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Merlintrader Trading Pub
Biotech catalyst news and analysis. FDA PDUFA tracker
Merlintrader Trading Pub
Biotech catalyst news and analysis. FDA PDUFA tracker
Category Defence
Ondas Holdings ( $ONDS ) Asia-Pacific defence contract Feb 2026
A new multi-phase contract with an Asia-Pacific government for autonomous unmanned aerial systems adds another piece to the Ondas puzzle – and fits into a broader defence-spending upswing that is favouring drone, counter-drone and autonomous surveillance platforms.
LightPath Technologies (LPTH) – Q2 FY2026 Surge and Strategic Catalysts
?? English ?? Italiano NASDAQ: LPTH · Optics & Photonics · Defense & Commercial LightPath Technologies (LPTH) – Q2 FY2026 Surge and Strategic Catalysts Comprehensive report on LightPath Technologies: Q2 FY2026 results, financial position, strategic backlog and growth scenarios for…
Starfighters Space ($FJET)
Supersonic test platform based at NASA Kennedy Space Center, no meaningful revenue yet, big ambitions on STARLAUNCH and a valuation already pricing in a lot of execution.
Red Cat Holdings, Inc.($RCAT)
RCAT has a small analyst following relative to larger defense primes, but those who do cover the name generally frame it as a high-risk, high-reward play on secure U.S. and allied drone demand. Consensus ratings tilt toward “buy” or “speculative buy” in many summaries, with target prices that imply substantial upside from depressed levels – but also embed assumptions about revenue ramp and contract wins that are far from guaranteed.
Ondas ($ONDS) eyes Aeronautics
Israeli business media report that Ondas has submitted an offer to buy Aeronautics, the unmanned systems subsidiary of Rafael. It is a proposal under review, not a completed acquisition. Below: what is confirmed, the political and regulatory risk, and how retail traders are reacting.
ParaZero ($PRZO) DefendAir intercepts a hostile drone at ~70 mph
The company says this is its first successful net-based interception at that speed, positioning DefendAir for “on-the-move” protection against fast FPV-style threats and other tactical drones.
War Ai and the X Ecosystem
SpaceX launches satellites, Starlink keeps front lines online, X shapes the information space, and xAI’s Grok is being wired into military networks. A new Pentagon contest for voice-controlled autonomous drones shows how these pieces are starting to lock together into a single, highly political war-tech stack.
Castellum Inc ($CTM) Now Debt Free
From heavily leveraged roll-up to cash-rich, debt-free federal contractor: what changes after the last note payoff, how the Navy “Big 3” contracts reshape visibility, and what still can go wrong for shareholders.
Top 10 Us Defense Stocks With Real Growth Optionality
The big defense primes will always dominate the headlines, but the real optionality for capital gains usually sits one step below, in the names that own a niche. In this basket the niches are clear: tactical drones and loitering munitions (KTOS, AVAV), hypersonic testing and missile-defense space constellations (KTOS, RKLB), naval power and combat systems (DRS), training and simulation (CAE), advanced composites (HXL), electronic-warfare computers (MRCY), spectrum and cyber for national security (CACI, SAIC) and high-margin aerospace components (HEI).
AST SpaceMobile Inc ($ASTS)
In January you saw the “National Defense Strategy / Deep Tech” macro piece: defense budgets, uranium enrichment, electronic warfare and reusable launch infrastructure all moving at once. In that map, AST SpaceMobile sits on the space-based connectivity layer: a company trying to build cell towers in orbit that can serve both civilian and military customers, at a time when governments explicitly talk about resilient communications, contested environments and independent infrastructure. This note takes that macro lens and zooms back into ASTS.
AI, drones and US defense after the Singapore Airshow 2026
The Singapore Airshow 2026 is not just a nice backdrop for air displays and static jets. It is a live x-ray of how fast the Indo-Pacific balance of power is shifting, and how quickly drones and AI-enabled systems have moved from the fringe to the centre of the defence conversation. While China shows off fighters and commercial jets to signal that it wants a bigger slice of the regional market, US and allied firms are quietly doing something just as important: locking in long-term positions across drones, autonomy and “AI-ready” hardware.
Golden Dome $PL $BKSY $SATL
For years, “space” was mostly a story about launch costs and broadband dreams. In 2026 the narrative is shifting: satellites are becoming the nervous system of a new defence architecture built around missile warning, tracking and resilient communications
BKSY BlackSky Technology
Small-cap geospatial intelligence pure play with a fast-growing Gen-3 satellite constellation, recurring U.S. and international defense contracts and strong leverage to the new U.S. space and missile-defense cycle.
ONDS Ondas Inc
In early January we started to follow Ondas Inc. (ONDS) more closely on Merlintrader, first with a long-form deep-dive on the transformation of the group into an autonomous defense “system-of-systems” platform, and then with a sequence of updates as new contracts and Investor Day details emerged. Those articles focused on the structural story, the DCMA “Blue UAS” listing for Optimus and the growing defense pipeline.
2026 The New Era – Watchlist Space-AI-Defense
2026 opens in a geopolitical environment that looks like a “Cold War 2.0” – but running at a much higher speed and across more domains than anything we have seen before. Classic threat pillars – nuclear deterrence, air and sea control, conventional superiority – are still there, but they have been reshaped by disruptive technologies that make them far more lethal and unpredictable.
CTM Castellum Inc
Castellum starts 2026 with exactly what you want to see in a micro-cap defense name: more work, bigger visibility inside the U.S. missile-defense and Navy ecosystem, and a tape that already gave traders a clean spike-and-fade on the first new contract of the year.
PLTR Palantir Technologies Inc Updated Feb 3
Deep dive on Palantir’s dual engine (government + commercial AI), the new U.S. Army Enterprise Agreement and the Innodata partnership for multimodal data in “rodeo analytics” – with an eye on 2026 catalysts.
LUNR Intuitive Machines Inc
Intuitive Machines is a Houston-based space infrastructure company working on lunar landers, cislunar communications and defense-focused satellite platforms. The stock is one of the purest public plays on the Artemis + Golden Dome “space infrastructure” theme.
Ondas (ONDS) Inc
Ondas Inc. (NASDAQ: ONDS) announced that the Optimus drone from its American Robotics unit has been added to the DCMA “Blue List” of approved unmanned aircraft systems. This confirms compliance with Department of War cybersecurity, supply chain and operational standards and opens a faster lane for U.S. government and defense procurement of Optimus.
At Merlintrader we’ve been following Ondas for a while through this steep progression, and today’s move is another step in the transition from a niche wireless/IoT story towards a more clearly defined dual-use autonomous infrastructure profile.
PDYN Palladyne AI Corp Update Jan 28
Today’s move is all about a fresh U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory contract: the headline is “swarming,” but the real keyword is integration—getting drones, ships, ground systems, and now satellites to share ISR and coordinate as one network. Below: what happened, what it could mean, what can still go wrong, and the key numbers double-checked from SEC filings and official releases.