Safe Pro Group Inc. (NASDAQ:SPAI) saw its shares rise 6.2% in premarket trading Tuesday after announcing it had won a U.S. Army contract for a threat detection system that integrates its edge AI capabilities with partner drones and ongoing support.
The contract was obtained as a subcontract through a Defense Prime Contractor and assembles several elements into a turnkey kit: Safe Pro’s edge compute NODE (Navigation Observation & Detection Engine), Black Widow drones supplied by Red Cat Holdings (NASDAQ:RCAT), annual software upgrades and operational field support. The company said it expects to complete delivery of the order in the second quarter of 2026.
The centerpiece of the package is Safe Pro’s SPOTD (Safe Pro Object Threat Detection) technology, a patented AI and machine learning suite designed to identify a broad range of explosive hazards and hostile devices. According to the company, SPOTD can detect more than 150 varieties of explosive threats and other objects of interest across expansive operational environments, including landmines, cluster munitions, unexploded ordnance and ambush drones.
Safe Pro describes NODE as an edge processing system that analyzes video feeds captured by Red Cat drones without the need for continuous connectivity. NODE can rapidly produce orthomosaics, terrain maps and 3D models that annotate and incorporate detected threats, providing enhanced battlefield situational awareness to end users in the field.
The company reported that its AI models were trained on a dataset containing more than 2.8 million drone images and in excess of 50,368 confirmed detections, collected across some 35,000 acres of terrain in Ukraine. Safe Pro’s platform translates raw visual inputs from drones into shareable, high-resolution two-dimensional and three-dimensional maps.
Company executives noted that this contract marks Safe Pro’s first turnkey kit order that bundles its AI edge processing NODE with partner drones, operational support services and annual software licensing for the U.S. Army. Market data included in reporting around the announcement showed intraday movements for the two tickers, including RCAT+2.34% and SPAI+1.14% in one snapshot.
Market reaction and context
Investors reacted in premarket trading to the news of the Army award, with Safe Pro shares rising 6.2% ahead of the open. The arrangement is structured as a subcontract through a defense prime, and the company has set a targeted delivery completion in the second quarter of 2026.
Conclusion
The order combines hardware, edge AI software and services into a single kit intended to enhance detection and mapping of explosive threats. The timeline, subcontract structure and the turnkey nature of the award are central features disclosed by the company.