegal airstrips, insurgent hideouts, or suspicious movement in areas with heavy vegetation or rugged terrain.
As for the US military, EagleNXT has previously supplied drones to different units, including for Opposing Force (OPFOR) training at the Joint Multinational Readiness Center in Germany. The eBee Vision drone is utilized to “simulate real-world ISR scenarios, from adversary aerial surveillance to live data-driven mission planning, reflecting a broader shift toward portable, field-deployable drones in training environments,” the company explained in a press release.
In response to a question by ZM about the delivery of the new drones for the US Army, CEO Irby noted that “while we do not disclose exact delivery schedules for contractual and security reasons, this acquisition is intended for rapid integration into Army training programs.”
He did confirm that the new contract “builds directly on prior deliveries, including three eBee VISION systems provided to the 1st Battalion, 4th Infantry Regiment (OPFOR) at the Joint Multinational Readiness Center in Germany in late 2025.”
The drone provides a real-time high-resolution video and data transmission for immediate instructor feedback, trainee debriefs, and alignment with US Army doctrine and tactics in both simulated and operational environments. The system is designed to be portable by dismounted troops, as the eBee Vision can be transported in a backpack and quickly deployed on the field.
The eBee Vision has up to 90 minutes of endurance, weighs 1.8 kg, has a max speed of 80 km/h, and a wingspan of 118 cm. The drone has a range of around 20 km and can be deployed within three minutes, according to EagleNXT. The platform offers high-resolution video capabilities, including an RGB camera with 32x zoom and a thermal camera with 5x zoom. A complete system includes a hard case or backpack, a ground control station (GCS), two smart batteries, a smart charger, and other technical equipment.
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