At least nine schools in Florida, Georgia and Colorado will be equipped with pepper-spraying drones designed to respond to active shooters this coming school year.
The drones are made by Austin-based Mithril Defense, which is also known for its Campus Guardian Angel program.
The rollout is part of a broader, multibillion-dollar expansion of high-tech security marketed to schools amid concern over gun violence.
The drones will be stored in wall-mounted boxes and can be activated by teachers, potentially reaching a suspected shooter within about 15 seconds using sirens, strobe lights, pepper spray or physical contact.
The Washington Times reported in November 2025 that the company was running a larger pilot program with 500 drones across dozens of schools in Colorado, Florida, Texas and Washington, D.C., through early February.
The company charges roughly $9,000 for a box of three drones, which Georgetown University’s Edunomics Lab estimated works out to about $20 per student annually — compared with an average of $220 per student for a full-time security officer.
CEO Justin Marston told The Times in November that the system is “the SEAL Team Six of school safety.” Co-founder Bill King, a retired Navy SEAL, told The Washington Post the drones are designed so a shooter “can’t escape them” once deployed.
Education officials have expressed mixed reactions, raising concerns about legal liability, the psychological effect on students, and the possibility that shooters could barricade themselves against the drones.
Since the 1999 shooting at Columbine High School, nearly 400,000 students have experienced gun violence at school in more than 400 recorded shootings, according to a database obtained by the Washington Post.
