The lightest NDAA-compliant drone mission computer in our catalog is the ARK Jetson PAB Carrier V3, weighing 66 g. It's a Pixhawk Autopilot Bus (PAB) carrier for NVIDIA Jetson Orin NX/Nano modules, pairs with any PAB flight controller such as the ARKV6X, and is US-built.
Here are all four NDAA-compliant drone mission computers we carry, ranked by weight:
| Rank | Product | Manufacturer | Weight | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ARK Jetson PAB Carrier V3 | ARK Electronics | 66 g | PAB carrier, Jetson Orin NX/Nano, 2x M.2, HDMI |
| 2 | ARK Just A Jetson | ARK Electronics | 75 g | Carrier board with direct battery input up to 75 V and built-in IMU |
| 3 | ARK Jetson PAB Carrier (V1) | ARK Electronics | 80 g | PAB carrier, 5 USB ports, 4 MIPI camera inputs |
| 4 | SA COMPUTE PRO-AR | Mobilicom (with ARK Electronics) | 172 g | Complete mission computer: Jetson Orin NX 16GB (USA-made), 70 TOPS, IP65, MIL-STD-810H/704/461, Blue UAS Framework Listed |
arkelectro... +6arkelectron.com ↗“NDAA compliant, US-built”arkelectron.com ↗“mechanical.weight_g=66 g”arkelectron.com ↗“mechanical.weight_g=75 g”arkelectron.com ↗“mechanical.weight_g=80 g”mobilicom.com ↗“mechanical.weight_g=172 g”mobilicom.com ↗“Blue UAS Framework Listed, NDAA compliant”mobilicom.com ↗“MIL-STD-810H, MIL-STD-704, MIL-STD-461”
A few considerations for your defense application:
- The ARK Jetson PAB V3 is a carrier board, not a complete computer — the total weight will increase once you add a Jetson Orin NX or Orin Nano module (the V1 requires a 5 V power module such as the ARK PAB Power Module; the V3 uses the same 5 V, 4 A minimum input).
- The SA COMPUTE PRO-AR is the heaviest but the most turnkey — it's the only one of the four that ships as an integrated, cybersecured mission computer (Jetson Orin NX 16GB module included, 16 GB memory, 480 GB storage, 70 TOPS INT8 sparse). It is also the only one carrying Blue UAS Framework Listed status plus MIL-STD-810H, MIL-STD-704, and MIL-STD-461 qualifications, which matters if your customer requires DoD program of record eligibility rather than NDAA compliance alone.
All four are NDAA-compliant, so the choice comes down to whether you need the absolute lightest carrier (ARK V3 at 66 g) or a qualified, sealed integrated computer (SA COMPUTE PRO-AR, IP65, −25 °C to 55 °C operating).