Ondas Inc. (ONDS): Integrated Drones For Western Armies

Drones, AI, and networks are now increasingly becoming crucial advantages or disadvantages an army can have on the battlefield. What started with limited use of commercial drones as weapon systems in Syria and Armenia has become the deadliest tool of the war in Ukraine and is actively upsetting the balance of power in the Middle East.

This is why drone companies with products fit for defense applications are some of the fastest-growing companies in the industry.

However, the Western nations are severely lagging in drone technology, a problem especially acute as drone technology itself is advancing fast, meaning that just catching up is not enough.

Among the key weaknesses of drone manufacturing in the USA and its allies are an extreme dependence on Chinese parts and raw materials (notably rare earth for magnets in electric motors), a lack of manufacturing at scale, and a tendency to favor high-performance & expensive models (especially from established defense contractors) over mass-produced “good enough” designs.

In total, the current market is estimated to be as large as $100B in size, and still quickly growing.

So it can be very interesting for investors when a tech company that identified the potential of autonomous technology as far back as 2021 is now on an acquisition spree to create a large vertically integrated drone manufacturing company: Ondas Inc. (ONDS )

Ondas Overview

Ondas History

Founded in 2014, the company was initially focused on industrial wireless communication, with its subsidiary, Ondas Networks (formerly Full Spectrum Inc.), which developed the proprietary FullMAX software-defined radio technology.

“Our radios enable wide-area intelligent networks (WANs) for smart grids, smart pipes, smart fields and any other mission critical network that needs internet protocol connectivity.”

From this technological base, the company decided that slower-than-expected technology adoption warranted a shift toward autonomous technologies instead. This was done through the establishment of Ondas Autonomous Systems in 2021, and then by acquiring, in 2023, commercial drone developers like American Robotics and the Israeli autonomous counter-drone firm Airobotics.

In 2026, the company went on a massive strike of serial acquisitions to expand its drone-related technology base:

• DZYNE Technologies: A massive $875.8M acquisition that established the Ondas Sentinel operating division and brought long-endurance autonomous ISR aircraft (intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance) like ULTRA and LEAP.
  • The deal also brought to Ondas a massive $1.5B 3-year commercial and military contract pipeline.
• Insignito, Ottopia & Caribou Labs: A $56M acquisition, bringing :
  • AI-enabled passive acoustic sensing
  • The “DUMBO” architecture used for counter-unmanned aircraft systems (C-UAS) drone detection.
  • AI-driven autonomy, ultra-low-latency one-to-many teleoperation, and mission-critical communications for unmanned systems.
  • GPS-denied navigation, supplying resilient positioning, timing, and communication technologies for GNSS-denied environments.
• Sentrycs: A counter-drone platform specializing in adaptive Cyber-over-RF protocol manipulation technology, aka taking over unauthorized drones by hacking their native radio frequency (RF) communication protocols
• Aran Defense Ltd.: Manufacturing infrastructure with 4,400 square meters of specialized defense-industrial facilities.
• Cyberhawk: A visual data management and cloud-based AI analytics platform utilized for critical infrastructure drone inspection.
• GATE Technologies & Bron Technologies: Integrated electronic safe-and-arm (ESAD) device mechanisms and fuzing technologies into precision-strike platforms.
• World View, Mistral, Omnisys, & 4M Defense (2026): Stratospheric ISR balloons, command-and-control software, and land intelligence solutions.

The result of these acquisitions is the creation of a complete “systems-of-systems” technology stack facilitating the integration of drones on land & air, in multiple roles (ISR, attack, defense, telecom, etc.)

Source: Ondas

Ondas By The Numbers

While in December 2025, Ondas had 459 employees, it had scaled up to 1,700 employees by mid-2026 through hiring and acquisitions. Similarly, the number of offices, distributors, and manufacturing space has also grown very quickly in 2026, with Ondas now present in 60 operating countries.

Source: Ondas

For now, the manufacturing base of the company is spread out, with notably a major US manufacturing hub through a partnership with Detroit Manufacturing Systems (DMS) to manufacture and assemble its autonomous drone platforms, and facilities in Israel inherited from Airobotics, and the ONBERG Joint Venture in Europe.

“ONBERG is designed to become a European one-stop shop for autonomous drone defense systems protecting critical infrastructure, borders, and national security assets. The joint venture will combine OAS’ battle-proven counter-UAS, ISR, and autonomous security technologies with Heidelberg’s 175 years of German engineering excellence, scalable industrial manufacturing capabilities”

The recent growth in capacity also showed in revenues, up 85% year-to-year in Q2 2026, reaching $83.6M, and a +33% organic growth in backlog quarter-to-quarter in 2026, reaching $757M, up 10x since Q4 2025.

Source: Ondas

While unsurprisingly centered around the USA, the current backlog is also diversified, with almost half coming from Europe and the Middle East. ISR and precision strike are the largest segments, but with no single activity dominating the overall company activity.

Source: Ondas

This backlog could grow much further, with the company active in more than $11B worth of defense program pipeline. Most of which is actually out of the USA and centered on Asia Pacific and Europe.

Source: Ondas

The quick growth and many new drone-focused defense programs all over the world are making the company confident that it can now see a turn to profitability soon. With opex growing but at a slower pace than revenues, Ondas projects an adjusted EBITDA break-even point by Q4 2027. With $1.4B in cash and cash equivalents in Q2 2026, this puts the company in a relatively good position to keep growing and not be forced to dilute its existing shareholders.

Ondas’ Drones: Building A Complete Autonomous System

An Expanding Company Structure

The company is organized around three poles:

• Ondas Networks, the original company, is still active in mission-critical private wireless connectivity solutions for Industrial Internet of Things (IOT) applications. This can now include military applications, but also cover the initial railway and industrial applications.
• Ondas Capital is the department supporting the growth of Ondas Inc. through strategic investments, partnerships, and capital formation initiatives.
• Ondas Autonomous Systems, or “OAS”, is the autonomous drone segment. It is quickly becoming the core of the company and is itself divided into four segments:
  • Aerial ISR and Automated Data Collection: drones to deliver persistent situational awareness, inspection, monitoring, and security missions in “complex environments including urban areas, sensitive facilities, and remote field operations”.
  • Loitering Munition System: “One Way Drones” for a variety of missions including defense and strike.
  • Counter-UAS (CUAS): Tools to detect, track, and defeat small hostile drones threatening critical assets, facilities, borders, and operations.
  • Unmanned Ground Vehicles (UGVs) that complement aerial systems. The company’s UGVs are focused on practical operational use cases—such as perimeter support, remote sensing, demining, and ground ISR.

Building A Regulatory Advantage

The early move into autonomy and targeted acquisitions gave Ondas an early advantage regarding drone regulations.

For example, through the American Robotics acquisition, Ondas was the first company to secure FAA approval for fully automated Beyond-Visual-Line-of-Sight (BVLOS) drone operations without a human operator required on-site. The Airobotics Optimus 1-EX also became the first autonomous security drone-in-a-box platform to receive an FAA Type Certification.

These regulatory approvals are important, as they drastically streamline current and future legal approvals to scale fleet operations directly over urban environments, crowds, and critical infrastructure.

System-of-systems Synergies

Intelligence

An interesting element of Ondas’ approach to autonomy is that it is building a fully separate, integrated “system-of-systems” that can function on its own. This approach differs from traditional large defense contractors, which tend to see drones and loitering munitions as an “add-on” to the other military assets they sell, which are often a lot more expensive.

Instead, Ondas’ direction is to build its own unified multi-domain defense infrastructure entirely based on unmanned solutions.

Source: Ondas

The first step is on information with a multi-layer ISR (Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance) infrastructure: from the floor with combat-proven ground robotics (Roboteam), to deep-penetration tactical military aircraft able to maintain surveillance automatically for up to several months at a time, as well as long-endurance stratospheric balloons.

Source: Ondas

This multilayer source of information is then processed by AI agentic systems, in partnership with Palantir. This system, called SkyWeaver, is an on-vehicle edge computing system directly processing visual data from the drone or stratospheric balloon.

“Each platform operates at different altitudes, with different dwell times and sensor modalities. Historically, that diversity creates fragmentation. Separate data streams require human-led fusion, interpretation, and action. SkyWeaver changes the integration model. It fuses those streams automatically and reasons across them as one system.”

Ondas is also quickly integrating other Palantir systems into its operations. For example, it is integrating Palantir Foundry into its IT systems at a record speed, which will improve the company’s internal operations.

Source: Ondas

Strikes

Once identified through ISR and intelligence analysis, military strikes and counter-strikes on enemy equipment can be performed by different types of drones for all required ranges:

• Short range with drone swarm control by close-range A
• Medium-range by loitering munition (like a missile able to keep flying and waiting for a target for several hours).
• Long-range with the SkyLance from the Rotron Aero

Source: Ondas

Importantly, Ondas’ experience in wireless networks also shows in drone operations. This includes several systems:

• DefenseOS, Ondas’ open command-and-control software architecture, for integration of multi-domain data (air, land, etc.) into a coherent view of the battlefield.
• Ottopia’s ultra-low-latency tech for teleoperations, with seamless “one-to-many” remote operations over commercial cellular and private networks.
• Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) hardware that removes the risk of electronic warfare (EW) interference with GPS signals (for example, very common in Ukraine), with GPS coordinates often a key input in many drones and missile targeting systems.
• Potentially, FullMAX software-defined radio technology could also be deployed in defense applications, removing external network reliance entirely

Countering Drones

Lastly, the company is working quickly on improving defense against drone threats, an extremely pressing question for military forces all over the world, with no consensus yet on the best tactical and technological answer to drone warfare.

An important element will be the “bots before boots” approach to deployment of Ondas, with the idea of a cover of flying and ground drones moving ahead of human military forces to suppress potential drone threats.

This works as an interlocking chain of different systems protecting the human fighters:

• Iron Arrow, a long-range flying interceptor
• Iron Wave, an unmanned ground vehicle capabilities containerized for rapid deployment.
• Dual Shield, a modular truck-mounted counter-UAS solution designed for maneuvering forces.
• MODUS, a low-altitude solution for dismounted infantry.
• The SawTooth, a turret using radar, optics, and radio frequencies (3-10 kilometer range / 2-6 miles) for 360° long-rangedetection of drones and intercepting them with either a jammer or machine gun fire.
• The LADOS operating system connects sensors, autonomous systems, communications, and effectors into one operational ecosystem.

The drone countering system-of-systems is combined with other autonomous ground drones addressing other types of threats, reducing mobility and increasing the modern battlefield’s lethality. For example, on top of the Iron Wave protecting from flying drones, a UGV will be in charge of demining, while a “robodog” will scout ahead for human and autonomous threats; the RT-1000, a heavy-payload tactical ground robot, carries sensors, ammunition, and extra equipment, and the RT-200 takes on Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) missions.

Source: Ondas

Ondas Investment Case

Ondas Pros

Ondas has been building on its legacy of secure private wireless networks into a modern defense “startup” with great expertise in drone technology, with explosive revenue growth and a massively expanding order backlog, amidst equally booming demand not just from the US military, but the US allies all over the world.

Through its massive wave of 2026 acquisitions, Ondas has brought together a wide array of previously separate flying and ground drones into a unified system. This creates an impressive set of data integrated into one command software, and a set of both offensive and defensive capabilities all built around drones and the growing threat from drones.

This makes Ondas a potentially extremely valuable partner for any military looking to “catch-up” on drone technology in a one-stop shop. And a likely candidate to greatly benefit from an initial exceptional budget to acquire drone and counter-drone capacities, and then regular re-order and force expansion of drone-centric arsenals.

Lastly, as the company raised $1B in January 2026, it also seems secure in passing the startup’s “Valley of Death”, especially as government orders from not the US but overseas militaries are piling up.

Ondas Cons

Despite its integration of multiple drone systems, Ondas is a newcomer in the defense industry and a relatively small company compared to more established defense contractors. This could play against them, as these competitors will be able to seamlessly integrate their own drone technology into existing and in-operation command software and military operations.

In addition, while Ondas drones are much cheaper than existing competition (for example, $8.75M for one DZYNE ULTRA compared to $30M for a MQ-9 Reaper drone), it might still fail to reach the absolute low costs of some of the US adversaries like Iran, Russia, and China.

So there will likely be an ongoing, year-long pressure to find ever cheaper solutions to drone threats and alternatives to expensive missile systems, which ultimately could squeeze Ondas’s margins and maybe favor larger companies able to produce cheap basic systems at greater scale.

Lastly, manufacturing limits might become an issue for Ondas, as the company is for now controlling a rather fragmented industrial base and depends on subcontractors for the assembly of its drone systems. So while this model so far saved a lot of capital, it might also create hidden vulnerabilities.

Ondas’ Place In A Portfolio

As the geopolitical situation gets ever more tense globally, military budgets are equally ever increasing, be it in Europe, Asia, or the USA. This trend occurs at the same time as military technology experiences a technological revolution, with drones and other cheap missile technology potentially making almost obsolete systems like the main battle tanks and the aircraft carriers.

This can create tremendous opportunities for companies like Ondas that have moved early to provide an integrated, coherent offer ranging from ground autonomous vehicles to ISR and strike drones for targets in all ranges, and diversified counter-drone defense options.

At the same time, this is an extremely competitive field, with virtually every defense company in the world eyeing this sector as key to their future growth. So the recent success in getting awarded drone defense contracts from Ondas should not be taken for granted, as a quickly evolving tactical situation and technology could shift preference to other solutions in a matter of just a few years.

As a result, the company’s stock should take a place as one defense-related investment among others, and likely inside a diversified portfolio with exposure to other sectors as well.

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