US Air Force Hands Powerus a $90 Million Counter-Drone Contract: A Low-Cost Answer to the Shahed Threat

The US Air Force has signed an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contract with Powerus for its Guardian-2 semi-autonomous counter-drone interceptor, following a competitive bidding process. The ceiling value is set at $90 million, with the contract running through mid-2028. The award was reported by Breaking Defense in its October coverage and confirmed through company statements carried by Pulse2 and AccessNewswire.

Guardian-2 is a low-cost, semi-autonomous platform built to detect, track and defeat small unmanned aerial systems. The Air Force tested the system to close what it described as a critical capability gap for small teams operating “outside the wire” — units that need a lightweight, rapidly deployable answer without relying on armored vehicles or large radar infrastructure.

Powerus was founded in October 2025 with the stated goal of bringing battlefield-tested Ukrainian drone technology to the US market. In August 2026 the company won a separate $22.3 million contract to protect Middle East energy infrastructure from drone attacks, which clarifies Guardian-2’s intended use case: countering Shahed-type attack drones in that theater. The company is backed by investors linked to the Trump family and recently went public through a merger with Aureus Greenway Holdings, now trading under the ticker PUSA.

The timing lines up with a broader acceleration in how the US military procures defenses against small, cheap drones. The Pentagon has recently named four separate directed-energy counter-drone systems as it works to build a layered defense architecture against unmanned threats. Low-cost, rapidly produced platforms like Guardian-2 are meant to fill the ground-level gap in that architecture — the tier where expensive missile interceptors make little economic sense.

In the Middle East, Shahed-type attack drones remain a persistent threat to energy infrastructure and military installations, used by both state and non-state actors. Turning to low-cost interceptors rather than expensive missile systems reflects a basic cost-effectiveness calculation: a Guardian-2 unit is designed to cost far less than the drones it is meant to shoot down, which is the baseline condition for a sustainable defense budget against swarm-style attacks.

Powerus’s public listing came in the same window as the contract news. The company completed its merger with Aureus Greenway Holdings in early October 2026 to begin trading as PUSA. Going public through a SPAC-style reverse merger has become a common way for young defense-tech companies in the US to raise capital quickly, and Powerus’s path is one of the more recent examples of that trend in the sector.

The counter-drone market’s most visible recent entrants share a common trait: none of them are legacy defense primes. Anduril, Epirus, AeroVironment and now Powerus are using the Pentagon’s accelerated non-traditional acquisition pathways to field solutions faster than classical procurement cycles typically allow. The Defense Department’s growing appetite for these companies reflects a broader strategy of making room for software-driven suppliers alongside the large platform manufacturers.

Public details on Guardian-2’s technical architecture remain limited. The company describes the system as “semi-autonomous,” relying on operator approval for target identification and engagement decisions rather than full autonomy — an approach that sidesteps international debate over fully autonomous weapons while still aiming to cut reaction time compared with systems that require more extensive human intervention. How the Air Force evaluated that balance during testing has not been detailed in public contract documents.

For Turkey’s defense industry, the contract is not a direct competitive event but a market signal worth tracking. Systems such as ASELSAN’s Korkut and Gökdeniz, STM’s Alp family and various Roketsan counter-drone solutions share the same low-cost, high-volume defense philosophy. US responses to the Shahed threat in the Middle East set a reference point for pricing and expected capability in a market where Turkish companies compete directly.

The IDIQ structure gives Powerus no guaranteed production volume; it is a framework under which the Air Force can order units as needed. The contract’s real scale will become clear only through the individual task orders placed over the next two years — and Guardian-2’s field performance and cost advantage will likely determine both that volume and whether the system eventually finds export customers among US allies.

Kaynaklar

• Breaking Defense, “Dronemaker Powerus, backed by Trump brothers, goes public,” October 2026 — https://breakingdefense.com/2026/10/dronemaker-powerus-backed-by-trump-brothers-goes-public/ (contract and company context)
• Pulse2, “Powerus Debuts Guardian-2 Counter-Drone Interceptor After US Air Force Purchase Order” — https://pulse2.com/powerus-debuts-guardian-2-counter-drone-interceptor-after-us-air-force-purchase-order/ (contract value and system details)