Ondas Holdings Inc.

Welcome to the ONDAS Holdings, Inc. first quarter 2024 conference call. All participants will be in listen-only mode. Should you need assistance, please signal a conference specialist by pressing the star key followed by zero. After today's presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. To ask a question, you may press star then one on your telephone keypad. To withdraw your question, please press star then two. Before we begin, the company would like to remind you that this call may contain forward-looking statements. While these forward-looking statements reflect on ONDAH's best current judgment, they are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those implied by these forward-looking statements. These risk factors are discussed in ONDAH's periodic SEC filings and in the earnings press release issued today, which are both available on the company's website. ONDAWS undertakes no obligation to revise or update any forward-looking statements to reflect future events or circumstances, except as required by law. During this call, ONDAWS will refer to certain non-GAAP financial measures, These non-GAAP measures are not prepared in accordance with generally accepted account principles. Reconciliation of the non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP measures is shown in our press release issued earlier today, which is available at the Investor Relations section of our website. This non-GAAP information is provided as a supplement to not as a substitute for or as superior to measures of financial performance prepared in accordance with GAAP. However, management believes that these non-GAAP measures provide investors with valuable information on the underlying trends of our business. Please note this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the presentation over to Eric Brock, Chairman and CEO. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Operator, and good morning. I want to get started by welcoming everyone to our quarterly conference call. We appreciate the time you're spending with us and for your interest in our company. I'm happy to be joined today by key members of our leadership team, including our CFO, Ishe Terluru, Guy Simpson, the President and Chief Operating Officer of OnDust Networks, Mayor Kleiner, President of OnDust Autonomous Systems and the Founder and CEO of our Aerobotics Subsidiary, and Tim Tenney, CEO of American Robotics. Now, let's turn to the agenda. We'll start the call with some brief comments highlighting recent business developments at both OnDesk Networks and OnDesk Autonomous Systems business units. I will then hand the call to Yishai for a financial review of our first quarter 2024 results. We will then provide a business update for OnDesk Networks in our OAS business units, where I will ask Guy, Mer, and Tim to provide commentary around current business activity. Then we will wrap the call and open the floor for investor questions. I expect today's call to be on the shorter side, given we have shared a detailed update on our last investor call just six weeks ago when we delivered our annual results for 2023. That investor call covered quite a bit of activity from Q1. Even so, we have been productive in the last six weeks, and as we will discuss, we have advanced our key business priorities at both on-desk networks and OAS business units. Before we dig into that, I want to start by acknowledging the disappointing start to 2024 from a revenue perspective. As we mentioned on our call on April 1st, we expect a good year from a growth perspective. However, our revenue will be heavily weighted to the second half of 2024, given headwinds we face to start the year, namely the extended timelines with the Class 1 railroads to deploy our technology in upgrading the legacy 900 MHz network, as well as the interruptions with our OAS business unit related to the Gaza conflict. Recall, with the Gaza conflict, the production of Optimus systems was negatively impacted, which created a bottleneck in advancing marketing activity. Nonetheless, we are optimistic about the adoption cycle ahead for our three technology platforms, which include, of course, ONS Network's FOMACS.16-compliant software-defined network platform, as well as OAS's Optimus system and Iron Drone Raiders. The value of our DOT16 technology was further confirmed with the order we announced today to provide an upgraded 220 megahertz PTC data radio for a key northeast corridor passenger railroad. The customer specifications for this upgraded PTC data radio required compatibility with the IEEE 802.16 wireless standard, which, of course, provides the customer the flexibility to engage a wireless network upgrade roadmap across that northeast corridor. This is a landmark deal, and we are very excited to open the passenger rail market and expand our serviceable addressable market, or SAM, to that very large 220 megahertz network. We are also excited about last week's update where we highlighted the first commercial order for our Iron Drone platform. Iron Drone Raider is a home-run product with what we believe are market-leading performance specifications. We have worked intently with our customer and defense partners to add even more capability to the Raider, and we look forward to sharing these details on the Raider specifications and technology enhancements at a later time. We expect to receive additional orders for the Iron Drone platform in the coming months as we prepare for volume production and expanded marketing to other defense and security customers globally. These new orders for on-desk networks in our OAS business unit demonstrate the market leadership and valuable innovation we are bringing to protect and secure provision of critical services and operation of critical infrastructure assets. At on-desk networks, all signs continue to support a major growth opportunity, starting with the 900 megahertz network, where activity continues to advance. On the 900 megahertz program, we have made more progress on the systems integration effort we described on our last call. Guy will provide more details, but I am happy to share up front that we have now completed the integration and backwards compatibility on the legacy 900 megahertz network with two railroads, including a class one railroad in Chicago and with a smaller communal rail system in the southwest. Our progress was validated when our distribution partner received an order in early May for a system-wide deployment on behalf of that commuter railroad. There's still more work in Chicago, which is related to demonstrating the final migration to the new 900 megahertz frequency band, and that migration is being planned now. As we move into 2024, we are seeing broadening opportunities at OAS. With geopolitical conflicts rising as evidenced by the tensions in the Ukraine, Middle East, and Taiwan, the need to protect and secure critical infrastructure, assets, and services is a significant focus from government, defense, and Homeland Security officials, as well as for operators of critical technology and industrial assets. These tailwinds are strong and strengthening and benefit our Optimus and IronDrone platforms. In addition to our milestone order for IronDrone, we continue to advance the customer marketing activity on our Optimus system. Our marketing efforts in the U.S. and Europe are adding to a robust pipeline of attractive customer activities while our efforts in the Middle East continue to perform well. Mary and Tim will share more details later on the call. And as Mayor and Tim will discuss, the Optimist system inventory availability is improving. This will enable additional customer activity here in the U.S. and internationally and allows us to engage a growing and maturing customer pipeline. I want to highlight the partnership we signed last week with Hala Sky, a drone services unit of Hala, the largest terminal operator at the port of Hamburg in Germany, which is Europe's third largest seaport. This is an important relationship for the Andes Autonomous Systems business unit. With Hala Sky, we are bringing an ability to drive fleet adoption of Optimus systems and build scalable aerial security and data intelligence programs for global terminal operators where our customer pipeline is growing. I would add that we believe Hala Sky will also provide entry across government and industrial markets and the large German drone market. So to wrap up the introduction, the week's first half revenue belies the value we are building with customers across our technology platforms. The order for the 220 MHz PC data radio is a huge signal of broad adoption of DOT16 across global rail markets and the strategic value of our Fulmax connectivity platform. Further, the commercialization of the Iron Drone Raider transitions that platform to revenue generation and solidifies our OAS business unit as an important player in a fast-growing market for autonomous systems, providing security and intelligence to critical markets such as defense, security, public safety, and critical infrastructure operations in a world that's requiring more and more of this expertise. I will now hand the call to Yishay to provide the detailed Q1 financial update. Yishay?

Thank you, Eric. As I get started, I want to remind our investors that the figures we're about to discuss encompass the inclusion of Aerobotics Financial, effective from January 23, 2023, following our successful acquisition. This strategic move has significantly augmented our operational effectiveness and revenue streams, increased our market presence, and enhancing our shareholder value. Further, despite the added scale from the addition of aerobatics, as you will see, operating expenses, both cash and non-cash OPEX, are down quarter over quarter, reflecting an extreme focus on OPEX efficiency. That will continue. Turning to the Q124 results, we had a slow start to the year. In the first quarter of 24, revenues decreased to $625,000 compared to $2.6 million in Q1-23. The decrease in revenues was primarily a result of extended timelines at ONDAS networks related to the 900 MHz activities with the Class 1 railroads and supply chain disruption connected to the Gaza war at our OAS business unit. For ONDAS networks, revenues will fluctuate from quarter to quarter given the uncertainty around timing of customer activity in front of the targeted commercial rollout in the 900 MHz network and development programs underway with Siemens and MXD rates. Similarly, revenues at OES are expected to vary from quarter to quarter and to normalize into more predictable patterns as we grow our customer base and more of those customers enter fleet programs and recurring service agreements in the United States and internationally. Gross profit decreased to negative 400,000 for Q124 as compared to 1 million for Q123. Gross margin was negative for Q124 as compared to 39.6% for Q123. A disappointing gross margin performance is primarily due to subscale operations given the low revenue recorded in the quarter relative to recurring cost of services provided, as well as product development costs overrun on typically low-margin development programs. Cost margins can be volatile on quarter-by-to-quarter basis due to low revenue levels and shift in quarter mix between products, development, and services revenue. Please note that we are targeting higher gross margin at Ondas Network on new development progress such as the PTC data radio announced today. Operating expenses decreased to $8.7 million for Q124 as compared to $13.7 million in Q123. The sharp drop in operating expenses was primarily due to controls on cash activity and decreased R&D activity both in networks and OAS. This decrease in operating expenses emphasizes the ongoing benefit from the restructuring of our autonomous system business unit in connection with the integration of American robotics and aerobatics after the aerobatic acquisition closed in January 23. The company narrowed operating loss to $9.1 million for Q124 as compared to $12.6 million for Q123. Although revenue decreased, our operating loss improved 28% year-over-year and was largely driven by strong expense control and lower non-cash charges. Adjusted EBITDA loss narrowed 24% year-over-year to $7.7 million for Q124 as compared to $10.2 million for Q123. Now let's turn to the cash flow statements. We had cash and crash equivalents of $14.6 million as of March 31st, 24, as compared to $14.2 million as of March 31st, 2023. Q1 cash provided by financing includes additional gross financing totaling $8.6 million. Cash used in operations during Q1 24 decreased by $5.3 million, due to primarily the restructuring of our ONDOS autonomous system business units. We expect cash utilization to improve significantly as we move forward into 2024. Improved cash efficiencies come from operating expenses leverage at both companies as we focus spending on driving customer adoption and growth in revenues and gross profits. As noted, we ended Q1 with $14.6 million in cash. In February, we announced an $8.6 million capital raise through the sales of Ondas Holdings Common Stock and Ondas Networks Preferred Stock in a financing led by Charles and Potomac Capital. As of March 31, 2024, we had $27.4 million in convertible notes outstanding. I want to highlight that the convertible notes have maturities in April 2025 and July 2025, which means we have some time to manage the amortization and create conditions to equitize the notes under more favorable conditions. It is our objective to equitize these notes as soon as we can by using shares to retire the notes, either via monthly amortization or quarterly. to see those nodes convert entirely to equity prior to maturity. I will now hand over the call back to Eric.

Thank you, Yishay. Now we will transition to a review of our business units and ask Guy Simpson and Mayor Kleiner to share updates on recent activity in the field with customers and industry partners. We will also ask Tim Tenney to share comments regarding American Robotics and drill down a bit into the outlook for OAS in the United States. As I hand the call to Guy, I want to reiterate that I have confidence in our ability to grow an important business at OnDesk Networks as we deploy wireless technology that is critically valuable for the rail customers and the large industrial vendors and emerging MCIOT technology ecosystem. We believe commercial deployments on 900 megahertz will begin soon, certainly this year, and that the opportunity in 900 megahertz, as well as with the other private networks for the Class 1 rails, in addition to global rail markets, remains substantial. Guy, please proceed.

Thank you, Eric. I'm happy to be here this morning and to share an ONDAS Networks update for our investors. As stated earlier in the call, we provided a very detailed status update on the 900 megahertz upgrade activity recently. And so my comments today will focus on our incremental progress and outlook. I am happy to share that we have achieved the system's integration goals for our Airlink ATCS products and demonstrated backwards compatibility in the live legacy 900 megahertz network of a class one railroad in Chicago. Our next step with this railroad is to advance the migration of the installed Airlink systems to the new 900 megahertz frequency band, and we believe we have the right plan to do just that. This effort is currently being planned with the customer, and we expect to complete this migration effort in the second quarter. In addition, we have completed a second systems integration with a commuter railroad in the southwest. Our distribution partner has already received an order on behalf of this customer signaling their confidence in our ability to upgrade the legacy 900 megahertz network. And let me highlight, this is the first system wide commercial order in the 900 megahertz network. This is a significant milestone validating the progress we are making with this important network. Furthermore, we are starting the now well-proven systems integration process with a Midwest commuter railroad. As we recommended, they have purchased equipment to establish multiple labs in which they will evaluate Airlink products and DOT16 technology for various applications. The other Class 1 rails continue to closely track our progress. Success in Chicago is expected to lead to further engagement with Class 1 rails on planning and timelines for their own 900 megahertz networks. We, along with the rail customers and Siemens, have learned a lot through these initial integration activities, and we believe we have created scalable processes that can be deployed in other regions across all railroad operations. We want to take a moment and highlight some recent public statements by the AAR regarding plans for the 900 megahertz network and some key takeaways. On May 2nd, the AAR submitted a comment letter to the FCC in response to regulatory filings related to 900 megahertz spectrum licenses. In this comment letter, the AAR made some strong statements related to the value of the new 900 megahertz spectrum and the networks for train operations. The AAR stated that the 900 MHz frequency band was critical, highly valuable, and that the 900 MHz network was a key component of the industry's next-generation network plans. Furthermore, they signaled the critical role the DOT16 wireless technology will play in the 900 MHz build-out, while also referencing the other private license spectrum bands. I remind our investors that the railroads currently operate four mission-critical private networks across the 160, 220, 450, and 900 megahertz frequency bands. We believe the AAR's reference to future innovative technologies across the full suite of spectrum bands highlights the opportunity for ONDAS and its DOT16 platforms to support network upgrades across all of the legacy networks operated by the railroad. We will continue to work hard to realize this massive market opportunity and support the AAR's requirements. Let's turn now to the major announcement we made today regarding the 220 megahertz PTC data radio. Ondas Networks has entered into an agreement with our distribution partner to provide an upgraded on-locomotive radio for a key northeast corridor passenger railroad. This radio will be backwards compatible with the legacy 220 megahertz network and host positive train control, a critical safety application. Importantly, this new radio will replace a discontinued legacy radio and is designed for adoption across the Northeast corridor where track is shared by other passenger, transit, and even freight railroad operators. The new 220 data radio will offer an upgrade pass to DOT16, which was a specific requirement of the rail customer. I want to note that this project has already started, and we are on track to deliver production radios in the first quarter of 2025. One final note on the 220 megahertz program. This win represents a new rail market, passenger and transit, a new private network, 220 megahertz, and a new application, positive train control. In short, it expands our service addressable market, or SAM, in the rail sector. In addition, our work with the AER, and specifically with MXV Rail, continues to point to expanded engagement regarding new networks and applications. For example, work with the Class 1 railroads on advancing the commercialization of our base station controller to provide dynamic frequency resource management and on new use cases for 900 megahertz, including CTC over ITCM to provide the required redundancy for the 220 megahertz PTC safety network. Now I will hand the call back to Eric. Eric?

Thank you, Guy. I will now ask Mayor Kleiner to take the floor and update us on progress at Ondas Autonomous Systems and provide insight into recent developments at OAS and the outlook from here. Mayor?

Thank you, Eric. In the first quarter, we announced the formation of Ondas Autonomous Holding Inc., OAH. This newly formed drone holding company is intended to enhance our operational and financial flexibility as we scale our drone business worldwide. OAH will leverage our market-leading autonomous drone platforms, the Optimus system and the Iron Drone radar, by driving focused and scalable operating models targeted towards providing comprehensive aerial security and data solutions for specific industry verticals. Of course, these initial vertical markets where we are demonstrating scalable go-to-market success, including public safety and emergency response, critical infrastructure, construction project management, and data centers. Our customer pipeline has expanded significantly in recent months, as our investments in our services organization in both US and Europe, which include partnerships like we announced last week with HHLA Sky and Sea Astral Aerospace, begin to mature. Our ability to meet this growing demand visibility has improved with Optimus system production now catching up after the dislocation from the Gaza war. On production, we expect to receive delivery of the 15 systems currently being produced by Q3 2024. We are making plans to expand production behind these systems. During Q1, Aerobotics secured an expanded services agreement to support the growing fleet of our Optimus systems in the UAE and Israel. Additionally, Aerobotics continued its expansion in the United Arab Emirates, where a local governmental entity is deploying the world's first drone network infrastructure for public safety and other public services. This initiative is expected to continue, aiming to achieve a fleet of more than 20 systems by the end of 2025. As we continue to support this network expansion, we see a growing potential for expanded commercial use cases in the UAE and we hope to have more to say on this later this year. In the counter drone domain, we have successfully completed the urgent work to tailor the Iron One radar system for certain military requirements. This achievement is evident in our recent announcement of initial purchase order for major defense company. We believe the system specifications for the radar are best in class and even disruptive as compared to other systems in the market. The incredible effort and accomplishments by our team positions on this very well in a fast growing market. While Team Tenor will provide an update on U.S. business activity, I want to highlight our business development activities in Europe, where we have established a marketing effort that includes the formation of new partnerships that help leverage the local market expertise of distributors. We believe the market potential in Europe is significant, where we can bring our vast experience and credibility in protecting and monitoring critical assets to key customers in transportation, construction, and many other critical operations. I want to finish my prepared remarks by highlighting that we are operating robotics and American robotics in a full synergy, effectively bringing to the table the core advantages of OAH. Together, we are leveraging world-class technology with proven value and reliability, which we are combining with scalable solutions targeting at focused vertical markets and use cases. I will now end the call over to Tim Tenney, CEO of American Robotics, to provide an update on the business achievements we are making at American Robotics.

Thank you, Mayor. During the first quarter, we successfully completed a proof-of-value program with the Mass Department of Transportation Aeronautical Division, which included flawless demonstrations of the Optima system and our newly positioned Kestrel Detect and Avoid solution at the Massachusetts Maritime Academy. These demonstrations showcased our ability to operate the Optima system consistently with remote operations beyond visual line of sight. This demonstration is continuing to drive a maturing pipeline within the defense, federal, state, and commercial segments, which positions us well for successful sales and deployments. We have also expanded our ecosystem around field operations and technology infrastructure via new partnerships at American Robotics. For example, we secured a partnership with Sennheis, a leading provider of a portable passive detection system for drones also known as a counter unmanned aircraft system, as well as additional capability for tracking participating and non-cooperative air traffic. Additionally, we have partnered with Resilience, a leader in data quality assurance and real-time aviation safety management systems for highly automated and autonomous systems. Together, these partnerships will assist ONDIS in elevating autonomous drone operations, through advanced integration of airspace safety and management systems. American Robotics engaged in the Green UAS program to certify compliance with the highest levels of cybersecurity and supply chain requirements of the U.S. National Defense Authorization Act. The Green UAS program is administered by the Association for Uncrewed Vehicle Systems International in partnership with the U.S. Department of Defense and many state governments. with the purpose of enhancing the country's UAS technology base. American Robotics expects to complete the green UAS qualification during quarter three. We expect to be completed on the build out of our new demonstration training and operation center to be launched at our Baltimore County, Maryland headquarters in June. We look forward to sharing more detailed information with everyone soon. We are seeing an increased demand for the deployment of the Optimus system with potential customers in both government and commercial segments. Lastly, American Robotics is advancing its go-to-market plans in U.S. defense and security markets with both Optimus and Iron Drone. We anticipate new opportunities that will come into effect during the second half of 2024, and I look forward to keeping our investors informed on these activities. I will now hand the call back to Eric.

Let's wrap the call now and summarize the outlook and provide context for where we are. We're going to continue to hold off on providing a formal outlook for 2024. We want to be conservative given we still need to secure that initial 900 megahertz order. We do believe order and revenue visibility will improve in the second half. We continue to work hard, and the recent AAR public comments suggest the railroads are intending to build out the 900 megahertz network, and it also suggests that they will have some urgency. For OAS, customer engagement, conversations, and negotiations around orders, as well as field trials, continue to build, and the availability of optimist systems will help support a recovery in revenue growth. The various distribution partnerships we have secured, such as the Holosky announcement last week, are also expected to add to our revenue in the second half. Lastly, IronDrone will be accretive to the revenue outlook now that it has been officially launched and accepted by a very important reference customer. So the outlook remains positive for Andas. I understand investors may be frustrated with our choppy performance from a financial and operational standpoint. We share your frustrations, especially given our belief that we have created extremely valuable technology platforms in very large, high-growth end markets. We are continuing to work hard to deliver this to you. We are working on business plans and funding strategies, which include capital strategies at our OAH business unit, which we believe will accelerate the execution of its business plan. My confidence remains high. We are doing amazing things for our customers and partners, and it's our job to make sure that we, meaning our investors and our team, will be rewarded. It isn't easy for sure, but we remain 100% committed, and we will work hard to deliver for you. With that said, let's see if there are any questions. Operator?

We will now begin the question and answer session. To ask a question, you may press star then one on your telephone keypad. If you're using a speakerphone, please pick up your handset before pressing the keys. If at any time your question has been addressed and you would like to withdraw your question, please press star then two. At this time, we will pause momentarily to assemble our roster. The first question comes from Tim Horan with Oppenheimer. Please go ahead.

Hey, guys. Hi, Eric. It's great that the rails kind of reaffirmed to the FCC meeting the kind of deadline to clear the spectrum. Can you just give us a little bit more color on how much you think they need to spend to meet the intent in that letter? And just a rough update when you think the revenues kind of start coming in.

Okay, so in terms of sizing, we still look at the TAM as what we've shared with you often in the past. I would point to specific numbers that the AAR used in their comment letter. I think that's a nice number that they've used in terms of size. However, I think it does refer to legacy equipment, so it's not necessarily apples to apples. And then in terms of timing, as we've been discussing the last couple of calls, we are very active across the board with the AAR and specifically Chicago, and that activity is being watched very closely. We do believe that we will have success there, and that will lead to commercial orders and further engagement with other railroads on their plans for upgrading the legacy network.

So is there any change in, you know, it's been a few years, I think, since you updated the TAM. Is there any change in your pricing strategy or, you know, scope of the work whatsoever? And do you think you'll, I guess you have a best guess on when the revenues might start coming in, you know, at this point? It seems like, you know, if you don't have the firm orders now, the revenues are probably more like next year. Not to put words in your mouth yet.

Yes, I don't want to make any commitments in terms of timelines because we do need the visibility. I do would refer again, and I covered this in the AAR statement, that they're expecting to meet the deadlines to move off the legacy network. And as a reminder, those are September 2025. In addition, there is a build-out requirement where the railroads have to show substantial coverage to the FCC, and that deadline is April 2026. So the initial deadline is less than 18 months away, and April 2026 is about two years, actually less than two years. So we've got to get busy, and I guess that's all I can tell you, Tim. I do want to hold off on putting stakes in the ground on the revenue side until we get orders. I will add, if orders come, that we have built a bit of inventory so we can be responsive. There you go.

Great. And can you then maybe just update us on your liquidity situation? Do you think you need to raise more capital at this point, A? And, B, can you just remind us, you know, what your fully diluted shares outstanding are now?

a fully diluted base oh gee um i don't have that in front of me on the share count i'll have to get back to you um okay but uh uh on the liquidity side uh we we do expect to raise capital uh and i've said that on the last call six weeks ago and we pointed specifically to some activity with oah um so i'd like to um just leave it at that okay

So do you think this cash burn rate is kind of good for another quarter, you know, or two, or would there be any changes to the cash burn?

Yeah, I think you'll see our cash off at these levels. And then on the revenue side, we'll drive, or I'd say maybe these levels or maybe slightly lower. And then we look into the second half where we have gross profit generation picking up with revenue. And, you know, we'd like to have that drive the cash utilization down.

Thank you.

Our next question comes from Glenn Mattson with Lautenberg Feltman. Please go ahead.

Hey, guys. Thanks for taking the questions. Yeah, just can you give us a sense on the OH side about, you know, you know, there's been, I guess, a little bit of a push out based on some of the disruptions you mentioned. Just can you give us a sense of the scope of what you feel you see for that unit versus where you were, say, you know, at the beginning, coming into the year?

Sure, yeah. So I'll say I expect our drone businesses to be up year over year in revenue. The reason for the first half weakness is just clearly the war, which was disrupting And we've shared that with you. At OAH, there is pent-up demand. And I want to be careful about the specifics on some of the pipeline. But, you know, clearly there's – and, of course, that's for competitive reasons. But we're seeing quite a bit of activity in public safety, the Dubai police, the UAE governmental entity. continue to be very active and we're having great success expanding the fleet there. And we think that continues. They have publicly restated again their intent to build a citywide infrastructure. And we do see commercial activity or commercial opportunities in the UAE as well. That activity in Dubai is leading to more engagement with global security and law enforcement groups. So we're very encouraged by that. We have highlighted some of the demand we're seeing from ports and specifically inside ports. We're talking about terminal operators where we're going to be building specific programs around security and aerial intelligence or inspection. And the Holosky relationship that we established this quarter is a good example of us in the direction we're heading there. Similarly, the Departments of Transportation and other government agencies are engaged. So we see quite a bit of opportunity. And I would also add that we have a new revenue-generating platform in the Iron Drone Raider. We did announce that order last week. We're expecting more orders. So that's going to help support revenue growth this year.

Okay. On the Iron Drone, when you – as the pipeline begins to build or whatever, is it more – Are you saying for more military applications or is it sometimes like more security and public safety type things? And what do you think when you're competing against other drone platforms or whatever on that type of application? Where do you think you stand? What do you see when there's like a bake-off versus you or somebody else type thing?

Yeah, so the initial demand here is clearly going to be for military use cases, and that's where our first orders will come. And we believe with this customer that we have substantial growth opportunity. Now, I'd also say we're seeing quite a bit of interest from other governments, homeless security groups, and defense groups as well. So that's where you're going to see us play. And we feel specifically for the counter-US platforms that intercept hostile drones, that the specifications that we're bringing to the table and the reliability that we're demonstrating, that we have a best-in-class product. So the market for counter-drone systems is big and growing very rapidly. So we think we're well-positioned there to build a very nice business, and that's going to be starting now after October. a lot of effort.

Maybe the same question on the Optimus, just when you're competing for ports and that kind of stuff, is it, you know, are you the kind of go-to solution that people just need to convert to becoming drone operators, users type thing, or is there oftentimes just two or three competitors going for that business and you're having to compete on, you know, either features or price or anything like that?

So I guess I'll share with you how I look at it is the solution we offer from a reliability and functionality standpoint is really unmatched. We can provide aerial security intelligence. We can do it 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and that's an incredibly valuable solution. We do see quite a bit of activity in these markets using drones, but most of them are piloted They don't have the persistency and, again, the intelligence, the range of solutions that we can bring from an analytics standpoint. So as you see spending grow with the value of the drone being realized and incorporated into workflows, I think that what we're doing is extremely competitive, and I think that we're going to be helping drive growth in these markets. So I like our position.

Okay, great. Thanks for the call, guys. Thanks, Glenn.

Our next question comes from Carter Mansbach with Ford Capital Group. Please go ahead.

Good morning, guys. So I guess congratulations on the $2.8 million commuter. Is there any way that we can know the name of the company that you signed this contract with, and if not, why?

So what I'll say is that there – let me give you some background on the request for proposal that came from a couple different places in the Northeast Corridor, including Amtrak. And those are publicly disclosed RFPs. The engagement we've had is coming with our partner, Siemens. So this order for us comes from Siemens. Siemens is very active with all the Northeast Corridor customers. So I don't want to say specifically, Carter, It's a radio for a key Northeast Corridor customer, and we believe that the Northeast Corridor rails, which includes MBTA, New Jersey Transit, Long Island Rail, MTA, and Amtrak, as well as certain freight rail operators like CSX, they'll be the target for this radio. And it's important to also understand that this radio is being developed because the legacy radio is end of life and has been discontinued.

Okay, that's helpful. So this AAR conversation has been floated about. You guys mentioned it. Tim mentioned it. So the number in that article or that piece was 69 million. So what piece of that action could be taught on this?

So I can't talk specifically about those numbers because those are AAR numbers and they calculate themselves. What I will say is that in the new A-band, as they call it, the new 900 megahertz frequency, that we are, as far as we know, the only radio that's certified, the only wireless system that's certified by the FCC to operate.

Okay. All right. Last question regarding this spinoff of the drone industry business. Can we get any type of feel as to what the timeframe is? Because you said it in the last call, I don't understand it. I think investors don't understand how logistically that's going to happen. Can you give us any color as to how it's going to happen and when you're going to be discussing it further? Thanks.

I can't give you specifics on that. What I did say, and I'll reiterate, is that conversations with investors are active. And I'll say there's a variety of scenarios that could play out today and in the future, which involve investment and potentially spinning the company off into a separate entity.

Okay, thanks. Appreciate it. Of course, of course.

Our next question comes from Mike Lattimore with Northland Capital. Please go ahead.

Hi, this is Aditya on behalf of Mike Lattimore. Could you give some color on what kind of revenue mix between autonomous systems and networks could we expect for this year?

Well, I would say the outlook for the year is our autonomous systems business unit will likely have higher revenue than honest networks, but I don't want to forecast the mix.

Got it. And also, could you give some color on what is the average selling price on your counter drones?

We're not disclosing that at the moment for competitive reasons. I will tell you that we believe this is a very valuable product. It's at price points that are very competitive, and I think lower than other systems we see out there, and that we can deliver it at a very attractive margin.

Got it. Fine. Thank you.

Sure. Thanks.

Our next question comes from Matthew Galinko with Maxim Group. Please go ahead.

Hey, good morning. Thanks for taking my questions. I'm wondering how much custom integration work you expect to be required as the Raiders sold to other military and defense applications?

Good question, Matt. I don't think we necessarily have a lot of work on the system itself, right? So the UAV and the docking station. However, when we go to other markets, there may be different detect technologies. And when we talk about detect, we're typically talking about radar systems or radar systems, I'm sorry. So if we have a different radar system, we need to integrate into that radar system, which is a pretty straightforward process and not necessarily very costly.

Got it. Okay. And then I guess follow up to that is just given some of the supply chain hiccups you've seen on the Optimus side, do you expect or how do you navigate any limitations or ongoing limitations when it comes to scaling up the Raider business?

Good question. So the current plans are to produce the Raider in Israel. And as we access customers globally, we're likely to produce in other regions as well. I'll tell you that the complexity with the Raider system is dramatically less than what we see with the Optimus system. That's from a bill of materials and a build standpoint. So we think we've got this current, the orders that we're tracking now, we think we can produce and we've identified the plan to do that. But again, I do think, I'll say this for both Optimus and Raider. we will have plans to build in other parts of the world. And we'll add more specifics to that when we're ready to do so.

Great. And I guess the final question on that thread is, you know, just looking at the 2025, I know you're not, you know, giving a 2024 outlook, but, you know, relative to how you see demand on the autonomous side, developing on both the Optimist and Raider side, do you expect that Raider could have pull through in 25 that outpaces Optimist, or is it going to be a more gradual uptake?

Great question. So I believe 2025 for both platforms is going to be significant. I think that... I would say optimists will still be larger from a revenue standpoint. Where we're going to see revenue driven is through existing customers and fleet adoption. But as we're moving this year through 2024, you're going to see a number of very significant customers engage, which will start to turn into fleets in 2025 as well. So there's a lot of pent-up demand for what we're doing here. with Optimus. Same thing with Raider. So Raider will expand with an existing customer is our strong belief, but we think we're going to be able to engage other homeless security and defense groups. And to add it all up, given the revenue models, I think Optimus will probably still be larger than Raider, but they're both going to grow significantly.

Great. Thank you.

Again, if you have a question, please press star then one. This concludes our question and answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Eric Brock for any closing remarks.

Okay, thank you, operator. I'm just going to close the call by simply thanking you again for attending. We have a lot of work ahead, and we're going to get right back at it, and I look forward to keeping you informed on our progress. I hope you have a great day.

The conference is now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.