Lockheed Martin deal ties Ondas cyber-over-RF sensing into Sanctum counter-drone system

Ondas is partnering with Lockheed Martin to bring its Cyber-over-RF sensing capability into Sanctum, a layered counter-unmanned aerial systems (counter-UAS) solution designed to detect and disrupt hostile drones. The companies say the integration is meant to improve performance against drones that change tactics, including through updates that can strain traditional detection and classification methods.

According to the announcement carried by Yahoo Finance, the arrangement centers on Ondas’ Sentrycs Cyber-over-RF technology. Cyber-over-RF generally refers to approaches that translate indicates from the radio frequency environment into cyber-like insights, helping operators detect, characterize, and respond to activity that may indicate malicious drone behavior. In this case, the technology is being added to the Sanctum layered architecture rather than treated as a standalone detection system.

Lockheed Martin, which sells a broad set of defense and aerospace products, has positioned Sanctum as a counter-drone platform that combines multiple layers to address the limits of any single sensor or effect. A layered strategy can matter because drone threats can vary by size, communications method, navigation tactics, and electronic countermeasures. The integration with Cyber-over-RF suggests the partners are looking to expand the “early warning and understanding” portion of the overall defense chain.

The reported relationship is framed as a portfolio enhancement for Ondas, which is working to broaden the applicability of its sensing technology within operational counter-UAS systems. The combined approach implies an emphasis on both detection and interpretation, with the goal of improving how defenses respond when a drone’s behavior evolves or when radio-frequency conditions become more complex.

What remains unclear from the reported coverage is the contract scope and timeline. The announcement as presented does not specify the size of the deal, whether it is an initial fielding agreement or an integration effort for future sales, or where the first deployments are expected to occur. It also does not disclose target customer types, such as civilian critical infrastructure versus defense customers, or any performance metrics tied to the Cyber-over-RF integration.

Lockheed Martin’s counter-UAS work sits in a wider defense market trend in which militaries and other security operators increasingly seek multi-layer systems that can handle large volumes of threats with varied signatures. In that environment, vendor partnerships are often used to fuse specialty sensors, analytics, and mission software into a single operational package that can be fielded with reduced integration friction.

For Ondas, the company’s stated goal is to strengthen its counter-drone portfolio by embedding Sentrycs Cyber-over-RF within a larger, system-level defense solution. For Lockheed Martin, the benefit is the addition of a technology layer aimed at improving how the system interprets radio frequency activity, a capability that can be crucial when drones leverage communications links or electronic techniques to complicate detection.

As of now, neither the Yahoo Finance report nor the publicly referenced Lockheed Martin newsroom page entry in the materials provided offers additional operational details such as measured detection accuracy, tested ranges, or specific countermeasures that will be paired with Sanctum at the integration level. Investors and customers may have to wait for additional company releases or contract announcements to see what is included in scope, what operational testing has been completed, and how performance compares with prior Sanctum configurations.