Roseland, New Jersey, March 6, 2026, 05:46 EST
Gaxos.ai Inc looked ready for another jump Friday, with shares up roughly 42% in premarket trading after news hit that America First Defense—the defense firm Gaxos just agreed to acquire this week—landed a Navy license for its counter-drone technology.
This is the first tangible news since Gaxos said back on March 3 that it planned to spend $2.9 million for a 19.99% stake in America First Defense. Gaxos hasn’t exactly been known for defense—its recent revenue leaned heavily on health services and AI software—so the deal signals a marked pivot, offering investors a better look at what the company’s actually picking up.
All this comes as U.S. defense officials speed up procurement of drones—and the tech to counter them. Back in November, Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll told Reuters the Army aimed to buy at least 1 million drones within two to three years. This week, Reuters added that a budget-friendly U.S. drone had already seen action in Iran, thanks to an accelerated purchase timeline.
Gaxos announced that America First Defense has locked down a license for the Detachable Drone Highjacker, or DDH. This is an electronic warfare system carried by drones, built to interfere with or take over enemy unmanned aircraft systems. According to the company, the tech traces back to the Naval Postgraduate School.
Chief Executive Vadim Mats described the system as a “differentiated approach” rooted in “precision electronic warfare.” GlobeNewswire
Gaxos disclosed in a March 3 8-K that it signed the purchase agreement a day earlier, locking in a $2.9 million cash deal for a 19.99% stake. Closing was projected on or before March 5, according to the filing.
Gaxos pulled in $692,974 in revenue for the first nine months of 2025, the bulk coming from RNK Health administrative services. Net loss for the period landed at roughly $3.2 million, its latest quarterly filing shows.
Gaxos is now lining up with bigger players in the military drone and counter-drone space. AeroVironment, for instance, has equipped the U.S. Army with its LOCUST laser counter-drone systems. Red Cat, meanwhile, is shipping its Black Widow reconnaissance quadcopter to the Army, Reuters has reported.
The road from license to actual deployment remains up in the air. Neither the March 5 announcement nor the March 3 SEC filing mentioned any buyers, rollout timeline, or revenue projections for the DDH. That $2.9 million sticker price? It’s over four times what Gaxos pulled in for the first nine months of 2025, according to company filings. In February, Gaxos bumped up its at-the-market equity program by $2.6 million, following roughly $3 million worth of stock sales.
Mats, speaking March 3, described America First Defense’s focus on developing “more precise” and “more scalable” technology for its target market. The details in the March 5 release left financial terms unchanged from earlier announcements. GlobeNewswire
