Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., the sons of President Donald Trump, invested in a newly formed company that aims to produce autonomous drones for the U.S. military.
Aureus Greenway Holdings Inc., a golf course holding company backed by the two eldest Trump sons, is merging with drone producer Powerus Corporation, the companies announced Monday in a release that names Eric and Donald Jr. as “notable investors.”
“We’re huge fans of our backers,” said Brett Velicovich, a co-founder of Powerus. “Eric and Don Jr. have been just fantastic supporters behind the scenes. They see the need for us to build drone technology at scale.”
Their investment will enable Powerus to create a manufacturing strategy and acquire other drone technology companies, Velicovich said.
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Matthew Saker, the interim chief executive officer of Aureus Greenway Holdings, said in a statement that the merger was a “compelling opportunity” made “even more relevant by current geopolitical uncertainties.”
“The need for and uses of autonomous technologies, such as those produced by Powerus, are front page news given developments in the Middle East and elsewhere,” he said.
News of the merger came nine days after the U.S. and Israel launched military strikes against Iran, killing Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other top Iranian leaders.
In the days since, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has launched thousands of one-way drones toward U.S. military bases and diplomatic sites across the region. Trump administration officials conceded that Iran’s Shahed-136 drone, which costs only $20,000 to $50,000 to produce, is proving more disruptive on the battlefield than the Pentagon had anticipated.
The U.S. has turned to Ukraine for assistance in countering the drones, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said March 5. Engineers in Kyiv have developed a range of anti-drone laser systems, some of which cost as little as $1,000.
“We’re learning we have a lot of gaps in our air defenses, and right now there is a race at high levels to fix it, to pour money into it,” said Velicovich, an Army special operations veteran and Fox News commentator. “I worry that soldiers have a false sense of security, tactically, to what is out there, and that makes me very nervous. We need to get the right tools in their hands.”
Velicovich spent more than a year in Ukraine after Russia invaded the country, taking with him U.S. defense technology on behalf of various defense firms.
“In many cases, it failed miserably,” he said of the technology, adding that U.S. counter-drone systems, in particular, “are a real false sense of security wrapped around a very expensive price tag.”
Powerus intends to bring lessons learned in Ukraine to the U.S. military, Velicovich said.
“There are a number of engagements at senior levels of the Pentagon where they’re trying to find ways to formally bring in Ukranian technology and get it in the hands of soldiers,” he said. “We want to be part of that. We want to provide the Department of War an outlet as a company to connect those dots and add an American face to it.”
The Wall Street Journal was the first to report about the investment made by Trump’s sons. Eric Trump shared the article Monday on X with the comment, “I happen to believe drones will be a much better investment than companies that still print newspapers.”
Eric Trump invested in another defense technology company Feb. 17, according to PitchBook, which tracks private capital markets.
The company, Xtend, developed an AI-driven operating system that enables drones “to execute complex, dynamic missions with immediate operational readiness,” it said in a release, which goes on to say Eric Trump made a strategic investment in the company.
“The demand for systems that keep operators out of harm’s way is surging as the global security environment grows more volatile, and this represents one of the largest market opportunities in defense technology today,” Xtend CEO and co-founder Aviv Shapira said in a statement.
Nikki Wentling is a senior editor at Military Times. She’s reported on veterans and military communities for nearly a decade and has also covered technology, politics, health care and crime. Her work has earned multiple honors from the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans, the Arkansas Associated Press Managing Editors and others.
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