Florida Start-Up Sells $5,000 Interceptors for Iran War

A small West Palm Beach, Florida start-up called Powerus is selling drone interceptors for about $5,000 apiece, and they are being pitched as an answer to Iranian drones, according to a New York Times report published Sunday and summarized by the Jerusalem Post.

The interceptor is called the "Guardian." Powerus has been building it at a facility in the United Arab Emirates since July, printing components in 3-D and snapping them together into finished units.

The pitch is arithmetic: a $5,000 drone against threats the U.S. has been shooting down with far costlier missiles.

The Numbers

Powerus's website lists the Guardian's top "burst" speed at 340 kph, cruise speed at 160 kph, range at 15 kilometers and operational endurance at 28 minutes, with "hundreds" of confirmed interceptions, the Jerusalem Post reported.

A Powerus spokesman told the Times the company turns out 3,000 interceptors a month and hopes to reach 15,000 a month by 2027 — a pace the company credits to the modular design and readily available parts.

The Times noted the Guardian is not a fix for the interceptor shortage facing the U.S. military after its war with Iran. It cannot stop ballistic missiles or other larger threats, which are handled by more expensive systems such as Lockheed Martin's PAC-3.

Powerus based the Guardian on a Ukrainian drone interceptor that showed promise against Russian suicide drones, according to the Times.