A US drone company with financial ties to President Donald Trump’s sons has struck deals with both India and Pakistan, drawing attention for doing business with the two regional rivals almost simultaneously, according to news reports.
The company, Powerus (formally Autonomous Power Corporation), signed an exclusive licensing agreement in June 2026 with India’s Paras Defence and Space Technologies to manufacture and sell its “Guardian-1 Interceptor,” a battery-powered counter-drone system, within India. The deal, executed through Powerus subsidiary Tandem Defence LLC, gives Paras rights to produce the technology in exchange for a licence fee and a share of profits, reports said. Importantly, reports note the agreement does not mean the Indian military has actually selected the system — any induction would still go through standard government evaluation, and no order has yet been placed.
Months later, in September 2026, Powerus announced a separate memorandum of understanding with Pakistan’s military, along with what it called a “limited procurement order” from Pakistan’s Ministry of Defence. The agreement followed a meeting between Powerus co-founder Brett Velicovich and Pakistan’s army chief, Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir, at military headquarters in Rawalpindi.
Velicovich told Reuters the Pakistan order falls within the category of “unmanned aerial systems” but declined to give further details, citing security sensitivities, or to disclose the order’s value. While Powerus has not specified whether the deal involves armed platforms, the company’s disclosed product line — which includes the Guardian interceptor, a heavy-lift logistics drone called Dragon, and a surveillance drone called xFoldSpy — leans toward defensive and non-lethal systems. Whether the Pakistan order includes anything more sensitive remains unclear, and Powerus itself has cautioned that any deal is still subject to US export controls.
The dual dealings have drawn scrutiny partly because of the company’s ownership structure. Powerus is expected to merge with Nasdaq-listed Aureus Greenway Holdings in early October, a company in which Donald Trump Jr and Eric Trump hold a stake through an investment fund. A spokesperson for Trump Jr said he is a passive investor with no involvement in Powerus’s operations or in securing the Pakistan contract, according to reports.
Powerus founder Andrew Fox has rejected suggestions that the firm’s growing business is linked to its Trump family investors, saying contracts are awarded on merit. He described Pakistan’s private defence sector as “emerging but still not mature,” leaving room for US firms to move quickly there.
