Heidelberger Druckmaschinen Bets on Defense and Energy as Q1 Sales Slide

NextNav Inc. announced a strategic partnership with AiRANACULUS to advance integrated sensing and communications across NextNav's licensed lower 900 MHz spectrum. The collaboration combines NextNav's ground-based 5G-powered 3D PNT network with AiRANACULUS's advanced signal processing technology to expand NextNav's drone sensing and long-range early warning capability for counter-unmanned aircraft systems while reducing the infrastructure required for wide-area sensing coverage. The two companies will validate long-range ISAC capabilities using NextNav's 5G PNT Network and AiRANACULUS's hardware and software stack, with initial testing focused on extended-range threat detection to identify and track drone activity within NextNav's 5G PNT Network footprint in Santa Clara County, California. Deepak Joseph, Vice President of Product at NextNav, said safe airspace management is critically enhanced by long-range detection capabilities that provide early warning and scale cost effectively, while AiRANACULUS Founder and CEO Dr. Apurva N. Mody said applying digital beamforming and advanced receiver signal processing to low-band 5G enables detection of smaller targets at much greater distances. NextNav said results from the collaboration will support ongoing assessments of performance and applicability across critical infrastructure and national security use cases.

Pete Hegseth, the US Secretary of Defense, announced the launch of Project Meridian, a research program into the technology and warfare models of the future, bringing in Elon Musk, Palmer Luckey, founder of Anduril Industries, and Newt Gingrich, former Speaker of the US House of Representatives, as leaders of the research effort. Hegseth unveiled the plan during a State of the Force speech at Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia, saying the project would focus on finding, developing and fielding new weapons and systems to meet the forms of warfare the US military may face in the coming decades. Musk's SpaceX and Luckey's Anduril are both major contractors for the US Department of Defense. The project will be overseen by Emil Michael, a former Uber executive who currently serves as a senior technology official at the Pentagon. Hegseth did not disclose further details on the budget, timeline or structure of the project. Beyond Project Meridian, Hegseth also announced the establishment of an Autonomous Warfare Command to oversee the management and deployment of US drones and military robotic systems, and said he wants major US bases to be able to produce their own energy to preserve operational capability if the country's power grid is hit by a cyberattack. He also announced plans to set up an office for religious affairs for the military and to build partnerships with academic institutions to expand cadet training programs, with the first group of institutions taking part including Liberty University, Hillsdale College, Louisiana State University, Mississippi State University and Tuskegee University. At the same time, the US Department of Defense plans to build a new base inside the country for the first time in four decades, with state governments able to compete to host it; the base is expected to accommodate several thousand personnel, and each site could cover several hundred thousand acres. The plan comes as the Pentagon is considering reducing US troop levels in Europe, with Hegseth saying the military will add tens of thousands more personnel overall while shifting its focus back to homeland defense and the Western Hemisphere.

Powaras, a US drone startup set to go public through a merger with a company backed by President Trump's eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., and his second son, Eric Trump, aims to bring technology developed overseas, including in Ukraine, to the United States to meet growing demand from the US Department of Defense. Company executives disclosed this in an interview with Reuters. The company plans to expand its business through acquisitions, partnerships with overseas firms, and manufacturing within the United States, aiming to become a partner that brings overseas-developed military technology to the US and produces it domestically. President Brett Velicovich said the company aims to become a "one-stop solution" for the Department of Defense by offering overseas technology under a "US company face," and explained that it is in talks with Ukrainian defense technology companies and wants to add capabilities such as long-range strike drones. Powaras, founded a year ago, plans to merge in early October with Nasdaq-listed Aureus Greenway Holdings, and according to regulatory filings, the Trump brothers will hold an indirect 9.9% ownership stake in the combined new company through the investment fund American Ventures. Powaras's business is still at an early stage, and as of early 2026 it had no revenue-generating operations; earlier this year it assembled a product lineup of aerial and maritime drones through acquisitions, and its revenue for the January-March quarter was 1.2 million dollars. The company recently announced it had won a contract with the US Air Force worth up to 90 million dollars and a 22.3 million dollar commercial contract to protect energy infrastructure in the Middle East for an undisclosed customer.

The U.S. Navy has doubled its fleet capacity to operate the MQ-25A Stingray unmanned aircraft system over a five-month period by standing up a second operational MD-5C Ground Control Station powered by Lockheed Martin Skunk Works MDCX. USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) received the first operational MD-5C in March 2026, followed by USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76) in August 2026. The MD-5C is a highly complex system-of-systems that includes the government Command, Control, Communications, Computers and Intelligence network, Lockheed Martin's MDCX software and hardware, and additional government-produced ancillary equipment. Within the Ground Control Station, MDCX is the mission planning and execution software that enables Navy operators to command and control the MQ-25A Stingray, extending carrier air wing reach and freeing manned aircraft for higher-priority missions. Capt. Daniel Fucito, PMA-268 program manager, said the two operational unmanned air warfare centers aboard CVN 71 and CVN 76 bring the Navy closer to integrating unmanned carrier aviation into the fleet, while MDCX Program Manager Ben Tongue said the team has doubled the number of U.S. Navy carriers ready to fly the MQ-25A Stingray in five months.

Ondas announced on Wednesday that it launched Dronebuster REACH, a long-range counter-drone system, with the first unit contracted to the Office of Naval Research. REACH uses electronic attacks to disrupt drones at longer ranges and higher power, extending the company's existing Dronebuster product line, and integrates with Ondas's detection and command-and-control systems for a layered counter-drone setup. Ondas said its Dronebuster systems have been deployed in more than 50 countries, with over 3K units delivered. On the market side, the stock traded near $7.50.

DroneShield secured access to a three-year U.S. government contract vehicle worth up to $500 million, sending its shares up 9% to a one-month high. The Australian counter-drone technology company said it was awarded an Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity contract supporting Joint Interagency Task Force 401's Domestic Shield initiative, with a maximum value of $500 million over three years. The company stressed that the $500 million is the maximum value of the contract vehicle rather than an immediate order or revenue award, and that the vehicle provides a streamlined procurement pathway for rapid deployment of counter-unmanned aircraft systems across the United States. The award expands DroneShield's exposure to U.S. government procurement and follows a $24.9 million JIATF-401 contract announced in June, which included an initial $19.3 million award plus options. DroneShield has also been installing its DroneSentry-X Mk2 systems under the earlier JIATF-401 program, with acceptance by the U.S. military announced earlier this month.