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European defence technology integrator STV Group and UK cybersecurity firm Post-Quantum have completed what they describe as the first successful trial of quantum-safe drones designed for deployment in active military theatres.
The trial, conducted at STV’s weapons testing facility in the Czech Republic, integrated post-quantum cryptography into combat-tested unmanned aerial systems. The two companies claim it represents the first airborne deployment of the Classic McEliece cryptographic algorithm, a post-quantum public-key encryption scheme that has been studied for nearly 50 years.
The partnership is aimed at addressing a growing concern within NATO allied nations: that drone fleets manufactured and procured today may remain in service for years or even decades, during which time quantum computing could render current encryption methods obsolete.
The Harvest Now, Decrypt Later Problem
The core threat driving the project is what the security community refers to as “harvest now, decrypt later” attacks. The premise is that adversaries may already be intercepting and storing encrypted communications with the expectation of decrypting them once sufficiently capable quantum computers become available.
For military drone operations, which generate continuous streams of sensitive intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) data, this presents a specific risk. Full-motion video, imagery and flight metadata transmitted during missions could potentially be decrypted retroactively if the encryption used at the time of transmission is not resistant to quantum computing attacks.
The partnership’s architecture addresses this by using Classic McEliece to encrypt ISR data for the duration of each mission, with the goal of ensuring long-term confidentiality against both classical and quantum decryption methods.
Why Classic McEliece
Classic McEliece is based on the original McEliece cryptosystem, which has been subjected to cryptanalytic scrutiny for close to 50 years without a successful attack on its core security assumptions. It is widely regarded within the cryptographic community as a conservative choice for scenarios where long-term data confidentiality is a priority.
The algorithm has historically been considered impractical for certain operational environments due to its large key sizes. Airborne platforms operating in denied, disrupted, intermittent and limited (DDIL) communications conditions – the type of environment encountered in active conflict zones – were thought to be particularly challenging for the algorithm.
Rikky Hasan, Chief Executive Officer of Post-Quantum, pushed back on that assumption.
“Classic McEliece’s large key size has long been considered too large for real-world deployments, especially for airborne platforms operating in DDIL environments,” Hasan stated. “We have proven that assumption wrong.”
Hasan pointed to the algorithm’s small ciphertexts and fast encryption speed as factors that make it viable for drone ISR protection.
“Its tiny ciphertexts and ultra-fast encryption, combined with our experience in government-grade radio communications and electronic warfare, make it the ideal choice for protecting drone ISR against both classical and quantum attacks,” he added.
Post-Quantum is a co-inventor of the Classic McEliece algorithm and has been working on post-quantum cryptography since 2009. The company is also the author of the IETF hybrid quantum-safe VPN protocol.
Operational Context
The trial takes place against a backdrop of rapidly expanding drone use in modern military operations. Unmanned systems now support a range of functions including ISR, electronic warfare, precision strike, border security and critical infrastructure monitoring. Drone fleets are increasingly operating in swarms and across multiple domains, placing growing demands on communications security.
In active theatres such as Ukraine and the Middle East, unmanned platforms must contend with jamming, GPS denial, signal interception, beyond-line-of-sight missions over degraded communications links and the continuous transmission of sensitive data.
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STV Group operates unmanned platforms in Ukraine, where drone communications are among the most contested environments globally. The company is one of a small number of firms that can deploy its drone solutions directly to theatre without additional certification.
Pavel Kudrhalt, Chief Executive Officer of STV Group, outlined the operational imperative behind the collaboration.
“STV’s unmanned platforms operate daily in Ukraine, where drone communications are among the most contested in the world,” Kudrhalt explained. “In this environment, communications security is no longer an afterthought – the risk of an adversary intercepting or even seizing control of a drone swarm is simply unacceptable.”
“By integrating Classic McEliece into our operational stack, we are giving our customers the strongest available future-proof cryptography, engineered for the realities of the battlefield and ready for immediate deployment,” he added.
What The Trial Demonstrated
The collaboration produced two claimed firsts: a quantum-resilient drone architecture designed for contested operational environments, and the first airborne deployment of Classic McEliece for DDIL communications.
The trial combined STV’s unmanned systems and command-and-control infrastructure with Post-Quantum’s cryptography and secure radio technologies. The architecture encrypts full-motion video, imagery and flight metadata during missions, with the aim of protecting that data against future quantum decryption capabilities.
Hasan framed the partnership as extending beyond cryptography into a broader sovereign capability.
“This partnership is about more than cryptography – it is about delivering a complete sovereign unmanned operations system, with quantum-resilient security built in as standard,” he remarked.
Deployment Roadmap
The two companies plan to begin phased integration of the quantum-resilient UAV platform across European and allied defence programmes. Further field validation will be conducted on systems already operating in active theatres.
The architecture has been designed with extensibility in mind. The companies intend to apply the same quantum-resilient communications layer to ground, maritime and subsurface unmanned platforms, moving the technology beyond aerial systems.
The Broader Post-Quantum Landscape
The trial sits within a wider push across defence and government sectors to transition cryptographic systems to post-quantum standards before large-scale quantum computing becomes a reality.
The US National Security Agency’s CNSA 2.0 guidance sets timelines for the adoption of quantum-resistant algorithms across national security systems. Post-Quantum has positioned itself as being equipped to deliver CNSA 2.0 compliant requirements in constrained operational environments.
For NATO allies, the question of when to begin transitioning drone communications to post-quantum encryption is increasingly being framed as a near-term priority rather than a future consideration, given the long operational lifespans of unmanned platforms and the risk that encrypted data captured today could be decrypted in the future.
Further information on STV Group is available at www.stvgroup.cz. Details on Post-Quantum can be found at www.post-quantum.com.
Last Updated on March 31, 2026 by Nick Ross
