Dying Light 2 Military Tech Locations and Upgrade Costs

Military Tech in Dying Light 2 Stay Human comes from Military Airdrops, the supply crates parked on rooftops and towers across Villedor, and you spend it at a Craftmaster to upgrade your paraglider, grappling hook and UV flashlight. Fully upgrading all three takes 14 Military Tech plus 11,000 Old World Money, and guides count 15 Military Tech in the game, so there is very little slack. This guide lists every airdrop location by region, what each upgrade does and the order worth buying them in.

We pulled this together from Push Square's upgrade guide, GosuNoob's airdrop map, TheGamer's Military Tech guide, PowerPyx's Inhibitor route and Techland's update notes, cross-checked in November 2026.

What Military Tech Does

Military Tech is a crafting resource with one job: upgrading Aiden's Nightrunner tools. TheGamer describes it as a must-have resource for getting the most from those tools, and Push Square confirms that each upgrade is bought at any Craftmaster, the crafting vendors marked on your map, using a mix of Military Tech and Old World Money.

It does not upgrade weapons, it does not raise your health or stamina (that is the job of Inhibitors) and it does not give experience. Keeping that straight matters, because it tells you when to go looking for it. You receive the paraglider, grappling hook and UV flashlight as the main story progresses, so collecting Military Tech before you own a tool only lets you buy that tool's upgrade the moment it arrives.

TheGamer also notes a small story quirk: you are handed one Military Tech early in the campaign, but for story reasons you cannot spend it straight away. Hold on to it; it counts toward your first upgrade later.

Upgrade Costs for Every Tool

Each tool has two upgrade tiers in Push Square's breakdown. Here is the full cost list and what each tier adds.

Nightrunner tool upgrades in Dying Light 2 (Push Square)

Upgrade	Military Tech	Old World Money	Effect
Paraglider 1	2	1,000	First tier
Paraglider 2	3	2,000	Speed boost
Grappling Hook 1	2	2,000	Attach to surfaces and gain velocity
Grappling Hook 2	3	3,000	Pull enemies closer
UV Flashlight 1	2	1,000	Bigger cone and battery
UV Flashlight 2	2	2,000	Adds a flash effect

That works out to five Military Tech for the paraglider, five for the grappling hook and four for the UV flashlight. The Old World Money side adds up to 3,000, 5,000 and 3,000 respectively. Old World Money is the easier half to gather, since you collect it during normal play, so Military Tech is almost always the bottleneck. One small quality of life note for players returning in late 2026: Update 1.30 on 22 October 2026 fixed a bug where Old World Money shared an inventory slot with the Pistol Weaponry Kit, so your count should now display correctly when you check whether you can afford an upgrade.

Push Square does not list a stat effect for the first paraglider tier, so treat it mainly as the step you must buy to unlock the speed boost. The grappling hook upgrades change how you move and fight the most, and the UV flashlight upgrades are what keep you alive in night chases.

Every Military Airdrop by Region

GosuNoob's map identifies the airdrops by their in-game codes. The first one comes early with Hakon and is not named on the map; the rest are below, grouped by the part of the city they sit in.

• Old Villedor (Houndfield, Horseshoe, Trinity, Quarry End): THB-04B and THB-17U. THB-04B is on the roof of Saint Joseph Hospital in Houndfield.
• Central Loop (Downtown, Garrison, New Dawn Park): THB-G3T, THB-NW4, THB-UT0, THB-1L0, THB-M30 and THB-R31. THB-1L0 sits on the roof of the Downtown Thugs bandit camp, and both THB-UT0 and THB-NW4 are reached by paragliding off the VNC Tower roof.
• Lower Dam Ayre, Saint Paul Island and Newfound Lost Lands: THB-1N4, THB-4UL, THB-V3P and THB-7U3. THB-4UL is on the roof of the Church of Saint John of God.

GosuNoob warns that the last group sits in high level, dangerous areas, so leave them until your gear has caught up. In practice that means you will finish Old Villedor with only a few Military Tech, since just two named airdrops sit there, and pick up the bulk of your upgrades after reaching the Central Loop, where six of them are clustered around Downtown, Garrison and New Dawn Park. The VNC Tower area is especially efficient: one climb to the roof puts both THB-UT0 and THB-NW4 within paragliding range.

Many of these crates hold more than Military Tech. PowerPyx's route lists Inhibitors inside THB-04B, THB-1L0, THB-UT0, THB-NW4 and THB-4UL, so every rooftop climb also moves your Health or Stamina forward. Our full Inhibitor locations guide covers the rest of those, and our list of every Dying Light 2 safe code catches the safes in the same buildings.

How to Reach and Open an Airdrop

Airdrops are designed as climbing puzzles, which is why they are a good test of your current tools.

1. Spot it first. GosuNoob recommends scanning rooftops with binoculars, since airdrops are often on skyscrapers and other high points that are hard to see from the street.
2. Bring the right kit. You may need the paraglider, the grappling hook and a decent Stamina rank to reach some of them.
3. Use the GRE key. TheGamer explains that Military Tech sits in a special compartment on the far right side of the crate, opened with your GRE key.
4. Pick it up manually. Opening the compartment does not add the Military Tech to your inventory on its own, so grab it before you jump off.

The last step catches a lot of players. If your Military Tech count did not go up after an airdrop, go back; the item is probably still sitting in the open compartment.

Which Upgrades to Buy First

With only 15 Military Tech and 14 needed, order matters more than total. Here is a sensible priority based on what each tier adds.

• Grappling Hook 1 first. Attaching to surfaces and gaining velocity changes traversal across the whole Central Loop and makes reaching the later airdrops easier, which speeds up finding the rest of your Military Tech.
• UV Flashlight 1 second. A bigger cone and longer battery buy time during night chases, where Volatiles punish slow escapes.
• Paraglider 1 and 2 next. The speed boost on the second tier pays off on the long glides between Central Loop towers.
• Grappling Hook 2 and UV Flashlight 2 last. Pulling enemies and the flash effect are strong combat tools, but they matter less for getting around.

If you favor fighting over running, swap that order and buy Grappling Hook 2 earlier. Either way, check your Old World Money before you cash in Military Tech: the second grappling hook tier alone asks for 3,000.

A practical tip on timing: as of November 2026 Dying Light 2 is running its Halloween Showdown 2026 event, which launched with Update 1.30 on 22 October and entered its final week on 9 November. Event enemies roam Villedor, so expect busier rooftops on your airdrop runs. If you are planning your full playthrough around the story choices, our guide to the Dying Light 2 best ending explains which decisions matter, and our guide to every Dying Light game in order covers where this game sits in the series.

Mistakes That Waste Military Tech

Because the game only gives you one spare, small mistakes add up. These are the ones that come up most often in the guides we checked.

• Leaving it in the crate. As TheGamer points out, opening the GRE compartment does not move the Military Tech into your inventory. If you jump straight off the roof, you have to climb back up.
• Climbing too early. GosuNoob notes that some airdrops sit on skyscrapers that need the paraglider, the grappling hook and solid Stamina. Attempting them with low Stamina usually ends in a long fall. Mark them with binoculars and come back later.
• Visiting the outskirts underleveled. The last four airdrops are in high level areas. Rushing them before your gear and Health catch up turns a quick grab into a string of deaths.
• Spending Old World Money elsewhere first. Every upgrade needs both resources. If you blow your Old World Money at vendors, your Military Tech sits unused until you farm more, so keep at least 3,000 in reserve once you are close to a big tier.
• Splitting upgrades evenly. First tiers are cheaper and change more about how you play, so finishing the first tier on all three tools before any second tier is usually better than maxing one tool early.
• Ignoring the rest of the crate. Several airdrops also hold an Inhibitor. Clearing them with the Inhibitor route open saves a second trip to the same rooftop.

None of these are hard to avoid once you know them, and with 15 Military Tech against 14 needed, avoiding them is what lets you finish every upgrade in a single playthrough.

Starting With Military Tech in Hand

Fifteen rooftop crates spread over two maps is a long hunt for a handful of upgrades. If you would rather skip it, the store's 9999 Military Tech in-game transfer for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 delivers 9,999 Military Tech in co-op: the page says the team adds you on PlayStation Network, joins your game and drops the items in stacks, with a typical session of about five to ten minutes. The page also lists Legendary level 250 progression in the package, and no account login is required because it is a co-op drop.

You can browse the store's other Dying Light 2 services, including a modded save and full item transfers, in the Dying Light section.

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