Not seen
Reduce signatures and avoid initial detection.
Layered protection for a more maneuverable force
Protection that
preserves maneuver.
Lead Element develops adaptable protection and survivability solutions for Soldiers, teams, and critical equipment operating in increasingly contested environments. Through signature management, concealment, and deception, we aim to preserve mobility and freedom of action.
Our approach01 / The protection problem
Protect before the threat arrives.
As the Army fields more drones, autonomous vehicles, sensors, and dispersed teams, the people, communications nodes, and equipment supporting them must also survive. Protection begins before an engagement: preserve maneuver and combat power through complementary effects.
Not understood
Create uncertainty and complicate identification.
Not engaged
Complicate targeting and deny effective engagement.
Survive if engaged
Increase resilience when earlier layers fail.
02 / Our approach
Layered protection.
Built for small units.
Protection is not a single device or a last-minute reaction. We are developing complementary, deployable systems using modular components, common materials, replaceable panels, and adaptable interfaces to reduce exposure while preserving mission capability.
Start with Sponson
03 / First product
Small teams.
Greater protection.
Our first product addresses dismounted reconnaissance and small UAS teams. Our mission extends beyond any single product.
Early development
Sponson
Mobile concealment.
Mission first.
We’re developing a backpackable, field-repairable multispectral hide for reconnaissance and small UAS teams—designed around rapid setup, access to equipment, and rapid displacement.
- Mobility
- Low bulk. Small-team carry.
- Function
- Observation. Airflow. Access.
- Sustainment
- Modular panels. Field repair.
These are design priorities. Performance validation is planned; no physical prototype has been built yet.
Talk about your field requirements (opens in a new tab)04 / Broader protection
Beyond
small teams.
Future development directions span people, equipment, and small units. These are areas of exploration, not currently fielded products.
Dismounted teams
Mobile signature management and rapid displacement for small units.
Equipment & vehicles
Explore adaptable protective materials and modular, replaceable components for antennas, vehicles, communications nodes, and other exposed assets.
Small-unit protection
Explore complementary concealment, deception, and survivability layers for teams and small units.
05 / Company
Built from
the field.
Reconnaissance teaches you to think about what the other side sees, believes, and does next. That perspective shapes everything we build.
Pre-seed / Founder-funded
Lead Element is a pre-seed, founder-funded defense technology company advancing protection and survivability through innovative hardware and advanced materials. We’re currently focused on technical validation, prototype development, and establishing research and manufacturing partnerships.
We are in early R&D, before a physical prototype, and are prioritizing non-dilutive R&D funding and strategic partnerships.
Katherine HathawayFounder & CEO
Katherine served for 10 years in the U.S. Army and was an Armor officer. She commanded an M1A2 Abrams tank company and a cavalry headquarters troop, and served as a tactics officer instructor for armored warfare at the Armor School at Fort Benning.
More about our founder
Her background spans cavalry reconnaissance and security, brigade planning, Atlantic Resolve, Spartan Shield, and training at the National Training Center and Joint Multinational Readiness Center.
She also brings Fortune 100/FAANG logistics and operations experience at Amazon, disaster response as a FEMA Deployment Manager, and business operations experience in the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory’s National Security Space Mission Area.
Katherine holds an MS in Global Technology and Development from Arizona State University and is completing the dual MBA/MA in Design Leadership at Johns Hopkins University and the Maryland Institute College of Art.
06 / Manufacturing
American-made.
From the start.
We’re developing a domestic supply and manufacturing base built around material traceability, quality control, repeatable fabrication, and repairable modular construction. Our goal is American-made protective systems that can be adapted and produced at useful scale; these capabilities are still being developed.
Connect as a materials or manufacturing partner07 / News & events
From the field.
Into the conversation.
Company milestones, founder appearances, and selected reading on the changing protection problem.
Upcoming / November 5, 2026
STATION DC · Washington, DC
Lead Element at
Fed SuperNova DC
Katherine Hathaway will present Lead Element in the startup pitch session, sharing our approach to protection and survivability for Soldiers, small teams, and critical equipment.
The session runs from 3:30–3:50 p.m. ET. Hosted by STATION DC, the event brings founders, government, and industry together around moving capability into the field faster.
View the agenda & registration (opens in a new tab)
Onstage / October 20, 2026
Boundary Breakers
At the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg Center during DC Startup & Tech Week, Katherine shared how her Army experience shapes Lead Element’s approach: protection must account for the person carrying, setting up, and using the technology.
“What does your innovation ask of the person who has to use it?”
Read the speaker feature in Technical.ly (opens in a new tab)More from Boundary Breakers
Industry reading
The context behind the mission.
Selected external reporting and professional perspectives relevant to protection and survivability.
Stars and Stripes / October 29, 2026
Army’s camouflage cat-and-mouse game enters age of AI (opens in a new tab)
Reporting on the Army’s parallel efforts to improve AI-assisted detection and develop camouflage that challenges it.
U.S. Army / October 19, 2026
Radar Screening Obscuration Tech Moves Closer to Warfighter Hands (opens in a new tab)
An Army update on obscuration research addressing radar sensing, illustrating how the protection problem extends across sensor types.
Engineer / April 22, 2026
Rethinking Survivability (opens in a new tab)
A professional perspective on adapting survivability measures to the threat, including concealment in a drone-observed environment.
These articles provide industry context. They are not coverage, validation, or endorsements of Lead Element or Sponson.
08 / Contact
Bring us the
field problem.
Operators. Researchers. Manufacturers. Acquisition teams.
Bring us an operational problem we can prototype, test, and refine.