Ondas (ONDS) stock surges on latest $35M drone manufacturing investment
Ondas Holdings (ONDS) has made a $35 million strategic investment in Performance Drone Works (PDW), a manufacturer of advanced robotics for the defense sector that focuses on building unmanned aerial systems (UAS) used in combat missions.
Ondas said in a press release that the investment in PDW will strengthen its position as "a premier provider of AI-enabled autonomous defense and security platforms."
The company provides autonomous aerial and ground robot intelligence through its Ondas Autonomous Systems (OAS) business unit and private wireless solutions through its Ondas Networks unit.
The investment will support PDW's efforts to scale its manufacturing and delivery of drones to meet the increasing demand coming from the defense sector. It will also allow it to increase its engineering headcount and acquire critical components.
PDW has a 90K square foot manufacturing facility in Huntsville, Alabama that has the capacity to manufacture up to 100K advanced drone systems a year that are compliant with the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).
Being NDAA-compliant involves several key guidelines, which includes having components that are manufactured through a supply chain limited to countries that are allies of the United States. There is an especially strict ban on components manufactured in China.
Ondas describes PDW as one of the fastest defense technology companies in the US, most recently landing a $20.9 million award from the US Army to supply its C100 UAS and Multi-Mission Payloads (MMP) in support of the Army's Transformation in Contact (TiC) initiative.
"We believe PDW has become one of the most important and trusted aerial robotics companies in the United States, driven by the exceptional leadership of Matt Higgins, General (Ret.) Tony Thomas, Ryan Gury, and their team," Eric Brock, Ondas CEO and chairman, said in a statement. "Their combat-validated technology, industrial-scale manufacturing, and mission-focused culture set a new standard in our sector.”
Ondas' stock gained 29.5% on Monday and has surged 240.6% for the year.
Drone manufacturing has become one of the hottest sectors this year after President Trump signed executive orders in June aimed at “unleashing American drone dominance.”
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth released a video in July in which he said he was “rescinding policies that stifle production” in order to “arm combat units with a variety of low-cost, American-crafted drones,” while also leveraging America's “world-leading engineers and AI experts.”
The video sent shares of domestic drone manufacturers soaring.
The drone-warfare market is expected to grow to $75 billion globally by 2035.
Ondas notes that UAS have become a "key defining asset of modern combat operations" as militaries increasingly replace "expensive legacy platform capabilities for high-volume, lower-cost systems capable of delivering effects at scale."
Ondas and PDW said they plan to seek out areas where they can collaborate on tools to support the US defense sector.
"We're proud to be partnering with Ondas, to continue to accelerate the next generation of defense," PDW CEO Ryan Gury said in a statement. "Together, we plan to deliver at scale the combat robotics America needs to win."