Month: November 2025

• Western soldiers are using Xbox controllers to fly interceptor drones.
• The drones, part of the Merops system, have been used in Ukraine and are now being deployed by NATO.
• A US soldier training on Merops said the Xbox controller makes it easy to work the system.

NOWA DĘBA, Poland — Western soldiers are using off-the-shelf Xbox controllers to pilot $15,000 interceptor drones that are combat-proven in Ukraine and now part of NATO’s toolbox for battling a growing threat.

The Merops system, an American-made air-defense setup that comes with an Xbox controller for the operators, launches interceptor drones capable of destroying enemy drone threats midair. US, Polish, and Romanian troops have been training on it as NATO rushes to field affordable air defenses across Eastern Europe.

A US soldier who pilots the interceptors told Business Insider that the Xbox controller is an ideal choice.

“It’s compact and easy to pack and store, and Xbox controllers are very rugged,” Army Sgt. Riley Hiner said on the sidelines of a Merops demonstration in southeast Poland this week.

‘Very intuitive’

The US and other global militaries have long used Xbox-style controllers to support operations, including those involving drones. The practice has expanded to the war in Ukraine and is now being applied to the Merops system.

Controllers akin to those of Microsoft’s Xbox or other video game systems have been increasingly integrated into military systems. The controls are often easier for soldiers who grew up playing with something similar to operate. They adapt right away, something that might not happen with an overly engineered system built to meet specialized military specifications.

Microsoft didn’t respond to Business Insider’s request for comment on the use of its gamepad in a military system.

Hiner said that he has experience playing video games on Xbox and believes that being a gamer can translate into being a good pilot. With the Merops system, there’s already a level of familiarity with the controls.

“I feel like a lot of soldiers nowadays do play Xbox,” he said. “It’s very intuitive. Once you learn the scheme of the controls, you just send them out, and you can fly.”

Other American soldiers, as well as Ukrainian operators, have said gamers make good drone pilots, and Hiner agreed, saying that troops with experience playing video games tend to have few problems handling the Merops system. The biggest challenge is just figuring out the best course for interception.

The first-person-view (FPV) drones that dominate the battlefield in Ukraine tend to require similar equipment to video games — controllers, screens, and headsets — but Ukrainian operators have stressed that the real missions are far more complicated with serious consequences. It’s often life or death.

For the Merops system, it’s a similar situation. A failed intercept means the target threat is likely to fly on to find its mark, potentially delivering death and destruction, as many Shahed-type drones in Ukraine have done.

Merops, developed by the American initiative Project Eagle, consists of a ground control station, launch platforms that are capable of firing from the bed of a pickup truck, and the “Surveyor” interceptor drone. It is operated by a team of four, including a commander, a pilot, and two technicians.

Ready in weeks, not months or years

Merops has been used extensively by Ukraine to intercept Russian strike and reconnaissance drones; US military officials said Kyiv has logged over 1,000 kills of the Shahed-type one-way attack drones Russia uses to bombard Ukrainian cities.

Now, NATO forces are training on the Merops system after Poland and Romania decided to purchase and deploy it to defend their airspace following a string of Russian drone incursions. The US is involved with the training program but has not procured the technology.

Merops, like other interceptor drone systems, comes delivered to the buyer with the necessary Xbox controller, the same exact system someone somewhere is using to play Call of Duty. If it breaks, soldiers can just purchase another off the shelf; they sell for as little as $30 on Amazon.

Soldiers training on the Merops system undergo a two-week course, a significantly expedited commitment compared to what’s required for other weapons. Part of the process involves simulated operations and drawing from lessons learned in Ukraine.

US Army Brig. Gen. Curtis King, the head of the 10th Army Air and Missile Defense Command, described Merops as a user-friendly system and said some of the NATO soldiers involved in training have never flown a drone before.

“Within days, they’re able to figure out how to operate the capability,” King said on the sidelines of this week’s technology demonstration. Within two weeks, soldiers will be able to “demonstrate how to effectively kill a drone. So this doesn’t take six months, it doesn’t take a year.”

• Goldman Sachs says that trillions of private wealth assets are eager to invest in hedge funds.
• Hedge funds long favored pensions and endowments over private wealth.
• With institutions tied up in illiquid private funds, the wealthy could be hedge funds’ new fundraising focus.

The $5 trillion hedge fund industry is backed by some of the biggest pools of money in the world — pensions, endowments, and sovereign wealth funds.

But those big-name institutions are facing a cash crunch thanks to capital tied up in illiquid private equity and venture funds. For hedge funds looking to grow, there are trillions of dollars outside the institutions wanting in on the action, according to Goldman Sachs.

Private wealth — which refers to money held on platforms run by the private banking divisions of places like Goldman as well as wealth advice giants like Merrill Lynch, independent advisors, and family offices — is eager to invest in hedge funds and has plenty of capital to put to work.

Goldman’s report estimates that less than $500 billion of the $50.7 trillion of private wealth assets are in hedge funds. If this segment of capital followed the recommendation of chief investment officers from these platforms and family offices for hedge fund exposure, there would be more than $4 trillion in hedge fund investments — close to the industry’s total assets.

“Even closing 10% of this gap would double the current assets” that private wealth has in hedge funds, Goldman’s report states.

There have been big-name managers that have already tapped this space. Millennium has sold LP stakes in its flagship fund via private bank advisors and offered a piece of its business to wealthy clients of banks like Goldman, Morgan Stanley, and UBS. Jain Global tapped the private wealth channel for capital before launching in mid-2024. Coatue and Tiger Global count platforms like JPMorgan’s private bank as investors.

The channel is hungriest for more hedge fund exposure, according to Goldman’s report. A survey done by the bank’s capital introduction team found that 68% of private bank advisors and RIAs wanted to increase their hedge fund bets this year, while only 4% intended to cut them. Meanwhile, only 31% of pension and insurance investors wanted to put more into hedge funds. For endowments, foundations, and sovereign wealth funds, it was even worse — 30% wanted to increase hedge fund exposure while 14% wanted less.

Hedge funds thrive in chaos

For years, private wealth managers shunned hedge funds, which were perceived to have high fees and middling performance.

But choppy markets and higher interest rates since the pandemic have led to an “improved image” of the industry in the eyes of the rich and their advisors, Goldman’s report states.

It helps that firms have made money too: Goldman notes that the average fund has returned 9.4% annually from 2020 through June of 2025, while a 60/40 stocks-bonds portfolio was up only 6.6% annually over the same period.

The question for managers is, where do all these assets go? The industry is as big as it has ever been, and plenty of well-known firms are closed to new capital or returning money to investors to avoid becoming too bloated. Marshall Wace is the latest, according to Bloomberg, with plans to give $3.1 billion back to investors in its two largest funds.

The firms that have become the largest in the industry are the multistrategy behemoths that now have headcounts in the thousands and teams based around the world. These managers, especially those with established track records, such as Millennium, Citadel, and Point72, are often able to raise assets quickly but are constrained by a lack of talent.

Still, for funds seeking capital and willing to hire fundraisers focused on the needs of the private wealth channel, there are trillions of dollars available for the taking.

“The wealth segment offers both a new frontier and a formidable — but surmountable — challenge for managers. Those who invest in understanding the landscape, building the right capabilities, and fostering long-term relationships will be best positioned to capture this wave of growth,” Goldman’s report reads.

Acamar Films, producer of animated series Bing, has appointed industry veteran and entrepreneur Sir Peter Bazalgette as chairman as the UK indie targets its next phase of growth.