A new drone company backed by President Donald Trump's sons is reportedly trying to help fill the void created by the administration's ban on Chinese drones in the United States.
Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. are backing Powerus, a Florida-based drone company aiming to capitalize on rising Pentagon demand for American-made systems and a growing push to reduce reliance on Chinese technology, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Powerus, headquartered in West Palm Beach, is merging with Aureus Greenway Holdings, a publicly traded golf-course holding company also backed by Trump-linked investors.
The reverse merger will allow Powerus to trade on Nasdaq in the coming months and access public capital markets as it scales production.
The deal highlights the increasing role of domestic companies in a rapidly expanding drone sector as the United States seeks to strengthen national security supply chains and reduce dependence on Chinese manufacturers that have long dominated the global drone market.
War Department officials have warned for years that U.S. forces rely too heavily on Chinese-made systems, raising security concerns about data access and supply chain vulnerability.
Recent policy changes from the Trump administration have sought to address those risks.
The federal government banned new Chinese drone models from entering the U.S. market and encouraged American companies to increase production of small military drones.
The Pentagon's Drone Dominance initiative aims to spend roughly $1.1 billion to acquire hundreds of thousands of U.S.-made drones by 2027, creating major opportunities for domestic manufacturers.
Investors in the Powerus-Aureus Greenway Holdings transaction include American Ventures, an investment vehicle linked to the Trump family, and Unusual Machines, a drone components company in which Donald Trump Jr. is both a shareholder and advisory board member.
Powerus is also a customer of Unusual Machines.
Trump-linked investment bank Dominari Securities, which has participated in other Trump family business ventures, is also involved in the deal.
Meanwhile, South Korea's Korea Corporate Governance Improvement Fund has reportedly invested $50 million in the company.
Powerus CEO Andrew Fox said going public will help the company expand manufacturing capacity and acquire additional drone businesses.
The company has already purchased three smaller drone firms in the past six months and plans to scale production to more than 10,000 drones per month — a level that could rival most U.S. competitors.
The company produces both aerial and maritime drones, including heavy-lift models capable of carrying up to 1,000 pounds and drones designed to assist with wildfire suppression.
Powerus co-founder Brett Velicovich, a U.S. Army special operations veteran who has advised drone companies and worked closely with Ukrainian drone developers, said the company is also exploring partnerships to bring battlefield-proven Ukrainian technology to U.S. manufacturing.
Because the U.S. military typically requires American-made weapons systems, Velicovich said domestic production could allow cutting-edge technology developed abroad to be built and deployed by U.S. companies.
"There does need to be an American face in front of it or behind it," he said.
Analysts say the rapidly growing drone sector could become a multibillion-dollar industry as the Pentagon and the private sector accelerate adoption of autonomous systems across defense, infrastructure, and emergency response.
Charlie McCarthy ✉
Charlie McCarthy, a writer/editor at Newsmax, has nearly 40 years of experience covering news, sports, and politics.
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