US-based Ondas buys Israeli defense tech firm in deal worth up to $390 million

US-based defense holding firm Ondas Technologies has agreed to buy Israel’s Gate Technologies, a developer of advanced electronic fuzes for the safe activation of autonomous precision-strike weapons, including loitering munitions and missiles.

Under the terms of the acquisition deal announced late on Monday, Ondas will pay $205 million, of which $105 million will be in cash and $100 million in Ondas common stock. Another payment of up to $185 million will be tied to Gate Technologies meeting performance and financial targets through 2028.

Founded in 1996, Shoham-based Gate Technologies is the developer of sophisticated miniaturized electronic components for initiation, actuation and detonation devices used for missiles, UAVs and other autonomous systems. The firm said its products have been integrated into dozens of modern weapon systems globally, including rockets, missiles, UAVs and loitering munitions, also known as “suicide drones” or “kamikaze drones.”

Nasdaq-listed Ondas develops autonomous drones, robotics and mission-critical technologies for government, defense and commercial customers, including the Israeli and US military. The US defense firm said the acquisition coincides with efforts by militaries around the world to rebuild stockpiles and increase the production of missiles, rockets, loitering munitions and other precision-strike systems.

“Munitions stockpiles are being rebuilt around the world, and a new generation of low-cost, autonomous munitions is becoming a growing part of the battlefield,” said Ondas chairman and CEO Eric Brock. “At the same time, the market is shifting from traditional mechanical fuzes to electronic safe-and-arm devices, which are essential for weapons that are smaller, smarter and software-defined.”

Brock said that Ondas intends to invest in Gate’s “manufacturing capacity, engineering and the expansion of its international operations.”

Ondas described Gate’s electronic fuzing systems as critical components for attacks launched from unmanned platforms as they keep a munition safe during storage, transportation, handling and launch, and permit arming and initiation of remote-detonated systems only on command.

The global loitering munitions market, valued at about $5.4 billion as of 2025, is expected to more than double to about $13.3 billion by 2030, according to a MarketsandMarkets research report.

To date, Ondas has bought 13 defense tech startups in Israel for about $1 billion, including Airobotics, Iron Drone, Sentrycs, Omnisys, Apeiro and Aran Defense. Last month, Ondas won a multi-million-dollar tender with Israel’s Defense Ministry to lead the development and production of a new generation of low-cost tactical attack drones.

Alongside the acquisitions of Israeli defense tech startups, Ondas in August recruited former Mossad chief David Barnea as its global president and chairman to help develop next-generation autonomous multi-domain defense systems. Barnea served as Mossad chief from 2021 to 2026, including during the October 7, 2023, Hamas invasion, the subsequent wars against Hamas and Hezbollah, and the multiple Israeli bombing campaigns against Iran.

In Israel, Ondas’s operations are headed by Oshri Lugassy, a former chief engineering officer in the IDF, who previously served as vice president of sales and marketing at Rafael Advanced Defense Systems.