Jason Cornelius

Jason Cornelius
Occupation	Entrepreneur, aerospace engineer
Known for	Co-founder and CEO of Perseus Defense
Education	PhD in aerospace engineering, Pennsylvania State University

Jason Cornelius is an American aerospace engineer and entrepreneur. He is the co-founder and CEO of Perseus Defense, a defense technology company developing low-cost guided micro-missiles for counter-unmanned aerial system (counter-UAS) applications. The company is a participant in Y Combinator's Summer 2025 batch.

Early life and education

Cornelius holds a PhD in aerospace engineering from Pennsylvania State University. While at Penn State, he was selected as a Stanford United States-Russia Forum (SURF) fellow in 2021. His doctoral research involved aircraft design, supercomputing, and machine learning.

Career

Before founding Perseus Defense, Cornelius worked at NASA, where he contributed to the design of the Titan Dragonfly space helicopter and led projects related to next-generation Mars rotorcraft. He also contributed to aerospace programs for the Department of Defense and the commercial aerospace sector. Additionally, Cornelius taught aerodynamics at Stanford University and founded an international drone competition.

Perseus Defense

Cornelius co-founded Perseus Defense with Steve, whom he met at Penn State during their graduate studies. The company develops a mass-manufactured counter-UAS solution intended for use by the Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security. The company's core product is a self-guided micro-missile platform that is man-portable and multi-domain capable, designed to be deployed from ground vehicles, UAVs, boats, and dismounted infantry positions.

The company positions its product as a response to the growing threat posed by small, inexpensive drones on modern battlefields. According to Perseus Defense, existing counter-UAS kinetic solutions can cost $250,000 or more per engagement to defeat drones that may cost as little as $500. The company's guided micro-missile system is designed to target Group 1 and Group 2 drones at ranges exceeding 1,000 meters at a fraction of the cost of current alternatives.

Perseus Defense describes the system as capable of sensing, engaging, and eliminating drone threats with reduced cost per engagement compared to existing kinetic solutions. The platform offers mounted, dismounted, and low-collateral variants for combined arms use. The company's stated mission is to enable mass production of affordable, scalable micro-guided missiles ready for field deployment.