Pakistan's new drone deal is with Trump-backed firm also selling to India

Pakistan has signed a drone deal with a year-old US company backed by two sons of President Donald Trump — a company that also sells to India.

On 16 September, a delegation from Powerus, a Florida-based drone firm founded in 2025, was received by Pakistan’s military chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, at military headquarters in Rawalpindi. A day later, the company announced it had received a “limited procurement order” from Pakistan’s Ministry of Defence for unmanned aerial systems, and had signed a separate memorandum of understanding with the Pakistan army. Neither the value of the order nor the systems involved has been disclosed; the MoU creates no purchase obligation and is subject to US laws and government approvals.

Donald Trump Jr and Eric Trump are investors in Powerus through a vehicle called American Ventures, which is expected to hold a 9.9 percent beneficial stake in the combined company once Powerus completes its merger with Nasdaq-listed Aureus Greenway Holdings, expected in the final quarter of this year. A spokesman for Trump Jr says he is a passive investor with no role in the company’s operations and had no prior knowledge of the Pakistan deals; the White House says there are no conflicts of interest.

Less than three months earlier, Powerus granted Indian manufacturer Paras Defence and Space Technologies an exclusive licence to make and sell its Guardian-1 interceptor technology in India, according to market disclosures. And one of the cofounders, Ziv Marom, is described on the company’s own website as a veteran of the Israeli military — a country Pakistan does not recognise.

“Pakistan technically already makes or is capable of making each of the drones shown by Powerus,” Bilal Khan, founder of the Toronto-based defence intelligence platform Quwa Group, told Al Jazeera. “It’s unclear where Powerus fits in the long term.”