One of the most aggressive players in Israeli defense-tech today started out as a communications company for heavy industry. Ondas Holdings (Nasdaq: ONDS) was founded in the US over a decade ago with a very focused aim: to connect remote infrastructure – power stations, railway networks, production sites – to a reliable, permanent communications network.
Instead of addressing the consumer market or developing applications, the company chose to work with entities that needed private, controlled networks that were not dependent on loads and availability of public infrastructure. It developed special radio technologies and network solutions for heavy industry, and specialized in setting up systems that would provide stable connection over time.
The turning point came in 2021 with the acquisition of American Robotics. The American company was one of the first to receive a permit to operate autonomous drones with no continuous human piloting. The drone takes off, gathers data, returns to the ground station, and takes off again in a continual process without human intervention.
For Ondas, which came from an environment in which stable communications were a basic condition, the encounter with autonomous systems prompted a change of concept. It did not see the drones as a product that adds capability, but as an infrastructure that could become a service: a system that, as soon as it is set up in the field, can function continuously. This acquisition shifted Ondas from its focus on industrial infrastructure to thinking about systems that perform tasks by themselves, which prepared the ground for what would happen in Israel.
A dizzying acquisitions race
The move that established Ondas in Israel began in 2023 with the acquisition of Airobotics. Unlike acquisitions of technologies that are intended to add a product to the portfolio, in this case Ondas bought a system that was already operational in the field: Optimus, an autonomous drone station from which drones take off, gather data, land, and swap batteries and payload, without a human operator. This capability indicated to Ondas that Israel could serve not just as a development center, but as a basis for setting up an operational division in autonomous systems.
Immediately afterwards, that same year, the company acquired Iron Drone, which had developed an interceptor drone that emerges from a launch pod, locates a hostile drone in real time, and physically captures it. If Airobotics provided the spine of the autonomous drone, Iron Drone represented the stage at which the system actively responds to a threat.
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In 2025, the pace was stepped up considerably. Within five months, Ondas acquired seven more Israeli companies, each of which added a different capability to the array. The acquisition of RoboTeam, a developer of robots for operating in an urban environment and underground for engineering and combat units, and a veteran company in its field, signaled Ondas’s entry into land-based robotics.
Ondas also added sensor and infrastructure layers. Insight Intelligent Sensors brought expertise in electro-optic sensors and AI-based identification, providing “eyes” in real time for aerial and ground-based systems. The acquisition of Zico Engineering added rapid engineering development capabilities and integration – not an independent product, but components incorporated into the solutions of the new companies in the group.
It was recently reported that Ondas had completed the acquisition of Sentrycs. This was not the addition of “another system,” but a control layer. Sentrycs’s technology doesn’t eliminate a drone by hitting or trapping it; it takes it over, connecting to the communication channel between the drone and its operator, overriding the external control, and bringing the drone to a safe landing in a defined place. This approach is vital in environments in which physical interception Is not possible, such as near sensitive installations or in civilian areas.
Money, power, and people
The enterprise structure for these acquisitions is not based on full consolidation. Ondas does not merge the companies into one entity. In each case It keeps the management, the company’s own product, and existing operational channels. The connection takes place higher up the pyramid: an Israel head office that leads the approach to international markets, tenders, and customers, and facilitates the transfer of know-how and capabilities between the companies. This model enables Ondas to step up the pace without dismantling the local identity, and to preserve R&D processes and connections with customers as they were before the acquisition.
To carry out acquisitions in the hundreds of millions of dollars within a short time takes money, and lots of it. At Ondas, the money comes mainly from the US capital market. In the past year, Ondas has raised $850 million. The company does not wait for an acquisition that would justify an offering but builds a financial safety net in advance in order to continue with its acquisitions campaign at full speed.
Relations with the capital market are managed by US CEO Eric Brock. In Israel, two prominent names guide the autonomous systems division: Meir Kliner, one of the founders of Airobotics, which, as mentioned, was Ondas’s first foray into Israel; and Oshri Lugassy, formerly a senior manager at Rafael, who joined this year as co-CEO of the division. Alongside them is the board of directors and an advisory board that includes such names as former Rafael president and CEO Yoav Har-Even and Dr. Irit Idan.
Following the series of acquisitions in Israel, Ondas’s market cap has surpassed the $3 billion mark. Last week, with the announcement of the $80 million acquisition of RoboTeam, several investment houses raised the price targets for the company and estimated that the company could reach annual sales of over $110 million. It was also reported that company director Ron Stern sold 850,000 shares for a total of over $6.7 million.
The next step
The story is far from over. Sources inform “Globes” that the acquisition campaign is still at its height and could even accelerate, with several Israeli defense-tech companies in Ondas’s sights. The company does not see the acquisitions as a one-time move but as a continuing process. Any proven operational capability that can be integrated into the autonomous architecture that Ondas has created becomes a candidate for acquisition. Ondas manages to complete acquisitions swiftly, sometime within just three weeks. So even after all these acquisitions, the tap has not been turned off, and the company continues with its strategy of rapid development.
Published by Globes, Israel business news – en.globes.co.il – on November 30, 2025.
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd., 2025.
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