Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr are investing in a new venture that aims to build autonomous drones for sale to the U.S. military, according to a report, entering the defense sector just 12 days into the Iran conflict.
Powerus Corporation, a company co-founded by former U.S. Army Special Operations veterans that builds drones “for military and commercial use in high-risk environments,” will merge with the Trump-backed Aureus Greenway Holdings, The Wall Street Journal reports.
Aureus Greenway is a holding company for the Trump family’s Florida golf courses. Powerus is also based in the Sunshine State, with its headquarters in West Palm Beach.
Other investors in the new company, according to WSJ, include American Ventures, a Trump investment vehicle, Unusual Machines, a components company that counts Don Jr. as a board member and shareholder and the Trump-backed investment bank Dominari Securities.
Separately, the asset manager of the Korea Climate & Governance Improvement Fund is investing $50 million.
“We’re huge fans of our backers,” said Brett Velicovich, a co-founder of Powerus and a regular pundit familiar to viewers of conservative cable news channels.
“Eric and Don Jr. have been just fantastic supporters behind the scenes. They see the need for us to build drone technology at scale.”
Matthew Saker, Aureus Greenway’s interim CEO, said in a statement that the new project was a “compelling opportunity” that had been 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.
The joint U.S.-Israeli airstrikes on Iran commenced on February 28 have seen the killing of Tehran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, a wave of retaliatory strikes on American and Israeli targets across the region, the deaths of at least seven U.S. servicemembers, and provoked soaring global oil prices.
Drones have also played an important role, with Iran’s Shahed-136 models, which reportedly cost between $20,000 and $50,000 to produce, proving more effective on the battlefield than their cheap price tag might indicate.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky revealed on March 5 that U.S. officials had turned to his country for help, which, after more than four years of grinding territorial warfare with Russia, has developed a selection of anti-drone laser systems, some of which can reportedly be produced for as little as $1,000.
The U.S. military has requirements in place that prioritize the acquisition of American-made weapons, creating an opportunity for the Trumps’ latest project, which will receive automatic preference over foreign imports.
The Pentagon’s Drone Dominance initiative aims to spend $1.1 billion on U.S. drones in order to create more space for domestic manufacturers in a sector long dominated by Chinese brands.
Eric Trump appeared to be offended by the WSJ’s reporting about the deal.
“I happen to believe drones will be a much better investment than companies that still print newspapers,” he posted on X (Twitter) in response to the article.
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