By David Uberti

Eric Trump is pouring money into a sector that is a growing focus of the Pentagon his father oversees: drones.

The president's son is investing in Israeli drone maker Xtend as part of a $1.5 billion deal to take the company public through a merger with a small Florida construction company.

Battle-tested during Israeli operations in Gaza in recent years, Xtend markets some of its drones as "low cost-per-kill" munitions that align with U.S. defense directives to help wage modern warfare. The company, which opened a facility in Florida, said it has already secured a multimillion-dollar Pentagon contract and is part of a continuing Defense Department competition for new suppliers.

By combining with JFB Construction, "we are acquiring the resources we need to scale our manufacturing capabilities in the U.S. and gaining access to the U.S. public markets," Xtend Chief Executive Aviv Shapira said.

Trump is a strategic investor in the deal, which included a private placement. So is Unusual Machines, a separate drone company in which Donald Trump Jr. is an investor and adviser.

The merger marks the latest expansion of the first family's business empire since President Trump was re-elected, including into many sectors the Trump administration regulates. New ventures stretching from cryptocurrency to nuclear fusion energy to manufacturing, which have generated billions of dollars in proceeds and paper wealth for the family, renewed conflict-of-interest claims that the White House and Trump Organization have denied.

The Xtend deal culminates a series of transactions over months.

Dominari Holdings, a Trump Tower-based financial firm, organized a $44 million private placement last year into JFB Construction, a Florida-based contractor whose recently publicized work includes plans to redevelop a hotel and expand a public high school. The publicly traded company's shares have skyrocketed by more than 400% since the investment was announced.

Xtend intends to go public through JFB's Nasdaq listing. Stifel advised the Israeli firm. Also on Tuesday, JFB said in a securities filing that it appointed Stefan Passantino, a former White House lawyer who has worked with the Trump Organization, to its board of directors.

Drones have become more ubiquitous in modern warfare as a tool for overwhelming air defenses and striking ground forces on the cheap. In Russia's war on Ukraine, drone-on-drone fights have added another dimension to the battlefield, with Moscow's forces often relying on vehicles designed in Iran.

Xtend is among the companies trying to capitalize on America and its allies' push to keep up. After Hamas's Oct. 7, 2023, massacre of Israelis sparked a bloody war in Gaza, Xtend's Shapira told The Wall Street Journal that his firm's products helped Israeli forces map out terrain, explore inside buildings and take out booby traps around Hamas's underground tunnel network.

In a November press release announcing a contract with the Pentagon, Xtend said its "one-way" drone kits would be specially built for small tactical teams in "irregular warfare operations."

That business could soon grow. The Defense Department this month named Xtend as one of 25 companies invited to participate in the first phase of its "Drone Dominance Program," a procurement push slated to ultimately reach $1.1 billion.

Write to David Uberti at david.uberti@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 17, 2026 09:58 ET (14:58 GMT)

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