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Houston startup Paladin Drones, founded in 2018, is focused on using drones to support first responders in emergency contexts. In February 2026, it debuted its Knighthawk 2.0 model. (Courtesy Paladin Drones) <\/p>\n Houston startup Paladin Drones, founded in 2018, is focused on using drones to support first responders in emergency contexts. In February 2026, it debuted its Knighthawk 2.0 model. (Courtesy Paladin Drones) <\/p>\n
Houston startup Paladin Drones<\/a> is launching a new model of its Knighthawk drone as the global market grows and the regulatory environment for such technologies evolves.<\/p>\n The Knighthawk 2.0 has been developed in partnership with Portuguese drone manufacturer Beyond Vision<\/a>, Paladin said in a news release, and will debut Sunday\u00a0at the World Defense Show<\/a> in Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n The new model complies with the provisions of the National Defense Authorization Act, said founder and CEO\u00a0Divy\u00a0Shrivastava, meaning that its manufacturing supply chain is considered secure by the government of the United States and its allies. It will have a “significantly improved” sensor suite, with optical zoom that allows the Knighthawk to pick out license plates on the ground from at least 200 feet.<\/p>\n The new drone will also be faster than its predecessor, with a top speed of more than 40 mph, giving first responders information from emergency situations several miles away in as little as 70 seconds.<\/p>\n “The core concept that we focus on is getting eyes on in 90 seconds or less,” said Shrivastava in an interview Wednesday. “If you can get eyes on in 90 seconds or less, you can understand what is happening.”<\/p>\n DRONE DELIVERY: Drone delivery company Zipline is coming to Houston this spring. What to know<\/a><\/p>\n Shrivastava said that he began building robots as a boy, growing up in a small town in Ohio. Personal experience spurred his interest in public-safety drones. In high school, he said, a friend’s house burned down. The event was devastating for the entire community\u00a0and spurred him to consider how new technologies might help first responders do their lifesaving work: the town’s fire marshal had told him that fires can double in size every thirty seconds<\/a>-and he knew that in the case of his friend’s family, the person who called 911, in a state of panic, gave an address halfway across town.<\/p>\n Paladin Drones\u00a0was formally founded in 2018, when\u00a0Shrivastava was a student at the University of California, Berkeley. The startup swiftly drew interest from\u00a0Y Combinator<\/a>, the influential tech incubator. He ultimately dropped out of college and moved to Houston after Paladin scored its first contract, for a three-month pilot program with the Memorial Villages Police Department, in 2019.<\/p>\n Today, he said, Paladin has about 40 employees, the majority of them based in Houston, and works with more than 100 departments in 25 states.\u00a0The company’s core values include innovation, safety and community.<\/p>\n AGRICULTURAL DRONES: This Houston-area agricultural drone company started in a UT dorm room. Now it’s ready for liftoff.<\/a><\/p>\n The\u00a0Knighthawk 2.0 debut comes as more drones take to the skies over the region. Walmart last month launched drone delivery service<\/a> in the region, and the drone delivery company Zipline plans to do the same<\/a> this spring.<\/p>\n For now, Shrivastava said, Paladin drones are only flying in the Memorial Villages, but the company has ambitious expansion plans. The company’s website says it vision is “to have a UAV responding to every 911 call\u00a0in the United States<\/a> by 2027.”<\/p>\n Launching in smaller communities such as the Villages, he added, has given Paladin the opportunity to fine-tune its processes as well as its technology, to account for community concerns around privacy, for example.<\/p>\n “I love Houston. Houston is, quite literally, my favorite city. But I grew up in smaller towns,”\u00a0Shrivastava said. “If we can build something where it’s not just for the large cities, but for ones where you have 5,000 people living, that’s massive. That’s how you prove that the system is something that can be used everywhere.”<\/p>\n