April 6, 2026
A Startup Is Supplying Drones to High Schools to Stop Mass Shootings
April 6, 2026
A Startup Is Supplying Drones to High Schools to Stop Mass Shootings
Christopher Kuo
Wall Street Journal
April 5, 2026
The drones can dart across fields at 100 miles an hour, punch through windows and bowl over assailants.
The sleek, black machines aren’t destined for battlefields in Ukraine or skies above the Middle East. Instead, they will hurtle through the hallways of high schools in Florida and Georgia.
Mithril Defense is deploying fleets of drones—called “Black Arrows”—for schools as part of state-funded programs to increase security and reduce gun violence.
The machines can screech, flash strobe lights and shoot pepper gel to deter assailants—while operated by pilots at the company’s headquarters in Austin, Texas
Executives from Mithril and law-enforcement officials said the drones could reduce student casualties by reaching attackers faster than police or school-resource officers.
“It’s revolutionary,” said Volusia County Sheriff’s Office Capt. Todd Smith, who oversees safety and security for the county’s schools in Florida. The drones are expected to be installed in Deltona High School on Monday and be ready for use this fall. “This is the future.”
“We can take every corner, we’ll swing every door first, because we don’t care if we get shot, we’re metal and plastic,” said Christian Van Sloun, Mithril’s chief drone pilot. If his drone is shot down, he can easily turn to his fellow pilot and instruct them on where the shooter is, he said.
“Our vision is ultimately to be in every school in the nation and to eradicate mass shootings,” Marston said.
Marston and co-founder Bill King, a former Navy SEAL command master chief, assembed an eclectic team—veterans from law enforcement and the military, and several of the country’s top-ranked drone-racing pilots, including some as young as 18.
To read the full story from the Wall Street Journal, click here
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