A drone maker backed by President Donald Trump’s two oldest sons is actively marketing its defense technology to Gulf countries currently under Iranian attack and dependent on U.S. military protection led by their father.
Florida-based Powerus announced a deal last month to bring aboard Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. aboard as investors. The company’s co-founder, Brett Velicovich, confirmed to the Associated Press that teams are conducting live drone demonstrations across several Gulf countries to showcase its defensive interceptor systems.
“Our team is doing many demos across the Middle East right now for our interceptors,” Velicovich said. “We have very incredible tech that can save lives.” He declined to name the specific countries.
Ethics Alarm
The arrangement has drawn sharp criticism. Richard Painter, former chief White House ethics lawyer under President George W. Bush, said the setup creates direct pressure on vulnerable allies. “These countries are under enormous pressure to buy from the sons of the president so he will do what they want,” Painter said. “This is going to be the first family of a president to make a lot of money off war a war he didn’t get the consent of Congress for.”
US–Iran War Escalation
As the U.S.–Israel–Iran conflict continues, President Donald Trump signals more strikes on Iran’s infrastructure, including bridges and power plants. Meanwhile, the IRGC falsely claimed an attack on Oracle Corp‘s (NYSE:ORCL) UAE data center, which Dubai denies. General Randy George retires immediately as Army Chief, and Iran proposes joint Strait of Hormuz monitoring with Oman to ease shipping tensions.
Path To Public Markets
Powerus is pursuing a reverse merger with Aureus Greenway Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:AGH), a Nasdaq-listed golf-course holding company, to accelerate its path to public markets under the ticker “PUSA.” The merger was unanimously approved by both boards and is expected to close in summer 2026. The company recently raised $60 million from investors and is targeting production of more than 10,000 drones per month.
The deal positions Powerus to compete for a $1.1 billion Pentagon program to build domestic armed drone manufacturing capacity following the Trump administration’s ban on Chinese drone imports.
Eric Trump has not shied from the investment. “I am incredibly proud to invest in companies I believe in,” he said. “Drones are clearly the wave of the future.”
Disclaimer: This content was produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
Image Credit: Diannie Chavez/The Republic / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
Recent Comments