Motorola Solutions Acquires D-Fend for $1.5B: Counter-Drone Goes Mainstream

Motorola Solutions announced on 1 June 2026 that it will acquire D-Fend Solutions, an Israeli counter-drone technology company, for $1.5 billion, the largest publicly disclosed commercial acquisition in the counter-drone sector to date. D-Fend's EnforceAir system uses RF cyber-takeover to assume control of an unauthorised drone in flight without kinetic engagement or signal jamming. The deal is timed to the Safer Skies Act, enacted in December 2025, which extended domestic counter-drone authority to trained state and local law enforcement for the first time. Motorola, the dominant communications supplier to those agencies, is acquiring the mitigation technology that completes its public safety product stack. The FIFA World Cup 2026, opening across 11 US cities in mid-June, provides the first large-scale operational test of the new authority framework.