ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS
Investing in our common stock involves a high degree of risk. Prospective and current investors in our securities should carefully consider the following risks, together with all the other information contained in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, including the sections titled “Forward-Looking Information” and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and our consolidated financial statements and related notes in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. If any of the following risks actually occur, our business, results of operations, and financial condition could suffer. The risks described below are not the only ones facing us. The occurrence of any of the following risks, or of additional risks and uncertainties not presently known to us or that we currently believe to be immaterial, could materially and adversely affect our business, prospects, financial condition, or results of operations. In such case, the trading price of our common stock could decline, and you may lose part or all of your investment.
Risk Factors Summary
Our business is subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, including those highlighted in the section titled “Risk Factors” immediately following this summary. The following is a summary of the principal risks we face:
We have a limited operating history in new and evolving markets, which may make it difficult to evaluate our current business and future prospects and increase the risk of your investment.
We are an early-stage company with a history of losses, and we expect to incur significant expenses and continuing losses for the foreseeable future.
We depend on a limited number of customers for most of our revenue. The loss of, or a significant reduction in orders from our key customers that are not replaced by orders from new or existing customers, would significantly reduce our revenue and adversely impact our business, financial condition and results of operations.
We do not have long-term commitments from our customers, and end customers may cease purchasing our products at any time.
We have made and may in the future make acquisitions and investments, which involve numerous risks.
We may not be able to successfully integrate the businesses and personnel of acquired companies and businesses, and may not realize the anticipated synergies and benefits of such acquisitions.
We face significant competition from other companies, many of which have substantially greater resources than we do.
We may not be able to keep pace with technological advances and we depend on advances in technology by other companies.
We may not be able to produce aircraft in the volumes or on the timelines that we anticipate.
In order to reach production for our aircraft, we need to develop complex software and technology systems in coordination with our partners and suppliers, and there can be no assurance such systems will be successfully developed.
We may be unable to acquire additional aircraft to support our Training segment on acceptable terms or at all.
Due to the nature of our products and services, a product safety failure, quality issue or other failure affecting our or our customers’ or suppliers’ products or systems could seriously harm our business.
Our future success depends on the continuing efforts of our key personnel and on our ability to attract and retain highly skilled personnel and senior management.
We rely on a limited number of suppliers in Canada and Europe for critical components and raw materials used to manufacture and develop our products.
We rely on independent dealers and distributors to sell our Avionics products, and disruption to these channels would harm our business.
We currently, and may in the future, use and develop generative AI technologies throughout our business, which may expose us to certain regulatory and other risks that could adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition.
If our information technology systems or data, or the third parties with whom we work, are or were compromised, we could experience adverse consequences resulting from such compromise, including but not limited to regulatory investigations or actions; litigation; fines and penalties; disruptions of our business operations; reputational harm; loss of revenue or profits; loss of customers or sales; and other adverse consequences, risks which are amplified by our work for world governments.
Our commercial aviation products, systems and services businesses are affected by global demand and economic factors that could negatively impact our financial results.
The market for eVTOL aircraft and electric air mobility has not been clearly defined, is still emerging and may not achieve the growth potential we expect or may grow more slowly than expected, which may harm our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
We are still developing our eVTOL aircraft, have not yet obtained FAA certification of our eVTOL aircraft under development and we have yet to manufacture or deliver any aircraft to customers, which makes evaluating our business and future prospects difficult and increases the risk of investment.
There may be reluctance by consumers to adopt a new form of mobility, or an unwillingness to pay aircraft operators’ projected prices.
We are subject to extensive government regulation, and our failure to comply with applicable regulations may subject us to significant financial liability, penalties, and other government actions that restrict our ability to conduct our business.
U.S. government contracts are subject to a competitive bidding process, are generally not fully funded at inception, and contain certain terms that may be unfavorable to us, which could result in contracts and opportunities consuming significant resources without generating revenue or profit.
We rely to a significant degree on sales to the U.S. government, particularly to agencies of the Department of Defense/Department of War, and a decline in government budgets, funding, changes in spending or budgetary priorities, or delays in contract awards may materially adversely affect our future revenue, business, financial condition, results of operations, cash flow and equity.
The U.S. government may modify, curtail or terminate one or more of our contracts.
Shutdowns of the U.S. federal government could materially impair our business and financial condition.
Our business may benefit in part from government funding, and our inability to receive such financial support could harm our business.
Many of our products and services are subject to local, state, federal and international regulatory frameworks that are costly to comply with, are subject to interpretation, may be dependent on political pressures and factors and/or are subject to change.
Our business is highly regulated and our ability to generate revenues and profit may be limited by regulatory restrictions and/or changes and the speed with which such restrictions and/or changes occur.
We are subject to the risks associated with conducting international business operations.
If we fail to protect, or incur significant costs in defending or enforcing, our intellectual property and other proprietary rights, our business, financial condition, and results of operations could be materially harmed.
We have identified material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting. If we are unable to effectively remediate these material weaknesses, identify additional material weaknesses in the future, or otherwise fail to maintain effective internal control over financial reporting, then we may not be able to accurately or timely report our financial condition or results of operations, which may adversely affect our business.
Risks Related to Our Limited Operating History, Financial Position and Need for Additional Capital
We have a limited operating history in new and evolving markets, which may make it difficult to evaluate our current business and future prospects and increase the risk of your investment.
We were organized in August 2021 for the purpose of acquiring and integrating various companies in the aerospace and defense industry and the history of operating each of our businesses together is relatively short. Our limited operating history and rapidly evolving business make it difficult to evaluate our current business, future prospects and plan for growth. In addition, our drones, eVTOL aircraft and other products are sold or will be sold in new and rapidly evolving markets. Accordingly, our business and future prospects may be difficult to evaluate, the extent to which demand for our products and services will increase, if at all, could be impacted by our ability to do the following:
attract new customers to our products or services;
timely receive Blue UAS certification and commence U.S. drone manufacturing;
develop, renew and expand contracts;
acquire and maintain market share;
attract, integrate, train and retain leadership and other highly qualified personnel;
achieve or manage growth in our operations;
acquire new technologies;
adapt to required redirection or changes in services or direction caused by geopolitical crises;
successfully develop and commercially market new products and services;
keep pace with technological developments;
timely address the increasingly sophisticated needs of our customers, including as a result of changes in government regulation related to our products and services;
secure sufficient quantities or cost-effective production of our products due to supply chain challenges;
adapt to new or changing policies and spending priorities of governments and government agencies;
generate sufficient revenue to achieve or maintain profitability; and
access initial and additional capital when required and on reasonable terms.
If we fail to address these and other challenges, risks and uncertainties successfully, our business, results of operations, prospects and financial condition would be materially harmed.
We are an early-stage company with a history of losses, and we expect to incur significant expenses and continuing losses for the foreseeable future.
We have incurred significant net losses since inception including net losses of $4.1 million and $38.7 million for the year ended December 31, 2025 and 2024, respectively. As of December 31, 2025, we had an accumulated deficit of $210.6 million.
We expect to continue incurring net losses as we invest in scaling and expanding our operations. Developing and commercializing products and services in the defense and broader aerospace industry is capital intensive and subject to long development timelines. We have allocated significant resources to our R&D programs, and we may not ultimately generate products that achieve market acceptance or meaningful revenue.
Looking ahead, we expect our operating expenses to increase substantially in connection with: expansion of our headcount; acceleration of product development, including aircraft and related technologies; regulatory and compliance activities; and scaling our manufacturing and commercialization infrastructure.
In addition, as a newly public company, we expect to continue to incur increased legal, accounting and compliance costs.
To achieve and sustain profitability, we must generate substantial additional revenue. Our ability to do so depends on a number of factors, including the successful development, approval, and market adoption of our products. If our revenue does not grow sufficiently to offset our operating expenses, we may not achieve or maintain profitability. Furthermore, while we believe our current capital position provides us with a strong foundation, we may need to raise additional capital to support our R&D and commercialization efforts. If we are unable to obtain financing on acceptable terms when needed, we may be forced to delay or reduce our operations, which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
Risks Related to Our Business
We depend on a limited number of customers for most of our revenue. The loss of, or a significant reduction in orders from our key customers that are not replaced by orders from new or existing customers, would significantly reduce our revenue and adversely impact our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Our largest customer historically has accounted for a significant portion of our sales. For the year ended December 31, 2025, two customers accounted for 79% of our consolidated revenue, all of which related to Drone segment revenue. For the year ended December 31, 2024, two customers accounted for 72% of our revenue, all of which related to Drone segment revenue. No other customer directly or indirectly accounted for more than 10% of our revenue for either period. We expect our operating results for the foreseeable future to continue to depend to a significant extent on sales to a relatively small number of customers.
While revenue attributable to our largest customers may fluctuate from period to period, we expect to remain dependent on a limited number of customers for a meaningful portion of our revenue for the foreseeable future. If these customers reduce their purchases, cease purchasing our products, or otherwise alter their purchasing patterns, and we are unable to replace such sales with orders from new or existing customers, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially adversely affected. Any reduction in sales attributable to our largest customers would have a significant and disproportionate impact on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
We do not have long-term commitments from our customers, and end customers may cease purchasing our products at any time.
We sell our products to customers directly and through distributors primarily on a purchase order basis rather than pursuant to long-term purchase commitments. As a result, our customers generally do not have minimum or binding purchase obligations to us, and orders may be cancelled, reduced or rescheduled, or otherwise modify, which may affect anticipated sales. In addition, the timing and size of purchase orders, as well as modifications to existing orders, may vary from period to period and could cause significant fluctuations in the timing and amount of our revenue from period to period.
Our customer base includes military and defense entities, OEM customers, distributors and government agencies across multiple end markets. In our Drone segment, we sell our drones to military and defense entities worldwide, including NATO member countries such as the Netherlands, Denmark and Germany, which may procure drones through sovereign funding mechanisms. Demand for our drones may be affected by factors outside our control, including defense spending priorities, procurement cycles, geopolitical developments, budget approvals and the availability of government funding. While we may have bookings or other indications of interest for future purchases, these arrangements generally do not constitute binding purchase commitments and may be delayed, reduced or cancelled. In our Avionics segment, we sell products through a network of more than 650 dealers as well as directly to OEM customers, including aircraft manufacturers and avionics providers. These relationships also typically do not include long-term purchase commitments and demand from these customers may fluctuate based on market conditions, aircraft production levels and other factors outside our control. In our Training segment, we provide military training and simulation services pursuant to contracts with the U.S. government, which may be subject to renewal, funding availability and other government contracting considerations.
Cancellations or reductions of orders could result in the loss of anticipated sales without allowing us sufficient time to reduce our inventory levels or operating expenses. In addition, changes in forecasts or the timing of orders from our customers expose us to risks of inventory shortages or excess inventory, which could cause our operating results to fluctuate. Our customers may also choose to use competing products, develop in-house alternatives or diversify their supplier bases, which could reduce demand for our products. Any of these factors could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
We have made and may in the future make acquisitions and investments, which involve numerous risks.
We have made certain acquisitions, including our acquisitions of the Acquired Companies in connection with the Put-Together Transaction, and continue to routinely evaluate potential acquisitions, investments and strategic alliances involving complementary technologies, teams, products and companies. We expect to continue to pursue such transactions if appropriate opportunities arise. For example, in November 2023, we signed non-binding letters of intent to acquire two businesses for the Training segment, including a flight training school. The parties have undertaken due diligence to determine whether a binding purchase agreement will be negotiated. The total anticipated purchase price for the acquisitions is expected to range from $5.1 million to $7.7 million, which would be paid in a combination of cash and shares of our common stock, and if consummated on the terms anticipated, would result in dilution to current investors. As of December 31, 2025, we did not have any binding agreements or commitments to enter into any material acquisitions.
Moreover, we may not be able to identify other potentially suitable transactions in the future or if we do identify such transactions, we may not be able to complete them on commercially acceptable terms or at all and may face intense competition for such opportunities. In pursuing transactions, we have and will continue to face numerous risks, including diverting management’s attention from normal daily operations of our business; difficulties in integrating the financial reporting capabilities and operating systems of any acquired operations to maintain effective internal control over financial reporting and disclosure controls and procedures; potential loss of key personnel of the acquired company as well as their know-how, relationships and expertise; challenges successfully integrating acquired personnel, operations and businesses; failing to realize the anticipated synergies and benefits of an acquisition; maintaining favorable business relationships of acquired operations; generating revenue from completed transactions to offset expenses associated with our efforts; acquiring material or unknown liabilities associated with any acquired operations; associated with merger and acquisition transactions; and increasing expense associated with amortization or depreciation of intangible and tangible assets we acquire. For example, in November 2025, AIRO Drone, LLC and Nord Drone Group, LLC (“NDG”), entered into a Joint Venture and Operating Agreement (the “JV Agreement”) pursuant to which we and NDG will form AIRO Nord-Drone, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company (the “JV”). In addition, in October 2025, we entered into a non-binding letter of intent with Bullet (Degree-Trans LLC), a Ukrainian developer of turbojet unmanned interceptor systems, to establish a 50/50 joint venture to produce and deploy Bullet’s combat-proven fixed-wing UAV technology across the United States, NATO defense markets and Ukraine and there can be no assurance that a definitive joint venture agreement will be entered into or that the joint venture will be consummated on the terms described herein or at all. The of these joint ventures and any future joint ventures will depend, in part, on the between us and our joint venture partners, and we may not realize all of the anticipated benefits.
The accounting treatment for any future transaction may result in significant amortizable intangible assets which, when amortized, will negatively affect our consolidated results of operations. The accounting treatment may also result in significant goodwill, which, if impaired, will negatively affect our consolidated results of operations. Furthermore, we may incur additional debt or issue equity securities to pay for transactions. The incurrence of additional debt could limit our operating flexibility and be detrimental to our profitability, and the issuance of equity securities would be dilutive to our existing stockholders. Any or all of the above factors may differ from the investment community’s expectations in a given quarter, which could negatively affect our stock price. In the event we make future investments, the investments may decline in value, we may lose all or part of our investment.
We may not be able to successfully integrate the businesses and personnel of acquired companies and businesses, and may not realize the anticipated synergies and benefits of such acquisitions.
We may not be able to realize the expected benefits from acquisitions because of integration difficulties or other challenges. The success of our acquisitions will depend, in part, on our ability to realize all or some of the anticipated synergies and other benefits from integrating the acquired businesses with our existing businesses. Integration activities can be costly, complex and time consuming. The potential difficulties we may face in integrating the operations of our acquisitions include, among others: the failure to implement our business plans for the combined businesses and consolidation or expansion of production capacity as planned and where applicable; unexpected losses of key employees, customers or suppliers of our acquired companies and businesses; unanticipated issues in conforming our acquired companies’ and businesses’ standards, processes, procedures and controls with our operations; coordinating new product and process development; increasing the scope, geographic diversity and complexity of our operations; of management’s attention from other business ; effects on our or our acquired companies’ and businesses’ existing business relationships; changes in applicable laws and regulations; operating risks inherent in our acquired companies’ and businesses’ business and operations; expenses and liabilities; potential unfamiliarity with our acquired companies and businesses technology, products and markets, which may place us at a competitive ; and other in the assimilation of our acquired companies and businesses operations, technologies, products and systems.
Any acquired companies and businesses may have unanticipated or larger than anticipated liabilities for patent and trademark infringement claims, violations of applicable laws, rules and regulations, commercial disputes, taxes and other known and unknown types of liabilities. There may be liabilities that we underestimated or did not discover in the course of performing our due diligence investigation of our acquired companies and businesses. We may have no recourse or limited recourse under the applicable acquisition-related agreement to recover damages relating to the liabilities of our acquired companies and businesses.
We may not be able to maintain or increase the levels of revenue, earnings or operating efficiency that we, and each of our acquired companies and businesses, had historically achieved or might achieve separately. In addition, we may not accomplish the integration smoothly, successfully or within the anticipated costs or timeframe. If we experience difficulties with the integration process or if the business of our acquired companies or businesses deteriorates, the anticipated cost savings, growth opportunities and other synergies of our acquired companies and businesses may not be realized fully or at all, or may take longer to realize than expected. If any of the above risks occur, our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows may be materially and adversely impacted, we may fail to meet the expectations of investors or analysts, and our stock price may as a result.
We face significant competition from other companies, many of which have substantially greater resources than we do.
The defense and broader aerospace industry is highly competitive and generally characterized by intense competition to win contracts. While we expect to be one of the pioneering companies to market eVTOL aircraft, we expect this industry to be increasingly competitive, and it is possible that our competitors could get to market before us, either generally or in specific markets. Our current principal competitors include the following: (i) for our Drones segment: Da Jiang Innovations, Elbit Systems Ltd., Lockheed Martin Corporation, L3Harris Technologies, Inc.’s FVR-90, L3 Technologies, Inc., Martin UAV, LLC, Northrop Grumman Corporation’s V-Bat, Teledyne Technologies, Inc., and Textron Inc.’s Aerosonde; (ii) for our Training segment: Airborne Tactical Advantage Company, LLC, Draken International, Inc., Tactical Air Defense Services Inc. and Top Aces Inc.; (iii) for our Avionics segment: Avidyne Corporation, Collins Aerospace, Dynon Avionics, Inc., Garmin Ltd., Honeywell International Inc., L3Harris Technologies, Inc., and uAvionix Corporation; and (iv) for our Electric Air Mobility segment: Archer Aviation Inc., BETA Technologies, Inc., Eve Holding Inc., Joby Aviation, Inc., Lilium N.V., Vertical Aerospace Ltd., Volocopter GmbH, and Wisk Aero LLC, in addition to ground transportation services, such as Lyft, Inc. and Uber Technologies, Inc., and incumbent aircraft carrier services, such as Blade Air Mobility, Inc. and NetJets Inc.
Many of these companies have substantially greater financial, management, research and marketing resources than we do. Our competitors may be able to provide customers with different or greater capabilities or benefits than we can provide in areas such as technical qualifications, past contract performance, geographic presence, price and the availability of key professional personnel, including those with security clearances. Furthermore, many of our competitors may be able to utilize their substantially greater resources and economies of scale to develop competing products and technologies, manufacture in high volumes more efficiently, divert sales away from us by winning broader contracts or hire away our employees by offering more lucrative compensation packages. In particular, our competitors may be able to obtain the relevant certification and approvals for their aircraft before us. Small business competitors may be able to offer more cost competitive products and services, due to their lower overhead costs, and take of small business incentives and set-aside programs for which we are . In order to secure contracts when competing with larger, well-financed companies, we may be to agree to contractual terms that provide for lower aggregate payments to us over the life of the contract, which could affect our margins.
We may not be able to keep pace with technological advances and we depend on advances in technology by other companies.
The defense and broader aerospace industry continues to undergo significant changes, primarily due to technological developments. Because of the rapid growth and advancement of technology, shifting consumer tastes and the popularity and availability of other forms of activities, it is impossible to predict the overall effect these factors could have on potential revenue from, and profitability of, the defense and broader aerospace industry. The development of specialized software and hardware is a costly, complex and time-consuming process, and investments in product development often involve a long wait until a return, if any, can be achieved on such investment. We might face difficulties or delays in the development process that will result in our inability to timely offer products that satisfy the market, which might allow competing products to emerge during the development and certification process. We anticipate making significant investments in R&D relating to our products and technology, but such investments are inherently speculative and require substantial capital expenditures. Any technical and that we encounter in the R&D process could result in in or the of product commercialization, may substantially increase development costs, and may affect our results of operations. In the time it takes to develop or upon a product, that product may become .
It is impossible to predict the overall effect these factors could have on our ability to compete effectively in a changing market, and if we are not able to keep pace with these technological advances, then our revenues, profitability and results of operations may be materially adversely affected. However, if we struggle to adapt to an industry-shifting technological advancement or competitor offerings that render our products relatively less attractive or obsolete, including due to competitive pressures we face relative to other drone companies, it could have a material adverse effect on our business.
Further, we rely on and will continue to rely on components of our products that are developed and produced by other companies over which we have limited control. The commercial success of certain of our planned future products will depend in part on advances in these and other technologies by other companies, and our ability to procure them from such third parties in a timely manner and on economically feasible terms. We may, from time-to-time, contract with and support companies developing key technologies in order to accelerate the development of such products for our specific uses. Such activities might not result in useful technologies or components for us.
We may be unable to acquire additional aircraft to support our Training segment on acceptable terms or at all .
The success of our Training segment, including our ability to bid and complete future task orders under certain multiple awards and IDIQ contracts issued by the U.S. military, is dependent on our financing or leasing additional aircraft that meet our customers’ needs. There are a limited number of aircraft available that meet our customers’ needs and potential seller countries have been retaining aircraft in light of the Ukrainian conflict and instability in other areas of the world as well as delayed deliveries from manufacturers of new aircraft, creating more limited supply. In addition, as a result of policy changes regarding aircraft transfers to the United States, purchased aircraft often need to be disassembled, imported into the United States, and appropriately modified to meet customer needs. This requires significant capital and lead time to put an aircraft into operation. Delays or failure in obtaining suitable aircraft could adversely impact financial results and growth plans due to missed task order bidding opportunities.
Due to the nature of our products and services, a product safety failure, quality issue or other failure affecting our or our customers’ or suppliers’ products or systems could seriously harm our business.
Our products and services are highly sophisticated and specialized, involve complex advanced technologies, are often integrated with third-party products and services, and are utilized for specific purposes that require precision, reliability, and durability. Many of our products and services include both hardware and software that involve industrial machinery and intricate aviation and defense systems, including commercial and military jet engines, power and control systems, and other aircraft parts, and military sensors and command and control systems. Technical, mechanical, quality, electronic, and other failures may occur from time to time, whether as a result of manufacturing or design defect, operational process, or production issue attributable to us, our customers, suppliers, partners, third party integrators, or others. Product design changes and updates could also have associated cost and schedule impacts. In addition, our products could fail as a result of cyber-attacks, such as those that seize control and result in misuse or unintended use of our products, or other intentional acts. The impact of a catastrophic product or system or similar event affecting our or our customers’ or suppliers’ products or services could be significant, and could result in or death, property , of strategic capabilities, of intellectual property, of reputation, and other significant effects. A product or system , or perceived , could lead to publicity, a of management attention, and to our reputation that could reduce demand for our products and services. It could also result in product and product liability and warranty (including related to the safety or reliability of our products) and related expenses, other service, repair and maintenance costs, labor and material costs, customer support costs, significant , and other costs, including and other remedies, and regulatory and environmental liabilities. We may also incur increased costs, payments, reputational , or equipment or services revenue in connection with a significant issue with a third party’s product with which our products are integrated. Further, our insurance coverage may not be adequate to cover all related costs and we may not otherwise be fully indemnified for them. Any of the foregoing could have a material effect on our competitive position, results of operations, financial condition, or liquidity.
Our customers may experience service failures or interruptions due to defects in the software, infrastructure, components or engineering system that compromise our products and services, or due to errors in product installation, any of which could harm our business.
Our products and services may contain undetected defects in the software, infrastructure, components or engineering system. Sophisticated software and applications, such as those adopted and offered by us in connection with or as a part of our eVTOL, drone, and avionics offerings, may contain “bugs” that can unexpectedly interfere with the software and applications’ intended operations. Our communication services may from time to time experience outages, service slowdowns or errors. Defects may also occur in components or processes used in our products or for our services.
There can be no assurance that we will be able to detect and fix all defects in the hardware, software and services we offer. Failure to do so could result in decreases in sales of our products and services, lost revenues, significant warranty and other expenses, decreases in customer confidence and loyalty, losing market share to our competitors, and harm to our reputation.
Our future success depends on the continuing efforts of our key personnel and on our ability to attract and retain highly skilled personnel and senior management.
Due to the specialized nature of our business, our future performance is highly dependent upon the continued services of our key technical personnel and executive officers, including the contributions of Captain Joseph D. Burns, our Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Chirinjeev Kathuria, our Executive Chairman, and John Uczekaj, our President and Chief Operating Officer, as well as other members of our management team, and the hiring, development, and retention of qualified technical, engineering, manufacturing, marketing, sales, and management personnel for our operations. The loss of services of any of these individuals could make it more difficult to achieve our business plans. Although we have executed employment agreements or offer letters with each member of our senior management team, these agreements are terminable at will with or without notice and, therefore, we may not be able to retain their services. We do not currently maintain “key person” life insurance on the lives of our executives. This lack of insurance means that we may not have adequate compensation for the loss of the services of these individuals.
We aim to significantly increase our headcount in the near-term, but have experienced, and continue to experience, challenges hiring highly qualified personnel including engineers, pilots, skilled laborers, and security clearance holders. Currently, there is a shortage of pilots that could exacerbate over time as more pilots in the industry approach mandatory retirement age which will affect our Training segment. We expect these difficulties to continue in the future. In addition, the cost of labor remains high. Some candidates and new personnel may have job-related expectations that differ from our current workforce and are inconsistent with our corporate culture. With respect to existing personnel, some may become required to receive various security clearances and substantial training in order to work on certain programs or perform certain tasks. Necessary security clearances may be delayed, which may impact our ability to perform on our U.S. government contracts. We also may not be successful in training or developing qualified personnel with the requisite relevant skills or security clearances. Moreover, some of our employees are covered by collective bargaining agreements. If we have additional agreements or if our employees pursue new collective representation, then we could experience additional costs and/or be subject to work . Any of the above factors could our business.
We rely on a limited number of suppliers in Canada and Europe for critical components and raw materials used to manufacture and develop our products. If we are forced to use suppliers outside these jurisdictions and, as a result, such materials become scarce or unavailable, or such suppliers fail, then we may incur delays in development, manufacture and delivery of our products, which could damage our business.
We obtain hardware components, raw materials, and various systems and subsystems from a limited group of suppliers located in Canada and Europe, some of which are sole source suppliers. We do not have long-term agreements with any of these suppliers that obligate them to continue to sell such components, materials, systems or subsystems to us. Our reliance on these suppliers involves significant risk and uncertainty, including whether such suppliers will provide an adequate supply of products of sufficient quality, will increase prices for the products and will perform their obligations on a timely basis.
Changes in business conditions, wars, governmental changes, political intervention, and other factors beyond our control or which we do not presently anticipate, could also affect our suppliers’ ability to deliver components to us on a timely basis. Current high inflation levels have increased material and component prices, labor rates, and supplier costs, and put pressure on our margins. Credit market conditions, including higher interest rates and the availability of credit, have impacted some of our suppliers and subcontractors as well. As a result of these procurement issues, the production flow in our factories has been negatively impacted, which has, in turn, hindered our ability to perform on our commitments to customers and negatively affected our results of operations.
The timing of the impacts of these supply chain risks and issues and our ability to mitigate them are uncertain and difficult to predict. However, we expect the current supply chain, inflation, price issues and potential tariffs and their negative impacts on our business to continue into 2026. Furthermore, the existing supply chain issues could be compounded by other events, such as an economic downturn; supplier capacity constraints for other reasons; supplier quality issues (for example, defects or fraudulent parts); supplier closing, bankruptcy, or financial difficulties; price increases for various reasons; and worsening shortages of raw materials or commodities, including as a result of war or other geopolitical actions, natural disaster (including the effects of climate change), health pandemic or other business continuity events, or transport and distribution issues, any of which could further negatively impact our ability to meet our commitments to customers or increase our operating costs and therefore incrementally affect our results of operations, financial condition, and liquidity.
Furthermore, if we experience significant increased demand, or need to replace our existing suppliers, there can be no assurance that additional supplies of component parts will be available when required on terms that are acceptable to us, or at all, or that any supplier would allocate sufficient supplies to us in order to meet our requirements or fill our orders in a timely manner. In addition, certain components and raw materials used in the development and manufacture of our products are periodically at risk of supply shortages, and our business is subject to the risk of price increases and periodic delays in delivery. If shortages occur and we are unable to obtain components from third party suppliers in the quantities and of the quality we require, on a timely basis and at acceptable prices, then we may not be able to timely complete development of or deliver our products on a timely or cost effective basis to our customers, which could cause customers to terminate their contracts with us, increase our costs and seriously harm our business, results of operations, prospects and financial condition. Moreover, if any of our suppliers become financially , or otherwise or to provide us with raw materials or components, then we may have to find new suppliers. It may take several months to locate alternative suppliers, if required, or to redesign our products to accommodate components from different suppliers. Even if we are at locating alternative suppliers the costs of the components may be higher than the original supplier’s components or we may be required to purchase in larger quantities than we normally would, which may result in higher inventory levels than . We may experience significant in manufacturing and shipping our products to customers and incur additional development, manufacturing and other costs to establish alternative sources of supply if we any of these sources or are required to redesign our products. We cannot predict if we will be to obtain replacement components within the time frames that we require at an affordable cost, if at all.
We do not control our suppliers’ labor or other compliance practices, including environmental, health and safety practices. If our current suppliers, or any other suppliers we may use in the future, violate U.S. or foreign laws or regulations, we may be subjected to extra duties, significant monetary penalties, adverse publicity, the seizure and forfeiture of products that we are attempting to import or the loss of our import privileges. The effects of these factors could render the conduct of our business in a particular country undesirable or impractical and have a negative impact on our operating results.
We rely on independent dealers and distributors to sell our Avionics products, and disruption to these channels would harm our business.
A significant portion of aftermarket sales in our Avionics segment are made through a worldwide network of independent dealers and distributors, which subjects us to many risks, including risks related to their inventory levels and support for our products. If dealers and distributors attempt to reduce their levels of inventory or if they do not maintain sufficient levels to meet customer demand, our sales could be negatively impacted.
Many of our dealers and distributors also sell products offered by our competitors. If our competitors offer our dealers and distributors more favorable terms, those dealers and distributors may de-emphasize or decline to carry our products. In the future, we may not be able to retain or attract a sufficient number of qualified dealers and distributors. If we are unable to maintain successful relationships with dealers and distributors or to expand our distribution channels, our business will suffer.
We currently, and may in the future, use and develop generative AI technologies throughout our business, which may expose us to certain regulatory and other risks that could adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition.
We use AI, machine learning and automated decision-making technologies, including proprietary AI and machine learning algorithms and models (“AI Technologies”) in our business. For example, AIRO Drone expects to operate drones in an AI-based commercial inspection service known as DaaS and build and operate a worldwide drone datacom network known as “AIRO-NET.” As with many technological innovations, there are significant risks involved in developing, maintaining and deploying these technologies and there can be no assurance that the usage of, or our investments in, such technologies will always enhance our products or services or be beneficial to our business, including our efficiency or profitability. In particular, if the models underlying our AI Technologies are incorrectly designed or implemented; trained or reliant on incomplete, inadequate, inaccurate, biased or otherwise poor quality data or on data to which we do not have sufficient rights or in relation to which we and/or the providers of such data have not implemented sufficient legal compliance measures; used without sufficient oversight and governance to ensure their responsible use; and/or impacted by , technical , cybersecurity or material performance issues, the performance of our products, services and business, as well as our reputation, and the reputations of our customers, could or we could incur liability resulting from the of laws or contracts to which we are party or civil . Finally, the overall regulatory framework for AI Technologies is rapidly evolving as many federal, state and foreign government bodies and agencies have introduced, or are currently considering, additional laws and regulations. Additionally, existing laws and regulations may be interpreted in ways that would affect the operation of our AI Technologies. As a result, implementation standards and enforcement practices are likely to remain uncertain for the foreseeable future.
If our information technology systems or data, or those of the third parties with whom we work, are or were compromised, we could experience adverse consequences resulting from such compromise, including but not limited to regulatory investigations or actions; litigation; fines and penalties; disruptions of our business operations; reputational harm; loss of revenue or profits; loss of customers or sales; and other adverse consequences, risks which are amplified by our work for world governments.
In the ordinary course of our business, we and the third parties with whom we work may process proprietary, confidential, and sensitive data, including personal data, intellectual property, and trade secrets.
Cyberattacks, malicious internet-based activity, online and offline fraud, and other similar activities threaten the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of our sensitive information and information technology systems, and those of the third parties with whom we work. Such threats are prevalent and continue to rise, are increasingly difficult to detect, and, as a government contractor, these security threats are amplified. These threats come from a variety of sources, including traditional computer “hackers,” threat actors, personnel (such as through theft or misuse), “hacktivists,” organized criminal threat actors, sophisticated nation-states, and nation-state-supported actors. Some actors now engage and are expected to continue to engage in cyberattacks, including without nation-state actors for geopolitical reasons and in conjunction with military and defense activities. During times of war and other major , we and the third parties with whom we work may be to a heightened risk of these attacks, including that could materially our systems and operations, supply chain, and ability to produce, sell and distribute our products. We and the third parties with whom we work may be subject to a variety of other evolving , including, but not limited to, social-engineering attacks (including through deep fakes, which may be increasingly more to identify as fake, and phishing attacks), code (such as viruses and worms), malware (including as a result of advanced intrusions), -of-service attacks, credential stuffing attacks, credential harvesting, personnel or , ransomware attacks, supply chain attacks, software bugs, server , software or hardware , of data or other information technology assets, adware, telecommunications , attacks or facilitated by artificial intelligence, and other similar . In particular, ransomware attacks, including those from organized actors, nation-states and nation-state supported actors, are becoming increasingly prevalent and and can lead to significant , , or in our operations, ability to provide our products and services, of sensitive data and income, reputational and of funds. Extortion payments may alleviate the impact of a ransomware attack, but we may be or to make such payments, due to, for example, if applicable laws or regulations prohibiting such payments.
Additionally, remote work has increased risks to our information technology systems and data, as our employees utilize network connections, computers, and devices outside our premises or network, including working at home, while in transit, and in public locations. Future or past business transactions (such as acquisitions or integrations) could also expose us to additional cybersecurity risks and vulnerabilities, as our systems could be negatively affected by vulnerabilities present in acquired or integrated entities’ systems and technologies. Furthermore, we may discover security issues that were not found during due diligence of such acquired or integrated entities, and it may be difficult to integrate companies into our information technology environment and security program.
We rely upon third parties and technologies to operate critical business systems to process sensitive information in a variety of contexts, including, without limitation, cloud-based infrastructure, encryption and authentication technology, employee email, and other functions. Our ability to monitor these third parties’ information security practices is limited, and these third parties may not have adequate information security measures in place. If the third parties with whom we work experience a security incident or other interruption, we could experience adverse consequences. While we may be entitled to damages if the third parties with whom we work fail to satisfy their privacy or security-related obligations to us, any award may be insufficient to cover our damages, or we may be unable to recover such award. In addition, supply chain attacks have increased in frequency and severity, and we cannot guarantee that third parties’ infrastructure in our supply chain or that of the third parties with whom we work have not been compromised.
While we have implemented security measures designed to protect against security incidents, there can be no assurance that these measures will be effective. We take steps designed to detect, mitigate and remediate vulnerabilities in our information security systems (such as our hardware and/or software, including that of third parties with whom we work). We may not detect and remediate all such vulnerabilities including on a timely basis. Further, we may experience delays in developing and deploying remedial measures and patches designed to address identified vulnerabilities. Vulnerabilities could be exploited and result in a security incident. It may also be difficult and/or costly to detect, investigate, mitigate, contain, and remediate a security incident. Actions taken by us or the third parties with whom we work to detect, , mitigate, contain, and remediate a security could result in , data , and of our business. actors may also access to other networks and systems after a compromise of our networks and systems. For example, actors may use an initial compromise of one part of our environment to access to other parts of our environment, or leverage a compromise of our networks or systems to access to the networks or systems of third parties with whom we work, such as through phishing or supply chain attacks.
Any of the previously identified or similar threats could cause a security incident or other interruption that could result in unauthorized, unlawful, or accidental acquisition, modification, destruction, loss, alteration, encryption, disclosure of, or access to our sensitive information or our information technology systems, or those of the third parties with whom we work. A security incident or other interruption could disrupt our ability (and that of third parties with whom we work) to provide our products and services. For example, in November 2025, the Company became aware of a social engineering attempt in which an individual external to the Company impersonated a member of senior management via text message to request information from an employee. The employee reported the message to the Company’s information technology team, and the incident was reviewed in accordance with the Company’s cybersecurity response procedures. No Company systems were accessed, and no sensitive information was . We expect that similar security and other cybersecurity attempts may continue to occur in the future. We may expend significant resources or modify our business activities to try to protect security . Certain data privacy and security obligations, such as the U.S. Department of War’s Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (“CMMC”), require us to implement and maintain specific security measures or industry-standard or reasonable security measures to protect our information technology systems and sensitive information.
Applicable data privacy and security obligations may require us, or we may voluntarily choose, to notify relevant stakeholders of certain security incidents, including affected individuals, customers, regulators and investors, or to take other actions, such as providing credit monitoring and identity theft protection services. Such disclosures and related actions can be costly, and the disclosures or the failure to comply with such applicable requirements, could lead to adverse consequences. If we (or a third party with whom we work) experience a security incident or are perceived to have experienced a security incident, we may experience material adverse consequences such as government enforcement actions (for example, investigations, fines, penalties, audits, and inspections), additional reporting requirements and/or oversight, restrictions on processing sensitive information (including personal data), litigation (including class claims), indemnification obligations, publicity, reputational , monetary fund diversions, of management attention, in our operations (including availability of data), financial and other similar . Security and attendant material consequences may and impact our ability to grow and operate our business.
Our contracts may not contain limitations of liability, and even where they do, there can be no assurance that limitations of liability in our contracts are sufficient to protect us from liabilities, damages, or claims related to our data privacy and security obligations. In addition, we cannot be sure that our insurance coverage will adequate or sufficient to protect us from or to mitigate liabilities arising out of our privacy and security practices, that such coverage will continue to be available on commercially reasonable terms or at all, or that such coverage will pay future claims.
In addition to experiencing a security incident, third parties may gather, collect, or infer sensitive information about us from public sources, data brokers, or other means that reveals competitively sensitive details about our organization and could be used to undermine our competitive advantage or market position. Sensitive information of us or our customers could also be leaked, disclosed, or revealed as a result of or in connection with our employee’s, personnel’s, or vendor’s with whom we work use of generative AI Technologies.
Our commercial aviation products, systems and services businesses are affected by global demand and economic factors that could negatively impact our financial results.
The operating results of our commercial aviation products, systems and services businesses – particularly our Electric Air Mobility and Avionics segments – have been and may in the future be adversely affected by downturns in the global demand for air travel, which impacts new aircraft production and orders, and global flying hours, which impacts air transport, regional and business aircraft utilization rates and pilot training needs. The aviation industry is highly cyclical, and the level of demand for air travel is correlated to the strength of the U.S. and international economies and is impacted by long-term trends in airline passenger and cargo traffic. The results of our commercial aviation businesses also depend on other factors, including general economic growth, political stability in both developed and emerging markets, pricing pressures, trends in capital goods markets and changes in OEM production rates.
Extreme weather, natural disasters and other adverse events could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.
Adverse weather conditions and natural disasters, such as hurricanes, winter snowstorms or earthquakes, can cause flight cancellations or significant delays. Cancellations or delays due to adverse weather conditions or natural disasters, air traffic control problems or inefficiencies, breaches in security or other factors may affect us to a greater degree than our competitors who may be able to recover more quickly from these events, and therefore could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition to a greater degree than other air carriers.
The sizes of the markets for our current and future solutions may be smaller than we estimate.
Our estimates of the total addressable market for our current products and services are based on a number of internal and third-party estimates. While we believe our assumptions and the data underlying our estimates are reasonable, these assumptions and estimates may not be correct and the conditions supporting our assumptions or estimates may change at any time, thereby reducing the predictive accuracy of these underlying factors. As a result, our estimates of the total addressable market for our current or future products and services may prove to be incorrect. If the actual number of customers who will use our products and services, the price at which we can sell our products and services or the total addressable market for our products and services is smaller than we have estimated, it may impair our sales growth and have an adverse impact on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
The market for eVTOL aircraft and electric air mobility has not been clearly defined, is still emerging and may not achieve the growth potential we expect or may grow more slowly than expected, which may harm our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
The electric air mobility market is still emerging and has not been clearly defined. We are uncertain as to what extent market acceptance will grow, if at all. Our customers will likely initially launch operations in a limited number of metropolitan areas. The success of these markets, if any, and the opportunity for future growth in these and other markets may not be representative of the potential market for electric air mobility in other metropolitan areas. Our success will depend to a substantial extent on regulatory approval and availability of eVTOL technology, as well as the willingness of commuters and travelers to widely adopt air mobility as an alternative for ground transportation. If the public does not perceive electric air mobility as beneficial, or chooses not to adopt electric air mobility as a result of concerns regarding safety, affordability, value proposition or for other reasons, then the market for our aircraft may not develop, may develop more slowly than we expect or may not achieve the growth potential we expect. Any of the foregoing could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, prospects, and results of operations.
We are still developing our eVTOL aircraft, have not yet obtained FAA certification of our eVTOL aircraft under development and we have yet to manufacture or deliver any aircraft to customers, which makes evaluating our business and future prospects difficult and increases the risk of investment.
We have a limited operating history in designing, developing, and working to certify an eVTOL aircraft. Our eVTOL aircraft is in the development stage, and we do not expect our first passenger production aircraft to be certified by the TCCA under existing CAR 529 Transport Category Rotorcraft airworthiness rules until 2031 or later and certification of our 33% scaled cargo version to be certified under drone rules until 2027 or later. As a result, we have no experience as an organization in volume manufacturing of aircraft. Many of our current and potential competitors are larger and have substantially greater resources than we currently have or expect to have in the future. As a result, those competitors may be able to allocate greater resources to the development of their current and future technologies, the promotion and sale of their offerings, and/or offer their technologies at lower prices. Notably, our competitors may be able to receive Type, Airworthiness or Production certification from the FAA covering their eVTOL aircraft prior to us receiving such certifications. Our current and potential competitors may also establish cooperative or strategic relationships amongst themselves or with third parties that may further enhance their resources and offerings. Further, it is possible that domestic or foreign companies or governments, some with experience in the aerospace industry or financial resources than we possess, will seek to provide products or services that compete directly or indirectly with ours in the future. Any such foreign competitor, for example, could from subsidies from, or other protective measures by, its home country.
We cannot assure you that we or our partners will successfully develop manufacturing and supply chain capabilities that will enable us to meet the quality, price, engineering, design and production standards, as well as the production volumes, required to successfully commercialize our aircraft.
There may be reluctance by consumers to adopt a new form of mobility, or an unwillingness to pay aircraft operators’ projected prices.
Our growth is highly dependent upon the adoption by consumers of an entirely new form of mobility offered by eVTOL aircraft and the electric air mobility market. If consumers do not adopt this new form of mobility or are not willing to pay the projected prices for the aerial ridesharing services provided by our customers, our prospects, financial condition and operating results will be harmed. This market is new, rapidly evolving, characterized by rapidly changing technologies, price competition, additional competitors, evolving government regulation and industry standards, new aircraft announcements and changing consumer demands and behaviors. There may be heightened public skepticism of this nascent technology and its adopters. In particular, there could be negative public perception surrounding eVTOL aircraft, including the overall safety and the potential for injuries or death occurring as a result of accidents involving eVTOL aircraft, regardless of whether any such safety incidents involve our aircraft. Any of the foregoing risks and challenges could adversely affect our prospects, business, financial condition, and results of operations.
Our success in a given market will depend on our customers’ ability to develop a network of passengers and accurately assess and predict passenger demand and price sensitivity. Demand and price sensitivity may fluctuate based on a variety of factors, including macroeconomic factors, quality of service, negative publicity, safety incidents, corporate reporting related to safety, quality of customer support, perceived political or geopolitical affiliations, or dissatisfaction with our products and offerings in general. If the operators of our aircraft fail to attract passengers or fail to accurately predict demand and price sensitivity, it could reduce demand for our aircraft and harm our financial performance.
In addition, while our aircraft will be operating within the existing aviation airspace and infrastructure, long-term continued adoption of electric air mobility will depend on operators’ ability to develop and operate vertiports in desirable locations in metropolitan locations. Developing and operating vertiport locations will require permits and approvals from federal, state, and local regulatory authorities and government bodies, and operation of our aircraft will depend on such permits and approvals. If our operators are prohibited, restricted, or delayed from developing and operating desirable vertiport locations, then demand for our aircraft could decline and our business could be adversely affected.
We expect that a large driver of passenger demand for electric air mobility will be time savings when compared with alternative modes of transportation. Should operators of our aircraft be unable to deliver a sufficient level of time savings for passengers, or if expected time savings are impacted by delays or cancellations, it could reduce consumer demand and, in turn, demand for our aircraft. If demand does not materialize or falls, our business, financial conditions, prospects, and results of operations could be adversely affected.
Operators of our aircraft may be unable to reduce end-user pricing over time at rates sufficient to stimulate demand for our aircraft, drive expected growth and accomplish planned production.
Operators of our aircraft may not be able to successfully reduce end-user pricing over time to increase demand, address new market segments and develop a significantly broader customer base. We expect that initial end-user pricing may be most applicable to relatively affluent consumers, and operators will need to address additional markets and expand their customer demographic in order to further grow their electric air mobility business. If operators are unable to meet their end-user pricing projections, then demand for our aircraft will decline and we will be unable to meet our production plans, resulting in an increase in our per-unit costs, adversely affecting our results of operations.
Our aircraft may not perform at the level we expect, and may have design or manufacturing deficiencies, such as higher than expected noise profiles, lower payloads than initially estimated, shorter ranges and/or shorter useful lives than we anticipate.
Our aircraft may contain defects in design or manufacture that may cause them not to perform as expected or that may require repair. For example, our aircraft may have a higher noise profile than we expect or carry a lower payload or have a shorter maximum battery range than we estimate. Our aircraft also use a substantial amount of software code to operate. Software products are inherently complex and often contain defects and errors when first introduced. There can be no assurance that we will be able to detect and fix any such defects in these products prior to their use. While we have performed extensive testing, in some instances we are still relying on projections and models to validate the projected performance of our aircraft. To date, we have been unable to validate the performance of our aircraft over the expected lifetime of the aircraft.
Accidents or safety incidents involving eVTOL aircraft, us or our competitors could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
Test flying prototype aircraft is inherently risky, and accidents or incidents involving our aircraft are possible. Urban environments may present particular challenges to the operators of UAS, such as an increased risk of collisions resulting in property damage, injury or death. As the usage of UAS has increased, the danger of such collisions has increased. Any such occurrence would negatively impact our development, testing and certification efforts, and could result in re-design, certification delay and/or postponements or delays to the sales of our aircraft. In addition, such occurrences could significantly damage the reputation of and support for UAS in general.
The operation of aircraft is subject to various risks, and we expect demand for our aircraft to be impacted by accidents or other safety issues regardless of whether such accidents or issues involve our aircraft. Such accidents or incidents could also have a material impact on our ability to obtain certification from the Civil Aviation Authorities for our aircraft, or to obtain such certification in a timely manner. Such events could impact confidence in a particular aircraft type or the air transportation services industry as a whole, particularly if such accidents or disasters were due to a safety fault. We believe that regulators and the general public are still forming their opinions about the safety and utility of aircraft that are highly reliant on lithium-ion batteries and/or advanced flight control software capabilities. An accident or other safety incident involving either our aircraft or a competitor’s aircraft during these early stages of opinion formation could have a disproportionate impact on the longer-term view of the emerging electric air mobility market.
Further, if our personnel, our aircraft or other types of aircraft are involved in a public incident, accident, catastrophe or regulatory enforcement action, we could be exposed to significant reputational harm and potential legal liability. The insurance we carry may be inapplicable or inadequate to cover any such incident, accident, catastrophe or action. In the event that our insurance is inapplicable or inadequate, we may be forced to bear substantial losses from an incident or accident, which would adversely impact our business, results of operations and financial condition.
If we experience harm to our reputation and brand by customers, employees or operators, our business, financial condition, and results of operations could be adversely affected.
Continuing to increase the strength of our reputation and brand for high-performing, sustainable, safe and cost-effective electric air mobility is critical to our ability to attract and retain customers and partners. In addition, our growth strategy includes international expansion through joint ventures or other partnerships with local companies that would benefit from our reputation and brand recognition. The successful development of our reputation and brand will depend on several factors, many of which are outside of our control. Negative perception of our aircraft or company may harm our reputation and brand, including as a result of:
complaints or negative publicity or reviews about us, independent third-party aircraft operators, passengers, or other brands or events that we associate with, even if factually incorrect or based on isolated incidents;
our involvement during times of war and other major conflicts, including the current conflicts between Russia and Ukraine and in the Middle East;
changes to our operations, safety and security or other policies that customers, end-users or others perceive as overly restrictive, unclear or inconsistent with our values;
illegal, negligent, reckless or otherwise inappropriate behavior by operators or independent third parties involved in the operation of our business or by our management team or other employees;
actual or perceived disruptions or defects in our aircraft;
litigation over, or investigations by regulators into, our operations or those of our independent third-party aircraft operators;
a failure to operate our business in a way that is consistent with our values;
negative responses by independent third-party aircraft operators to new mobility offerings; or
any of the foregoing with respect to our competitors, to the extent such resulting negative perception affects the public’s perception of us or our industry as a whole.
Any of the foregoing could adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
In order to reach production for our aircraft, we need to develop complex software and technology systems in coordination with our partners and suppliers, and there can be no assurance such systems will be successfully developed.
We anticipate that our aircraft will use a substantial amount of sophisticated software and hardware to operate. The development of such advanced technologies is inherently complex, and we will need to coordinate with our partners and suppliers in order to reach production for our aircraft. Defects and errors may be revealed over time and our control over the performance of third-party services and systems may be limited. If any of our partners and suppliers fail to adequately fulfill their obligations towards us or experience interruptions or disruptions in production or provision of services due to, for example, bankruptcy, natural disasters, labor strikes or disruption of its supply chain, we may experience a significant delay in the delivery of or fail to receive previously ordered systems and parts, which would adversely affect our revenue and and could our ability to meet the demands of our program participants or develop the necessary software and technology systems may our competitive position.
We are relying on third-party partners to develop a number of emerging technologies for use in our products. These technologies are not currently, and may not ever be, commercially viable. There can be no assurances that our partners will be able to meet the technological requirements, production timing, and volume requirements to support our business plan. In addition, the technology may not comply with the cost, performance, useful life, and warranty characteristics that we anticipate in our business plan or may have performance problems related to mechanical or software defects. As a result, our business plan could be significantly adversely impacted, and we may incur significant liabilities under warranty claims, which could adversely affect our business, prospects, and results of operations.
We may not be able to produce aircraft in the volumes or on the timelines that we anticipate.
There are significant challenges associated with mass producing aircraft in the volumes that we are anticipating. The aerospace industry has traditionally been characterized by significant barriers to entry, including large capital requirements, investment costs of designing and manufacturing aircraft, long lead times to bring aircraft to market from the concept and design stage, the need for specialized design and development expertise, extensive regulatory requirements, difficulty establishing a brand name and image, and the need to establish maintenance and service locations. As a manufacturer of electric aircraft, we face a variety of added challenges to entry that a traditional aircraft manufacturer would not encounter, including additional costs of developing and producing an electric powertrain, regulations associated with the transport of lithium-ion batteries and unproven high-volume consumer demand for a fully electric aerial mobility service. Additionally, we are developing production lines for components and at volumes for which there is little precedent within the traditional aerospace industry. If we are not able to overcome these barriers, our business, prospects, operating results and financial condition will be impacted, and our ability to grow our business will be .
There can also be no assurance that our operator customers will not experience operational or process failures and other problems, including pilot error, cyberattacks or other intentional acts, that could result in potential safety risks. Any actual or perceived safety issues may result in significant reputational harm to the electric air mobility industry and, accordingly, our business, in addition to tort liability, increased safety infrastructure and other costs that may arise. Such issues could result in increased regulation or other systemic consequences. Adverse publicity affecting the industry and our reputation as a result of accidents, operational failures, or other safety incidents could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, prospects, and results of operation. In addition, our aircraft may be grounded by regulatory authorities due to safety concerns that could have a material impact on our business, financial condition, operating results and prospects.
We will also need to do extensive testing to ensure that the aircraft is in compliance with applicable TCCA safety regulations and other relevant regulations prior to beginning mass production. In addition to certification of the aircraft, we will be required to obtain TCCA approval to manufacture completed aircraft pursuant to a TCCA-approved type design (e.g., type certificate). Production approval involves initial TCCA manufacturing approval and extensive ongoing oversight of mass-produced aircraft. If we are unable to obtain production approval for the aircraft, or if TCCA imposes unanticipated restrictions as a condition of approval, our projected costs of production could increase substantially.
The timing of our production ramp is dependent upon finalizing certain aspects of the design, engineering, component procurement, testing, build out, and manufacturing plans in a timely manner and upon our ability to execute these plans within the current timeline. It is also dependent on being able to timely obtain TCCA certification. If we experience any delays in the execution of these plans or in obtaining TCCA certification, our business, prospects, operating results and financial condition will be negatively impacted.
The anticipated benefits of potential joint ventures may not be fully realized or take longer to realize than expected. In addition, our joint venture investments could expose us to risks and liabilities in connection with the formation of the new joint ventures, the operation of such joint ventures without sole decision-making authority, and our reliance on joint venture partners who may have economic and business interests that are inconsistent with our business interests.
We have entered into joint ventures in the past and may enter into joint ventures in the future. For example, in November 2025, AIRO Drone, LLC and NDG, entered into the JV Agreement pursuant to which we and NDG will form the JV. Pursuant to the terms of the JV Agreement, the JV will develop, manufacture, and commercialize unmanned aerial systems primarily designed for delivering munitions, targeting U.S., NATO, and Ukrainian defense markets. The consummation of the JV is subject to various closing conditions and there can be no assurance that closing conditions under the JV Agreement will be satisfied or when or that the JV will be consummated on the terms described herein or at all. In addition, in October 2025, we entered into a non-binding letter of intent with Bullet (Degree-Trans LLC), a Ukrainian developer of turbojet unmanned interceptor systems, to establish a 50/50 joint venture to produce and deploy Bullet’s combat-proven fixed-wing UAV technology across the United States, NATO defense markets and Ukraine and there can be no assurance that a definitive joint venture agreement will be entered into or that the joint venture will be consummated on the terms described herein or at all. The success of these joint ventures and any future joint ventures will depend, in part, on the successful between us and our joint venture partners, and we may not realize all of the anticipated benefits. Such joint ventures may be more , time-consuming, or than expected and could result in increased costs, decreases in the amount of expected revenues, and of management’s time and energy, which could materially impact our business, operating results, financial condition, and prospects. In addition, these joint ventures involve material risks including operational related to operations in Ukraine during ongoing military , complex export control and sanctions compliance requirements, and potential regulatory regarding foreign defense partnerships.
A failure to successfully partner, or a failure to realize our expectations for the joint ventures, including any contemplated exit strategy from a joint venture, could materially impact our business, operating results, financial condition, and prospects. These joint ventures could also be negatively impacted by inflation, supply chain issues, an inability to obtain financing on favorable terms or at all and development and construction delays.
Further, in the future, we may co-invest with other third parties through partnerships, joint ventures, or other entities in the future. These joint ventures could result in our acquisition of non-controlling interests in, or shared responsibility for, managing the affairs of a property or portfolio of properties, partnership, joint venture, or other entity. We may be subject to additional risks, including:
we may not have the right to exercise sole decision-making authority regarding the properties, partnership, joint venture, or other entity;
if our partners become bankrupt or fail to fund their share of required capital contributions, we may choose to or be required to contribute such capital;
our partners may have economic, tax, or other business interests or goals which are inconsistent with our business interests or goals, and may be in a position to take actions contrary to our interests or objectives;
our joint venture partners may take actions that are not within our control, which could require us to dispose of the joint venture asset or purchase the partner’s interests or assets at an above-market price;
our joint venture partners may take actions unrelated to our business agreement but which reflect poorly on us because of our joint venture relationship;
disputes between us and our partners may result in litigation or arbitration that would increase our expenses and prevent our management from focusing their time and effort on our day-to-day business;
we may in certain circumstances be liable for the actions of our third-party partners or guarantee all or a portion of the joint venture’s liabilities, which may require us to pay an amount greater than its investment in the joint venture;
we may need to change the structure of an established joint venture or create new complex structures to meet our business needs or the needs of our partners which could prove challenging; and
a joint venture partner’s decision to exit the joint venture may not be at an opportune time for us or in our business interests.
Each of these factors may result in returns on these investments being less than we expect or in losses, and business, operating results, financial condition, and prospects may be adversely affected.
Risks Related to Our U.S. Government Contracts
We are subject to extensive government regulation, and our failure to comply with applicable regulations may subject us to significant financial liability, penalties, and other government actions that restrict our ability to conduct our business.
As a contractor to the U.S. government and provider of various technologies, we are subject to and must comply with various government regulations that impact our revenue, operating costs, profit margins and the internal organization and operation of our business. We also need special security clearances and regulatory approvals to continue working on certain projects with the U.S. government. Our failure to comply with applicable regulations, rules and approvals, changes in the government’s interpretation of such regulations, rules and approvals as have been and are applied to our contracts, proposals or business or misconduct by any of our employees could result in financial liability, the imposition of fines and penalties, the loss of security clearances, a decrease in profitability, the loss of our government contracts or our suspension or debarment from contracting with the U.S. government generally, any of which could harm our business, financial condition, and results of operations. We are also subject to certain regulations of comparable government agencies in other countries, and our to comply with these non-U.S. regulations could also our business, financial condition or results of operations.
U.S. government agencies, including the FAA, the Defense Contract Audit Agency, the Defense Contract Management Agency, the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency, and various agency Inspectors General, routinely audit and investigate government contractors. These agencies review a contractor’s compliance with applicable laws, regulations and contract terms, regarding, among other things, contract pricing, contract performance, cost structure and business systems. U.S. government audits and investigations often take years to complete, and many result in no adverse action against us. Like many U.S. government contractors, we have received audit and investigative reports recommending the reduction of certain contract prices or that certain payments be repaid, delayed, or withheld, and may involve substantial amounts. Similarly, like other U.S. government contractors, audits and investigations also occur related to cost reimbursements that are based upon our final allowable incurred costs for each year. We have unaudited or unsettled incurred cost claims related to past years, which limit our ability to issue final billings on contracts for which authorized and appropriated funds may be expiring or can result in in final billings and our ability to close out a contract.
If an audit or investigation uncovers improper or illegal activities, we may be subject to civil or criminal penalties and administrative sanctions, including reductions of the value of contracts, contract modifications or terminations, forfeiture of profits, suspension of payments, penalties, fines or suspension or debarment from doing business with the U.S. government. Suspension or debarment could have a material adverse effect on us because of our dependence on contracts with the U.S. government. In addition, we could suffer reputational if of were made us. Similar government oversight and risks to our business and reputation exist in most other countries where we conduct business.
U.S. government contracts are frequently awarded only after formal, protracted competitive proposal processes and, in many cases, unsuccessful offerors for U.S. government contracts are provided the opportunity to protest contract awards through various agency, administrative and judicial channels. Competing for U.S. government contracts presents a number of risks, including the following:
the need to bid on programs in advance of the completion of their design, which may result in unforeseen technological difficulties and cost overruns;
the substantial cost and managerial time and effort that must be spent to prepare bids and proposals for contracts that may not be awarded to us;
the need to estimate accurately the resources and cost structure that will be required to service any contract we are awarded; and
the expense and delay that may arise if our competitors protest or challenge contract awards made to us pursuant to competitive bidding.
The U.S. military chooses winning proposals based on such factors as cost, certainty of fulfilling the needs of a specific task order, safety records, and other criteria stated in solicitations. For example, while our Training segment is an approved provider under U.S. military contracts with a limited number of competitors, the U.S. military periodically releases task order solicitations requesting specific services pursuant to a competitive process.
U.S. government contracts are subject to a competitive bidding process, are generally not fully funded at inception, and contain certain terms that may be unfavorable to us, which could result in contracts and opportunities consuming significant resources without generating revenue or profit.
U.S. government contracts typically involve long lead times for design and development, and are subject to significant changes in scheduling. Congress generally appropriates funds on a fiscal year basis even though a program may continue for several years. Consequently, programs are often only partially funded initially, and additional funds are committed only as Congress makes further appropriations. The termination or reduction of funding for a government program would result in a loss of anticipated future revenue attributable to that program. In addition, U.S. government contracts generally contain provisions permitting termination, in whole or in part, at the government’s convenience. Because a substantial majority of our revenue is dependent on the procurement, performance and payment under our U.S. government contracts, the termination of one or more critical government contracts could have a negative impact on our results of operations and financial condition.
We rely to a significant degree on sales to the U.S. government, particularly to agencies of the Department of Defense/Department of War, and a decline in government budgets, funding, changes in spending or budgetary priorities, or delays in contract awards may materially adversely affect our future revenue, business, financial condition, results of operations, cash flow and equity.
We derive a significant portion of our total sales from the U.S. government and its agencies, either as a prime contractor or subcontractor, particularly in connection with our Drones and Training segments. The Department of Defense/Department of War (“DoD”) is our principal U.S. government customer. We believe that the success and growth of our business for the foreseeable future will continue to depend to a significant degree on our ability to win government contracts, in particular from the DoD. Additionally, the military and defense market is significantly dependent upon government budget trends, particularly the DoD budget. In addition to normal business risks, our supply of products to the U.S. government is subject to unique risks largely beyond our control. DoD budgets could be negatively impacted by several factors, including, but not limited to, a change in defense spending policy as a result of the presidential election or otherwise, the U.S. government’s budget deficits, spending priorities (for example, shifting funds to efforts to combat the impact of the pandemic or efforts to assist Ukraine in the Russia and Ukraine conflict), the cost of sustaining the U.S. military presence internationally, possible political pressure to reduce U.S. government military spending and the ability of the U.S. government to enact appropriations bills and other relevant legislation, each of which could cause the DoD budget to remain unchanged or to . In recent years, the U.S. government has been to complete its budget process before the end of its fiscal year, resulting in both governmental and continuing resolutions providing only enough funds for U.S. government agencies to continue operating at prior- year levels. Further, if the U.S. government debt ceiling is not raised and the national debt reaches the statutory debt ceiling, the U.S. government could on its debts. A significant in U.S. military expenditures could result in a reduction in the amount of our products sold to the various agencies and buying organizations of the U.S. government.
The U.S. government may modify, curtail or terminate one or more of our contracts.
The U.S. government contracting parties may modify, curtail or terminate their contracts with us, without prior notice and either at their convenience or for default based on performance. In addition, funding pursuant to our U.S. government contracts may be reduced or withheld as part of the U.S. Congressional appropriations process due to fiscal constraints, changes in U.S. national security strategy and/or priorities or other reasons. Historically, our Training segment has received some U.S. government contract funding under programs designed to benefit “small businesses” as defined under certain provisions of the U.S. Small Business Administration (“SBA”) regulations. The SBA regulations address multiple different programs that have varying eligibility requirements. Moreover, the SBA regulations are subject to different interpretations, and the U.S. government may determine, under a changed interpretation, that we should no longer be classified as small. If the U.S. government made such a determination, it could terminate, cancel, or decide not to award options on existing agreements.
Any loss or anticipated loss or reduction of expected funding and/or modification, curtailment, or termination of one or more of our U.S. government contracts could have a material adverse effect on our earnings, cash flow and/or financial position, as well as our access to government testing facilities and/or our ability to secure pre-certification operating experience and/or revenues.
Our business may benefit in part from government funding, and our inability to receive such financial support could harm our business.
We may receive subsidies and grants from governments in some countries. These programs are subject to periodic review by the relevant governments, and if any of these programs are curtailed or discontinued, this could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. As the availability of government funding is outside our control, we cannot guarantee that we will continue to benefit from government support or that sufficient alternative funding will be available if we lose such support. For example, we previously entered into discussions with the federal and the provincial government of Quebec to provide funding for our aircraft development program and Quebec’s Minister of Economy and Innovation has conditionally agreed to financially support the program. The funding mechanisms have not yet been determined but it is anticipated that they would include grants and/or tax rebates. If we do not receive this funding, our aircraft development program could be adversely affected.
Additionally, a U.S. government contracting party or a higher tier contractor may modify, curtail or terminate its contracts and subcontracts with us, without prior notice and either at its convenience or for default based on performance. In addition, funding pursuant to our U.S. government contracts may be reduced or withheld as part of the U.S. Congressional appropriations process due to changes in U.S. national security strategy and/or priorities, fiscal constraints, including enforceable spending caps, a sequester or a lack of funding available to pay incurred obligations, or for other reasons. Further uncertainty with respect to ongoing programs could result in the U.S. government financing its operations through temporary funding measures such as continuing resolutions rather than full-year appropriations. Any loss or anticipated loss or reduction of expected funding and/or modification, curtailment or termination of one or more large programs could have a material adverse effect on our financial position, results of operations and/or cash flows.
Shutdowns of the U.S. federal government could materially impair our business and financial condition.
The U.S. Congress may fund U.S. government departments and agencies with one or more continuing resolutions, which could delay new programs or competitions and/or negatively impact the execution of certain program activities. A lapse in appropriations for government departments or agencies would result in a full or partial government shutdown, which could impact our operations. In the event of a prolonged shutdown, requirements to furlough employees in the U.S. DoD, the Department of Transportation, including the FAA, or other government agencies could result in an impact to our operations, negatively impact future contracts, and/or cause other disruptions or delays. There is uncertainty regarding which government functions would shut down or continue operations during a lapse in appropriations, and corresponding uncertainty regarding the extent or magnitude of potential impacts to our operations.
For our Training segment, a shutdown or an extended continuing resolution could delay DoD IDIQ solicitations and task-order competitions, slow or suspend new awards and funding modifications, and defer government inspection/acceptance and related payments, which could delay revenue recognition for completed milestones.
For the Avionics segment, we anticipate that a shutdown could impact the FAA’s processing of certain approvals for engine instruments, both during and following the end of any shutdown, which could delay revenues from future new product launches.
In the event of an extended U.S. government shutdown, our business, program performance and results of operations could be impacted by the resulting disruptions to federal government offices, workers, and operations, including risks relating to the funding of certain programs, stop work orders, as well as delays in contract awards, new program starts, payments for work performed, and other actions. We also may experience similar impacts in the event of an extended period of continuing resolutions. Generally, the significance of these impacts will primarily be based on the length of the continuing resolution or shutdown.
Risks Related to Legal and Regulatory Requirements
Many of our products and services are subject to local, state, federal and international regulatory frameworks that are costly to comply with, are subject to interpretation, may be dependent on political pressures and factors and/or are subject to change.
Many of the products we develop and manufacture are highly dependent on our ability to meet local, state, federal and international regulations. In particular, our ability to meet the certification requirements for our products in the United States and abroad could determine the ability to sell, deliver, and manufacture our products, and therefore, could impact our operating results. These regulations include design and manufacture of products and components. While a common framework exists among many regulatory authorities allowing for recognition of different regulatory approvals by other regulatory entities, often times there are differences that require additional validation to meet the requirements of a specific entity. The risk not only lies in the viability of a particular product but also the time to market. Delays in the process are not unusual and can lead to delays in bringing product to market. These delays could result in financial and competitive impacts on our operations.
Our business is highly regulated and our ability to generate revenues and profit may be limited by regulatory restrictions and/or changes and the speed with which such restrictions and/or changes occur.
Aerospace manufacturers and aircraft operators are subject to extensive regulatory and legal requirements that involve significant compliance costs. The Civil Aviation Authorities may issue regulations relating to the operation of aircraft that could require significant expenditures. Implementation of the requirements created by such regulations may result in increased costs for our electric air mobility passengers and us. Additional laws, regulations, taxes and airport rates and charges have been proposed from time to time that could significantly increase the cost of our operations or reduce the demand for air travel. If adopted, these measures could have the effect of raising fares, reducing revenue and increasing costs. Moreover, the nature of and the speed with which these regulations are completed and implemented pose a risk for our financial performance and condition, timing of growth and overall potential. As a result, we cannot ensure that these and other laws or regulations enacted in the future will not have a negative impact on our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
Governments and regulatory agencies in the markets where we manufacture and sell drone products may enact additional regulations relating to product safety and consumer protection in the future, and may also increase the penalties for failure to comply with product safety and consumer protection regulations. In addition, one or more of our customers might require changes in our products, such as the non-use of certain materials, in the future. Complying with any such additional regulations or requirements could impose increased costs on our business. Similarly, increased penalties for non-compliance could subject us to greater expenses in the event any of our products were found to not comply with such regulations. Such increased costs or penalties could have a negative impact on our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
We are subject to the risks associated with conducting international business operations.
In addition to our U.S. operations, we have international operations in Canada and Denmark, sell our products and services to international dealers and customers, including foreign governments and engage in sales and marketing efforts in many foreign jurisdictions. In international sales, we face substantial competition from both U.S. manufacturers and international manufacturers whose governments sometimes provide R&D assistance, marketing subsidies and other assistance for their products and services. International sales present risks that are different and potentially greater than those encountered in our U.S. business. During the year ended December 31, 2025 and 2024, a majority of our total net sales were from international customers. International sales are subject to numerous political and economic factors, including changes in foreign national priorities, foreign government budgets, global economic conditions, and fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates, the possibility of trade sanctions and other government actions, regulatory requirements, significant competition, taxation, and other risks associated with doing business outside the United States. Sales of military products and services and any associated industrial development (offset) agreements are subject to U.S. export regulations and foreign policy, and there could be significant delays or other issues in reaching definitive agreements for announced programs. See “—We cannot predict the consequences of future macroeconomic conditions or geopolitical events, but they may adversely affect market and economic conditions, the markets in which we operate, our ability to insure risks, our operations or our .”
Our international business is conducted through foreign military sales (“FMS”) contracted through the U.S. government and by direct commercial sales (“DCS”) to international customers. FMS contracts with the U.S. government are subject to the Federal Acquisition Regulations (“FAR”) and the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (“DFARS”). Because the U.S. government functions as an intermediary in FMS sales, we are reliant on the capacity and speed of the DoD’s administration of requests from non-U.S. countries to convert requests to sales. In contrast, DCS transactions represent sales directly to international customers and are subject to U.S. and foreign laws and regulations, including product testing, import-export control, economic sanctions, technology transfer restrictions, investments, taxation, repatriation of earnings, exchange controls, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and other anti-corruption laws and regulations, and the anti-boycott provisions of the U.S. Export Control Reform Act of 2018. While we have extensive policies in place to comply with such laws and regulations, failure by us, our employees or others working on our behalf to comply with these laws and regulations could result in administrative, civil, or criminal liabilities, including suspension, from bidding for or performing government contracts, or of our export privileges, which could have a material effect on us. We frequently team with international subcontractors and suppliers who also are to similar risks.
In conjunction with defense procurements, some international customers require contractors to comply with industrial cooperation regulations, including entering into industrial participation, industrial development or localization agreements, sometimes referred to as offset agreements or offset contracts, as a condition to obtaining orders for our products and services. These offset agreements generally extend over several years and obligate the contractor to perform certain commitments, which may include in-country purchases, technology transfers, local manufacturing support, consulting support to in-country projects, investments in joint ventures and financial support projects, and preference for local suppliers or subcontractors. The customer’s expectations in respect of the scope of offset commitments can be substantial, including high-value content, and may exceed existing local technical capability. Failure to meet these commitments, which can be subjective and outside of our control, may result in significant penalties, and could lead to a reduction in sales to a country. Furthermore, some of our existing offset agreements are dependent upon the successful operation of joint ventures that we do not control and involve products and services that are outside of our core business, which may increase the risk of breaching our obligations, exposing us to compliance risks of the joint venture, and our ability to recover our investment. For more information on our industrial development obligations, including the notional value of our remaining industrial development obligations and potential for non-compliance, see the section titled “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Contractual Obligations.”
We believe DCS transactions present a higher level of potential risks because they involve direct commercial relationships with parties with which we typically have less familiarity. Additionally, international procurement and local country rules and regulations, contract laws and judicial systems differ from those in the United States and, in some cases, may be less predictable than those in the United States, which could impair our ability to enforce contracts and increase the risk of adverse or unpredictable outcomes, including the possibility that certain matters that would be considered civil matters in the United States are treated as criminal matters in other countries.
Additionally, changes in regulatory, geopolitical, social, economic, or monetary policies and other factors, may have a material adverse effect on our business in the future, or may require us to exit a particular market or significantly modify our current business practices. Abrupt political change, terrorist activity and armed conflict pose a risk of general economic disruption in affected countries, including economic sanctions and export license requirements, which could also result in an adverse effect on our business and results of operations.
We and the third parties with whom we work are subject to stringent and evolving U.S. and foreign laws, regulations, and rules, contractual obligations, industry standards, policies and other obligations related to data privacy and security. Our (or the third parties with whom we work) actual or perceived failure to comply with such obligations could lead to regulatory investigations or actions; litigation (including class claims) and mass arbitration demands; fines and penalties; disruptions of our business operations; reputational harm; loss of revenue or profits; loss of customers or sales; and other adverse business consequences.
In the ordinary course of business, we collect, receive, store, process, generate, use, transfer, disclose, make accessible, protect, secure, dispose of, transmit, and share (collectively, process) personal data and other sensitive information, including proprietary and confidential business data, financial information, trade secrets, intellectual property, technical and operational information, and sensitive third-party data. Our data processing activities subject us to numerous data privacy and security obligations, such as various laws, regulations, guidance, industry standards, external and internal privacy and security policies, contractual requirements, and other obligations relating to data privacy and security.
In the United States, federal, state, and local governments have enacted numerous data privacy and security laws, including data breach notification laws, personal data privacy laws, consumer protection laws (e.g., Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act), and other similar laws (e.g., wiretapping laws). For example, we are subject to the U.S. Department of War’s CMMC, which imposes certain cybersecurity requirements on government contractors. In the past few years, numerous U.S. states have enacted comprehensive privacy laws that impose certain obligations on covered businesses, including providing specific disclosures in privacy notices and affording residents with certain rights concerning their personal data. As applicable, such rights may include the right to access, correct, or delete certain personal data, and to opt-out of certain data processing activities, such as targeted advertising, profiling, and automated decision-making. The exercise of these rights may impact our business and ability to provide our products and services. Certain states also impose stricter requirements for processing certain personal data, including sensitive information, such as conducting data privacy impact assessments. These state laws allow for statutory fines for noncompliance. For example, the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (“CCPA”) applies to personal data of consumers, business representatives, and employees who are California residents, and requires businesses to provide specific disclosures in privacy notices and requests of such individuals to exercise certain privacy rights. The CCPA provides for and allows private affected by certain data to recover significant statutory . Similar laws are being considered in several other states, as well as at the federal and local levels, and we expect more states to pass similar laws in the future.
Outside the United States, an increasing number of laws, regulations, and industry standards govern data privacy and security. For example, the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation, the United Kingdom’s General Data Protection Regulation (collectively, the “GDPR”), and Brazil’s General Data Protection Law (Lei Geral de Proteção de Dados Pessoais) (Law No. 13,709/2018) impose strict requirements for processing personal data. In Canada, the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act and various related provincial laws, as well as Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation, may apply to our operations. For example, under the GDPR, companies may face temporary or definitive bans on data processing and other corrective actions; fines of up to 20 million Euros under the EU GDPR, 17.5 million pounds sterling under the UK GDPR or, in each case, 4% of annual global revenue, whichever is greater; or private litigation related to processing of personal data brought by classes of data subjects or consumer protection organizations authorized at law to represent their interests.
Our employees and personnel use generative AI Technologies to perform their work, and the disclosure and use of personal data in AI Technologies is subject to various privacy laws and other privacy obligations. Governments have passed and are likely to pass additional laws regulating AI Technologies. Our use of this technology could result in additional compliance costs, regulatory investigations and actions, and lawsuits. If we are unable to use generative AI, it could make our business less efficient and result in competitive disadvantages.
In the ordinary course of business, we may transfer personal data from Europe and other jurisdictions to the United States or other countries. Europe and other jurisdictions have enacted laws requiring data to be localized or limiting the transfer of personal data to other countries. In particular, the European Economic Area (the “EEA”) and the United Kingdom (the “UK”) have significantly restricted the transfer of personal data to the United States and other countries whose privacy laws it generally believes are inadequate. Other jurisdictions may adopt similarly stringent interpretations of their data localization and cross-border data transfer laws. Although there are currently various mechanisms that may be used to transfer personal data from the EEA and the United Kingdom to the United States in compliance with law, such as the EEA standard contractual clauses, the UK’s International Data Transfer Agreement / Addendum, and the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework and the UK extension thereto (which allows for transfers to relevant U.S.-based organizations who self-certify compliance and participate in the Framework), these mechanisms are subject to legal challenges, and there is no assurance that we can satisfy or rely on these measures to lawfully transfer personal data to the United States. If there is no lawful manner for us to transfer personal data from the EEA, the United Kingdom or other jurisdictions to the United States, or if the requirements for a legally-compliant transfer are too , we could face significant consequences, including the or of our operations, the need to relocate part of or all of our business or data processing activities to other jurisdictions (such as Europe) at significant expense, increased exposure to regulatory actions, substantial and , the to transfer data and work with partners, vendors and other third parties, and our processing or transferring of personal data necessary to operate our business. Additionally, companies that transfer personal data out of the EEA and the United Kingdom to other jurisdictions, particularly to the United States, are subject to increased from regulators, individual , and activist groups. Some European regulators have ordered certain companies to or permanently certain transfers out of Europe for the GDPR’s cross-border data transfer .
Additionally, the U.S. Department of Justice issued a rule entitled the Preventing Access to U.S. Sensitive Personal Data and Government-Related Data by Countries of Concern or Covered Persons, which places additional restriction on certain data transactions involving countries of concern (e.g., China, Russia, Iran) and covered persons (i.e., individuals and entities who are designated as such by the U.S. Attorney General or considered “foreign persons” and are majority owned by, organized under the laws of, a primary resident in, or a contractor of, a covered person or country of concern, as applicable) that may impact certain business activities such as vendor engagements, sale or sharing of data, employment of certain individuals, and investor agreements. Violations of the rule could lead to significant civil and criminal fines and penalties.
In addition to data privacy and security laws, we are contractually subject to industry standards adopted by industry groups and, we are, or may become subject to such obligations in the future. We are also bound by contractual obligations related to data privacy and security, and our efforts to comply with such obligations may not be successful. For example, certain privacy laws, such as the GDPR and the CCPA, require our customers to impose specific contractual restrictions on their service providers. We publish privacy policies and other statements regarding data privacy and security. Regulators in the United States are increasingly scrutinizing these statements, and if these policies or statements are found to be deficient, lacking in transparency, deceptive, unfair, or misrepresentative of our practices, we may be subject to investigation, enforcement actions by regulators or other adverse consequences.
Obligations related to data privacy and security (and consumers’ data privacy expectations) are quickly changing, becoming increasingly stringent, and creating uncertainty. Additionally, these obligations may be subject to differing applications and interpretations, which may be inconsistent or conflict among jurisdictions. Preparing for and complying with these obligations requires us to devote significant resources, which may necessitate changes to our services, information technologies, systems, and practices and to those of any third parties that process personal data on our behalf. In addition, these obligations may require us to change our business model. We may at times fail (or be perceived to have failed) in our efforts to comply with our data privacy and security obligations. Moreover, despite our efforts, our personnel or third parties with whom we work may fail to comply with such obligations, which could negatively impact our business operations.
If we or the third parties with whom we work fail, or are perceived to have failed, to address or comply with applicable data privacy and security obligations, we could face significant consequences, including but not limited to: government enforcement actions (e.g., investigations, fines, penalties, audits, inspections, debarment or other restrictions on contracting with government agencies and similar), litigation (including class-action claims) and mass arbitration demands, additional reporting requirements and/or oversight, bans or restrictions on processing personal data; and orders to destroy or not use personal data. In particular, plaintiffs have become increasingly active in bringing privacy-related claims against companies, including class claims and mass arbitration demands. Some of these allow for the recovery of statutory on a per basis, and, if viable, carry the potential for monumental statutory , depending on the volume of data and the number of . Any of these events could have a material effect on our reputation, business, or financial condition, including but not limited to, of customers; to process personal data or to operate in certain jurisdictions; limited ability to develop or commercialize our products; expenditure of time and resources to any claim or ; publicity; or substantial changes to our business model or operations.
Our international operations require us to comply with U.S. and certain foreign anti-corruption laws and regulations, export and import controls, economic sanctions and embargoes. We could face liability and other serious consequences for violations, which could materially adversely affect our business and reputation.
We are subject to anti-corruption laws and regulations, including the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”), the U.S. domestic bribery statute contained in 18 U.S.C. § 201, the U.S. Travel Act and other state and national anti-bribery laws in the countries in which we currently conduct activities, as well as those of any countries in which we may conduct activities in the future. Anti-corruption laws are interpreted broadly and generally prohibit companies and their employees, agents, contractors and other third-party collaborators from offering, promising, giving, soliciting, receiving, or authorizing others to give, solicit, or receive anything of value, either directly or indirectly through third parties, to any person in the public or private sector to obtain or retain business. The FCPA also requires public companies to make and keep books and records that accurately and fairly reflect the transactions of the corporation and to devise and maintain an adequate system of internal accounting controls. We may engage third parties to sell our products or to obtain necessary permits, licenses, patent registrations, and other regulatory approvals outside the United States. We can be held liable for the corrupt or other activities of our employees, agents, contractors, and other partners, even if we do not explicitly authorize or have actual knowledge of such activities. Any of the laws and regulations described above may result in substantial civil and and , , the of export or import privileges, , tax , of contract and , reputational , and other consequences.
We are also subject to export control and import laws and regulations and economic and financial sanctions and trade embargoes, including the U.S. Export Administration Regulations (“EAR”) administered and enforced by the U.S. Department of Commerce, the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (“ITAR”) administered and enforced by the U.S. Department of State, U.S. Customs regulations, and various economic and financial trade sanctions regulations administered and enforced by the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Controls, the U.S. Department of State, the United Nations Security Council, the EU and other relevant export controls and sanctions authorities.
Pursuant to these laws and regulations, we are required, among other things, to (i) maintain a registration under the ITAR (which controls the export of defense-related items and services), (ii) determine the proper licensing jurisdiction and export classification of products, software, and technology under U.S., EU and other applicable laws, and (iii) obtain licenses or other forms of government authorization to engage in the conduct of our business. Furthermore, U.S. export control laws and economic sanctions prohibit the provision of certain products and services to countries, governments and persons targeted by U.S. sanctions. EU sanctions and export controls operate in a similar manner. Changes in U.S., EU or foreign trade control laws and regulations, or reclassifications of our products or technologies, may restrict our operations. Compliance with applicable regulatory requirements regarding the export of our products may create delays in the introduction of our products in international markets or, in some cases, prevent the export of our products to some countries altogether. The inability to secure and maintain necessary licenses and other authorizations could negatively impact our ability to compete successfully or to operate our business as planned. Any changes in export control laws and regulations or U.S., EU and other government licensing policy may restrict our operations. For example, given the discretion the government has in issuing or such authorizations to advance U.S. national security and foreign policy interests, there can be no assurance we will be in our future efforts to secure and maintain necessary licenses, registrations, or other U.S. government regulatory approvals.
Although we maintain written policies, and have implemented procedures and safeguards, that are reasonably designed to maintain compliance with export controls, import laws, and economic and financial sanctions, there is no certainty that all of our employees or agents for which we may be held responsible, suppliers, manufacturers, contractors or collaborators, or those of our affiliates, will comply with all applicable anti-corruption, export and import control, and sanctions laws and regulations. Our global operations expose us to the risk of violating, or being accused of violating, economic and trade sanctions laws and regulations. Violations of these laws and regulations could result in significant penalties, including: civil fines; criminal sanctions against us, our officers, or our employees; imprisonment; the closing down of facilities, including those of our suppliers and manufacturers; of profits; and from government contracts; requirements to obtain export licenses; cessation of business activities in sanctioned countries; implementation of compliance programs; and prohibitions on the conduct of our business. Any such could include prohibitions on our ability to offer our products in one or more countries, as well as in manufacturing or continuing to develop our products, and could materially affect our reputation, our brand, our international expansion efforts, our ability to attract and retain employees, and our business, prospects, operating results and financial condition.
We may be unable to source and sell our products profitably or at all if new trade protections are imposed or existing protections become more burdensome.
The United States and the countries in which our products are produced or sold have imposed and may impose additional quotas, duties, tariffs, or other measures, or may adversely adjust prevailing quota, duty, or tariff levels. Such actions could have an adverse effect on our financial statements for the period or periods for which the applicable final determinations are made. Countries impose, modify, and remove tariffs and other trade measures in response to a diverse array of factors, including global and national economic and political conditions, which make it impossible for us to predict future developments regarding tariffs, customs, and other trade measures. Trade protections, including tariffs, quotas, safeguards, duties, and customs restrictions, could increase the cost or reduce the supply of products available to us, could increase shipping times, or may require us to modify our supply chain organization or other current business practices, any of which could harm our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
Risks Related to Our Intellectual Property
If we fail to protect, or incur significant costs in defending or enforcing, our intellectual property and other proprietary rights, our business, financial condition, and results of operations could be materially harmed.
Our success depends, in large part, on our ability to protect our intellectual property and other proprietary rights. We rely primarily on patents, trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets and unfair competition laws, as well as license agreements and other contractual provisions, to protect our intellectual property and other proprietary rights. In addition, a portion of our technology is not patented, and we may be unable or may not seek to obtain patent protection for this technology. In addition, the U.S. government has licenses for certain of our patents and certain other intellectual property that are developed or used in performance of government contracts, and it may use or authorize others to use such patents and intellectual property for government and other purposes. We co-own, with Centro Italiano Ricerche Aerospaziali Spca, US patents 9,983,023; 10,782,146; and 11,639,858, which describe technology related to determining angle of attack of an aircraft without a dedicated angle of attack sensor. As co-owner, Centro Italiano Ricerche Aerospaziali Spca may make, use, sell, offer for sale, or import the technology protected by these patents or authorize others to do so. If Centro Italiano Ricerche Aerospaziali Spca chooses to compete with us or sells any or all of these patents and/or grants licenses to any or all of such patents to our competitors, we would not be able to enforce our rights to the technology protected by these patents such lawful owners or licensees. A subset of our patents are co-owned, and our co-owner may use or authorize others to use technology protected by such patents. Moreover, existing U.S. legal standards relating to the validity, enforceability and scope of protection of intellectual property rights offer only limited protection, may not provide us with any competitive , and our rights may be by third parties. The laws of countries other than the United States may be even less protective of our intellectual property rights. Accordingly, our efforts, we may be to prevent third parties from upon or our intellectual property or otherwise access to our technology. third parties may try to copy or reverse engineer our products or portions of our products or otherwise obtain and use our intellectual property. Moreover, many of our employees have access to our trade secrets and other intellectual property. If one or more of these employees leave our employment to work for one of our competitors, then they may disseminate this proprietary information our established procedures and policies to prevent such dissemination, which may as a result our competitive position. If we to protect our intellectual property and other proprietary rights, then our business, results of operations or financial condition could be materially .
In addition, affirmatively defending our intellectual property rights and investigating whether any of our products or services violate the rights of others may entail significant expense. Our intellectual property rights may be challenged by others or invalidated through administrative processes or litigation. If we resort to legal proceedings to enforce our intellectual property rights or to determine the validity and scope of the intellectual property or other proprietary rights of others, then the proceedings could result in significant expense to us and divert the attention and efforts of our management and technical employees, even if we prevail.
We may be sued by third parties for alleged infringement of their proprietary rights, which could be costly, time-consuming and limit our ability to use certain technologies in the future.
We may become subject to claims that our technologies infringe upon the intellectual property or other proprietary rights of third parties. Defending against, or otherwise addressing, any such claims, whether they are with or without merit, could be time-consuming and expensive, and could divert our management’s attention away from the execution of our business plan. Moreover, any settlement or adverse judgment resulting from these claims could require us to pay substantial amounts or obtain a license to continue to use the disputed technology, or otherwise restrict or prohibit our use of the technology. We cannot ensure that we would be able to: obtain from the third party asserting the claim a license on commercially reasonable terms, if at all; develop alternative technology on a timely basis, if at all; or obtain a license to use a suitable alternative technology to permit us to continue offering, and our customers to continue using, our affected product. An determination also could prevent us from offering our products to others. asserted us may have a material effect on our business, results of operations or financial condition.
Risks Related to Tax and Accounting Matters
Our ability to use our net operating loss carryforwards and certain tax credit carryforwards may be subject to limitation.
As of December 31, 2025 and 2024, we had aggregate U.S. federal and state net operating loss carryforwards of $50.5 million and $79.0 million, respectively, which may be available to offset future taxable income for U.S. income tax purposes. If not utilized, a portion of the net operating loss carryforwards may expire. Under Section 382 and 383 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, (the “Code”) an “ownership change” may limit the amount of our pre-change net operating loss carryforwards and certain other pre-change tax attributes that could be utilized annually to offset our future taxable income, if any. This limitation would generally apply in the event of a cumulative change in the equity ownership of certain stockholders of our company of more than 50 percentage points within a rolling three-year period. We have experienced, and may in the future experience, ownership changes as a result of shifts in our stock ownership. As a result, if we earn net taxable income, our ability to use our pre-change U.S. net operating loss carryforwards and other tax attributes to offset U.S. taxable income may be subject to limitations, which could potentially result in increased future tax liability to us. Sales of our common stock by our existing stockholders or additional sales of our common stock by us could further limit our ability to use our U.S. net operating carryforwards and other tax attributes and have a material effect on our results of operations in future years. Similar provisions of state tax law may also apply to limit our use of accumulated state tax net operating . Net operating arising in taxable years beginning after December 31, 2017 are not subject to expiration, but may not be carried back to prior taxable years, except that net operating generated in 2018, 2019 and 2020 may be carried back five taxable years. Additionally, the deductibility of such U.S. federal net operating is limited to no more than 80% of our taxable income (with certain adjustments) in any taxable year beginning after December 31, 2020.
We have identified material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting. If we are unable to effectively remediate these material weaknesses, identify additional material weaknesses in the future, or otherwise fail to maintain effective internal control over financial reporting, then we may not be able to accurately or timely report our financial condition or results of operations, which may adversely affect our business.
Internal control over financial reporting is a process designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with GAAP. Any failure to maintain effective internal control over financial reporting could cause us to fail to accurately or timely report our financial condition or results of operations to meet our reporting obligations. A material weakness is a deficiency, or combination of deficiencies, in internal control over financial reporting, such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of our annual or interim consolidated financial statements will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis.
In connection with the preparation of our consolidated financial statements for the years ended December 31, 2025 and 2024, material weaknesses were identified in the design and operating effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting. In 2024, we identified material weaknesses due to ineffective information and communication controls, resulting in lack of timely identification and accounting for certain key debt and other agreements. Since fiscal year 2023, there have been misstatements that, individually and in the aggregate, were material to the consolidated financial statements that were identified due to deficiencies related to technical accounting. More specifically, the review controls over the transactions that gave rise to these misstatements lacked sufficient precision and the Company lacked a sufficient complement of personnel with an appropriate level of accounting knowledge, training and experience to appropriately analyze, record and disclose accounting matters timely and accurately. Due to the delays we experienced in securing funding during 2024 and 2025, we were not to hire and train sufficient staff to remediate the previously identified material in our internal control over financial reporting. As such, these material were not remediated and continued to be present as of December 31, 2025.
We have initiated, and continue to implement, measures intended to remediate the material weaknesses described above and to strengthen our internal control over financial reporting. These measures include: (i) hiring additional experienced accounting and SEC reporting personnel at the corporate and subsidiary levels and enhancing segregation of duties; (ii) engaging an independent internal auditor and establishing an internal audit plan focused on revenue recognition, complex financing arrangements, and acquisition accounting, with periodic reporting to the Audit Committee; (iii) implementing formal contract-review controls including documented technical accounting reviews for new or amended agreements; (iv) standardizing and documenting our monthly and quarterly close processes, including review and approval controls, checklists, and enhanced management review controls over significant estimates and judgments; and (v) deploying certain technology solutions, including a cloud-based planning and reporting system to reduce manual processes and improve data integrity and transparency.
While we believe these actions represent important steps toward remediation, the material weaknesses will not be considered remediated until the applicable controls are designed, implemented, and operate effectively for a sufficient period of time and management has concluded, through testing, that they are operating effectively. We can provide no assurance that the measures described above will fully remediate the identified material weaknesses, that we will not identify additional material weaknesses in the future, or that our internal control over financial reporting will be effective. Accordingly, there could continue to be a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of our consolidated financial statements would not be prevented or detected on a timely basis.
If we fail to remediate our existing material weaknesses or identify new material weaknesses in our internal controls over financial reporting, if we are unable to comply with the requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in a timely manner, if we are unable to conclude that our internal controls over financial reporting are effective, or if our independent registered public accounting firm is unable to express an opinion as to the effectiveness of our internal controls over financial reporting when we are no longer an emerging growth company, investors may lose confidence in the accuracy and completeness of our financial reports and the market price of our common stock could be negatively affected. As a result of such failures, we could also become subject to investigations by Nasdaq, the SEC or other regulatory authorities, and become subject to litigation from investors and stockholders, which could our reputation and financial condition or financial and management resources from our regular business activities.
A failure to establish and maintain an effective system of disclosure controls and internal control over financial reporting, could adversely affect our ability to produce timely and accurate financial statements or comply with applicable regulations.
As a public company, we are subject to the reporting requirements of the Exchange Act, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, and the rules and regulations of the applicable listing standards of Nasdaq. We expect that the requirements of these rules and regulations will continue to increase our legal, accounting, and financial compliance costs, make some activities more difficult, time consuming, and costly, and place significant strain on our personnel, systems, and resources.
The Sarbanes-Oxley Act requires, among other things, that we maintain effective disclosure controls and procedures and internal control over financial reporting. We are continuing to develop and refine our disclosure controls and other procedures that are designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed by us in the reports that we will file with the SEC is recorded, processed, summarized, and reported within the time periods specified in SEC rules and forms and that information required to be disclosed in reports under the Exchange Act, is accumulated and communicated to our principal executive and financial officers. We are also continuing to improve our internal controls over financial reporting. To maintain and enhance the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and internal control over financial reporting, we anticipate allocating significant resources, including accounting-related costs and investments, to strengthen our accounting systems.
Our current controls and any new controls that we develop may become inadequate because of changes in conditions in our business. In addition, changes in accounting principles or interpretations could also challenge our internal controls and require that we establish new business processes, systems, and controls to accommodate such changes. We have limited experience with implementing the systems and controls that are necessary to operate as a public company, or with adopting changes in accounting principles or interpretations mandated by the relevant regulatory bodies. Additionally, if these new systems, controls or standards and the associated process changes do not give rise to the benefits that we expect or do not operate as intended, it could adversely affect our financial reporting systems and processes, our ability to produce timely and accurate financial reports or the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting. Moreover, our business may be harmed if we experience problems with any new systems and controls that result in delays in their implementation or increased costs to correct any post-implementation issues that may arise.
Further, weaknesses in our disclosure controls and internal control over financial reporting have occurred in the past and may be discovered in the future. Any failure to develop or maintain effective controls or any difficulties encountered in their implementation or improvement could harm our results of operations or cause us to fail to meet our reporting obligations and may result in a restatement of our consolidated financial statements for prior periods. Any failure to implement and maintain effective internal control over financial reporting also could adversely affect the results of periodic management evaluations and annual independent registered public accounting firm attestation reports regarding the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting that we will eventually be required to include in our periodic reports that will be filed with the SEC. Ineffective disclosure controls and procedures and internal control over financial reporting could also cause investors to confidence in our reported financial and other information, which would likely have a effect on the trading price of our common stock. In addition, if we are to continue to meet these requirements, we may not be to remain listed on Nasdaq. We are not currently required to comply with the SEC rules that implement Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and are therefore not required to make a formal assessment of the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting for that purpose. In the future, we will be required to provide an annual management report on the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting commencing with our second annual report on Form 10-K.
Our independent registered public accounting firm is not required to formally attest to the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting until after we are no longer an “emerging growth company” as defined in the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (“JOBS”) Act and we are an accelerated filer or large accelerated filer under SEC rules. At such time, our independent registered public accounting firm may issue a report that is adverse in the event it is not satisfied with the level at which our internal control over financial reporting is documented, designed or operating. Any failure to maintain effective disclosure controls and internal control over financial reporting could harm our business, results of operations, and financial condition and could cause a decline in the trading price of our common stock.
Our corporate structure and intercompany arrangements are subject to the tax laws of various jurisdictions, which are subject to change, and we could be obligated to pay additional taxes, which would harm our results of operations.
We are or may be subject to income and non-income taxation in the United States under federal, state, and local jurisdictions and in certain foreign jurisdictions in which we operate. The amount of taxes we pay in these jurisdictions could increase substantially as a result of changes in the applicable tax principles, including increased tax rates, new or revised tax laws or revised interpretations of existing tax laws (which may have retroactive effect), policies and precedents by taxing authorities and courts in various jurisdictions. The authorities in these jurisdictions could review our tax returns or require us to file tax returns in jurisdictions in which we are not currently filing and could impose additional tax, interest and penalties. In addition, the authorities could claim that various withholding requirements apply to us or our subsidiaries, assert that benefits of tax treaties are not available to us or our subsidiaries, or challenge our methodologies for valuing developed technology or intercompany arrangements, including our transfer pricing. The relevant taxing authorities may determine that the manner in which we operate our business does not achieve the intended tax consequences. If such a determination were to be made, we could be required to pay additional taxes and interest and penalties. Any increase in the amount of taxes we pay or that are imposed on us could increase our worldwide tax rate and our business and results of operations.
Future changes in financial accounting standards or practices may cause adverse and unexpected revenue fluctuations and adversely affect our reported results of operations.
Future changes in financial accounting standards may cause adverse, unexpected revenue fluctuations and affect our reported financial position or results of operations. Financial accounting standards in the United States are constantly under review and new pronouncements and varying interpretations of pronouncements have occurred with frequency in the past and are expected to occur again in the future. As a result, we may be required to make changes in our accounting policies. Those changes could affect our financial condition and results of operations or the way in which such financial condition and results of operations are reported. Compliance with new accounting standards may also result in additional expenses. As a result, we intend to invest all reasonably necessary resources to comply with evolving standards, and this investment may result in increased general and administrative expenses and a diversion of management time and attention from business activities to compliance activities. See the section titled “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Recent Accounting Pronouncements.” As an emerging growth company, the JOBS Act allows us to delay adoption of new or revised accounting standards applicable to public companies until such pronouncements are made applicable to private companies. We have elected to use the extended transition period for complying with new or revised accounting standards and as a result of this election, our financial statements may not be comparable to companies that comply with public company dates. However, we may elect to early adopt any new or revised accounting standards whenever such early adoption is permitted for non-public companies. We may take of these exemptions up until the time that we are no longer an emerging growth company.
Risks Related Ownership of Our Common Stock
An active trading market for our common stock may not continue to develop or be sustained.
Prior to the IPO, there was no public market for our common stock. An active trading market for our shares may not continue to develop or be sustained. The lack of an active market may impair the value of your shares, your ability to sell your shares at the time you wish to sell them and the prices that you may obtain for your shares. Further, an inactive trading market for our shares may also impair our ability to raise capital by selling shares of our common stock or enter into strategic partnerships and transactions by issuing our shares of common stock as consideration.
The trading price of our common stock may be volatile, and you could lose all or part of your investment.
The trading price of our common stock may be highly volatile and may be subject to wide fluctuations in response to various factors, some of which are beyond our control, including:
announcements of significant acquisitions, strategic partnerships, joint ventures or capital commitments by us or our competitors;
our ability to effectively manage our growth;
actual or anticipated variations in quarterly operating results;
our cash position;
our failure to meet the estimates and projections of the investment community or that we may otherwise provide to the public;
changes in the market valuations of similar companies;
overall performance of the equity markets;
sales of our common stock by us or our stockholders in the future;
low trading volume of our common stock, which may impair our ability to raise capital or enter into strategic collaborations and acquisitions by using our common stock as consideration;
changes in accounting practices;
ineffectiveness of our internal controls;
disputes or other developments relating to proprietary rights, including patents, litigation matters and our ability to obtain patent protection for our technologies;
significant lawsuits, including patent or stockholder litigation;
general political and economic conditions; and
other events or factors, many of which are beyond our control.
In addition, the stock market in general, and the market for aerospace and defense companies in particular, have experienced extreme price and volume fluctuations that have often been unrelated or disproportionate to the operating performance of these companies. Broad market and industry factors, as well as local or global socio-economic and political factors, including the conflicts between Russia and Ukraine and in the Middle East, may negatively affect the market price of our common stock, regardless of our actual operating performance. If the market price of our common stock does not exceed the price you paid for them, you may not realize any return on your investment in us and may lose some or all of your investment. In the past, securities class action litigation has often been instituted against companies following periods of volatility in the market price of a company’s securities. This type of litigation, if instituted, could result in substantial costs and a diversion of management’s attention and resources.
We do not intend to pay dividends on our common stock so any returns will be limited to the value of our stock.
We currently anticipate that we will retain future earnings for the development, operation and expansion of our business and do not anticipate declaring or paying any cash dividends for the foreseeable future. Furthermore, future debt or other financing arrangements may contain terms prohibiting or limiting the amount of dividends that may be declared or paid on our common stock. Any return to stockholders will therefore be limited to the appreciation of their stock.
Our principal stockholders and management own a significant percentage of our stock and are able to exert significant control over matters subject to stockholder approval.
Our executive officers, directors, director nominees and their affiliates, as well as our principal stockholders beneficially hold a significant percentage of our outstanding voting stock. These stockholders, acting together, are able to significantly influence all matters requiring stockholder approval. For example, these stockholders are able to significantly influence elections of directors, amendments of our governing documents, or approval of any merger, sale of assets, or other major corporate transaction. This may prevent or discourage unsolicited acquisition proposals or offers for our common stock that you may feel are in your best interest as one of our stockholders.
Our management team has limited experience managing a public company.
Most of the members of our management team have limited to no experience managing a publicly traded company, interacting with public company investors and complying with the increasingly complex laws pertaining to public companies. Our management team has not worked together at prior companies that were publicly traded. Our management team may not successfully or efficiently manage their new roles and responsibilities. Operating as a public company subjects us to significant regulatory oversight and reporting obligations under the federal securities laws and the continuous scrutiny of securities analysts and investors. These obligations and constituents require significant attention from our senior management and could divert their attention away from the day-to-day management of our business, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Future issuances of debt or equity securities may adversely affect us, including the market price of our common stock, and may be dilutive to existing stockholders.
In the future, we may incur debt or issue equity-ranking senior to our common stock. Those securities will generally have priority upon liquidation. Such securities also may be governed by an indenture or other instrument containing covenants restricting our operating flexibility. Additionally, any convertible or exchangeable securities that we issue in the future may have rights, preferences and privileges more favorable than those of our common stock. Because our decision to issue debt or equity in the future will depend on market conditions and other factors beyond our control, we cannot predict or estimate the amount, timing, nature or success of our future capital raising efforts. As a result, future capital raising efforts may reduce the market price of our common stock and be dilutive to existing stockholders.
Any issuance of additional capital stock in connection with financings, acquisitions, investments, our stock incentive plan or otherwise will dilute all other stockholders.
We expect to issue additional capital stock in the future that will result in dilution to all other stockholders. We expect to grant equity awards to employees, directors, and consultants under our stock incentive plan. We may also raise capital through equity financings in the future. As part of our business strategy, we may acquire or make investments in complementary companies, products, or technologies and issue equity securities to pay for any such acquisition or investment. Any such issuances of additional capital stock, including as a result of the exercise of any warrants to purchase shares of common stock, may cause stockholders to experience significant dilution of their ownership interests and the per share value of our common stock to decline.
Future sales, or the perception of future sales, by us or our stockholders in the public market could cause the market price for our common stock to decline.
The sale of shares of our common stock in the public market, or the perception that such sales could occur, could harm the prevailing market price of our common stock. These sales, or the possibility that these sales may occur, also might make it more difficult for us to sell equity securities in the future at a time and at a price that we deem appropriate.
Pursuant to the AIRO Group Holdings, Inc. 2025 Equity Incentive Plan (the “2025 Plan”), our management is authorized to grant stock options and other equity-based awards to our employees, directors and consultants. Additionally, the number of shares of our common stock reserved for issuance under our 2025 Plan will automatically increase on January 1 of each calendar year, beginning on January 1, 2026 and continuing through and including January 1, 2035, by 3% of the total number of shares of our common stock outstanding on December 31 of the preceding calendar year, or a lesser number of shares determined by our board of directors. Unless our board of directors elects not to increase the number of shares available for future grant each year, our stockholders may experience additional dilution, which could cause our stock price to fall.
In the future, we may also issue our securities in connection with investments or acquisitions. The amount of our securities issued in connection with an investment or acquisition could constitute a material portion of the then-outstanding shares of our common stock. Any issuance of additional securities in connection with investments or acquisitions may result in additional dilution to our stockholders.
We are an emerging growth company and a smaller reporting company and the reduced disclosure requirements applicable to emerging growth companies and smaller reporting companies may make our common stock less attractive to investors.
We are an “emerging growth company,” as defined in the JOBS Act, and may remain an emerging growth company until the last day of the fiscal year following the fifth anniversary of the closing of the IPO. However, if certain events occur prior to the end of such five-year period, including if we become a “large accelerated filer,” our annual gross revenues exceed $1.235 billion or we issue more than $1.0 billion of non-convertible debt in any three-year period, we will cease to be an emerging growth company prior to the end of such five-year period. For so long as we remain an emerging growth company, we are permitted and intend to rely on exemptions from certain disclosure requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not emerging growth companies. These exemptions include, but are not limited to:
not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act;
not being required to comply with the requirement of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board regarding the communication of critical audit matters in the auditor’s report on the financial statements;
the ability to elect to defer compliance with new or revised accounting standards until such standards would apply to private companies;
reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports, proxy statements and registration statements; and
exemptions from the requirements of holding a nonbinding advisory vote on executive compensation and any golden parachute payments not previously approved.
We have taken advantage of the reduced reporting burdens in this Annual Report on Form 10-K and the information we provide to stockholders will be different than the information that is available with respect to other public companies that are not emerging growth companies. It is possible that this may cause investors to find our common stock less attractive. If some investors find our common stock less attractive as a result, there may be a less active trading market for our common stock and our share price may be reduced or more volatile.
Even following the termination of our status as an emerging growth company, we may be able to take advantage of the reduced disclosure requirements applicable to “smaller reporting companies,” as that term is defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act, and, in particular, reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports and proxy statements. To the extent that we are no longer eligible to use exemptions from various reporting requirements, we may be unable to realize our anticipated cost savings from these exemptions, which could have a material adverse impact on our operating results.
Delaware law and provisions in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws could make a merger, tender offer or proxy contest difficult, thereby depressing the trading price of our common stock.
Provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws, respectively, may delay or discourage transactions involving an actual or potential change in our control or change in our management, including transactions in which stockholders might otherwise receive a premium for their shares or transactions that our stockholders might otherwise deem to be in their best interests. Therefore, these provisions could adversely affect the price of our common stock. Among other things, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws:
permit our board of directors to issue up to 10,000,000 shares of preferred stock, with any rights, preferences and privileges as they may designate (including the right to approve an acquisition or other change in our control);
provide that the authorized number of directors may be changed only by resolution of the board of directors;
provide that the board of directors or any individual director may only be removed with cause and the affirmative vote of the holders of at least 66-2/3% of the voting power of all of our then outstanding common stock;
provide that all vacancies, including newly created directorships, may, except as otherwise required by law, be filled by the affirmative vote of a majority of directors then in office, even if less than a quorum;
divide our board of directors into three classes;
require that any action to be taken by our stockholders must be effected at a duly called annual or special meeting of stockholders and not be taken by written consent;
provide that stockholders seeking to present proposals before a meeting of stockholders or to nominate candidates for election as directors at a meeting of stockholders must provide notice in writing in a timely manner and also specify requirements as to the form and content of a stockholder’s notice;
do not provide for cumulative voting rights, therefore allowing the holders of a majority of the shares of common stock entitled to vote in any election of directors to elect all of the directors standing for election, if they should so choose; and
provide that special meetings of our stockholders may be called only by the Chairman of the board, our Chief Executive Officer or by the board of directors pursuant to a resolution adopted by a majority of the total number of authorized directors.
The amendment of any of these provisions, with the exception of the ability of our board of directors to issue shares of preferred stock and designate any rights, preferences and privileges thereto, requires approval by the holders of at least 66-2/3% of our then-outstanding common stock.
In addition, as a Delaware corporation, we are subject to Section 203 of the Delaware General Corporation Law. These provisions may prohibit large stockholders, in particular those owning 15% or more of our outstanding voting stock, from merging or combining with us for a certain period of time. A Delaware corporation may opt out of this provision by express provision in its original certificate of incorporation or by amendment to its certificate of incorporation or bylaws approved by its stockholders. However, we have not opted out of this provision.
These and other provisions in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, amended and restated bylaws and Delaware law could make it more difficult or costly for stockholders or potential acquirors to obtain control of our board of directors or initiate actions that are opposed by our then-current board of directors, including delay or impede a merger, tender offer or proxy contest involving our company. The existence of these provisions could negatively affect the price of our common stock and limit opportunities for you to realize value in a corporate transaction.
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware and any appellate court therefrom are the exclusive forums for substantially all disputes between us and our stockholders, which could limit our stockholders’ ability to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with us or our directors, officers or employees.
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that, unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware will be the sole and exclusive forum for the following types of actions or proceedings under Delaware statutory or common law: (i) any derivative claim or cause of action brought on our behalf; (ii) any claim or cause of action that is based upon a violation of a duty owed by any current or former director, officer, other employee or stockholder, to us or our stockholders; (iii) any claim or cause of action against us or any current or former director, officer or other employee, arising out of or pursuant to any provision of the Delaware General Corporation Law, our Certificate of Incorporation or our Bylaws; (iv) any claim or cause of action seeking to interpret, apply, enforce or determine the validity of our Certificate of Incorporation or our Bylaws (including any right, obligation, or remedy thereunder); (v) any claim or cause of action as to which the Delaware General Corporation Law confers jurisdiction on the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware; and (vi) any claim or cause of action against us or any current or former director, officer or other employee, governed by the internal-affairs doctrine or otherwise related to our internal affairs, in all cases to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law and subject to the court having personal jurisdiction over the indispensable parties named as ; provided, however, that if the designation of such court as the sole and forum for a claim or action referred to in foregoing clauses (i) through (vi) would applicable law, then the United States District Court for the District of Delaware shall be the sole and forum for such claim or cause of action. These provisions do not apply to suits brought to enforce a duty or liability created by the Exchange Act, or any other claim for which the federal courts have jurisdiction. Furthermore, Section 22 of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”) creates concurrent jurisdiction for federal and state courts over all such Securities Act actions. Accordingly, both state and federal courts have jurisdiction to entertain such . Additionally, investors cannot waive compliance with the federal securities laws and the rules and regulations thereunder. To prevent having to in multiple jurisdictions and the of or rulings by different courts, among other considerations, our amended and certificate of incorporation further provides that unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, to the fullest extent permitted by law, the federal district courts of the United States of America shall be the forum for the resolution of any asserting a cause of action arising under the Securities Act, including all causes of action asserted any named in such . While the Delaware courts have determined that such choice of forum provisions are facially valid, a stockholder may nevertheless seek to bring a claim in a venue other than those designated in the forum provisions. In such instance, we would expect to vigorously assert the validity and enforceability of the forum provisions of our amended and certificate of incorporation. This may require significant additional costs associated with resolving such action in other jurisdictions and there is uncertainty as to whether the provisions will be enforced by a court in those other jurisdictions.
These choice of forum provisions may limit a stockholder’s ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum that it finds favorable for disputes with us or our directors, officers or other employees and may discourage these types of lawsuits and result in increased costs for investors to bring a claim. If a court were to find the choice of forum provisions contained in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation to be inapplicable or unenforceable in an action, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving such action in other jurisdictions.
If securities analysts do not publish research or reports about our business or if they downgrade our common stock or our sector, our common stock price and trading volume could decline.
The trading market for our common stock relies in part on the research and reports that industry or financial analysts publish about us or our business. We do not control these analysts. In addition, some financial analysts may have limited expertise with our model and operations. Furthermore, if one or more of the analysts who do cover us downgrade our common stock or industry, or the stock of any of our competitors, or publish inaccurate or unfavorable research about our business, the price of our common stock could decline. If one or more of these analysts ceases to cover us or fails to initiate coverage or publish reports on us regularly, we could lose visibility in the market, which in turn could cause our common stock price or trading volume to decline.
General Risk Factors
We will incur increased costs as a result of operating as a public company, and our management will be required to devote substantial time to new compliance initiatives and corporate governance practices.
As a public company, we incur significant legal, accounting and other expenses that we did not incur as a private company. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act, the Dodd-Frank Act, Nasdaq listing requirements and other applicable securities rules and regulations impose various requirements on public companies, including establishment and maintenance of effective disclosure and financial controls and corporate governance practices. Our management and other personnel needs to devote a substantial amount of time to these compliance initiatives. Moreover, these rules and regulations will increase our legal and financial compliance costs and will make some activities more time-consuming and costly. For example, we expect that these rules and regulations may make it more difficult and more expensive for us to obtain director and officer liability insurance, which in turn could make it more difficult for us to attract and retain qualified members of our board of directors.
We are evaluating these rules and regulations, and cannot predict or estimate the amount of additional costs we may incur or the timing of such costs. These rules and regulations are often subject to varying interpretations, in many cases due to their lack of specificity, and, as a result, their application in practice may evolve over time as new guidance is provided by regulatory and governing bodies. This could result in continuing uncertainty regarding compliance matters and higher costs necessitated by ongoing revisions to disclosure and governance practices.
Pursuant to Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act we will be required to furnish a report by our management on our internal control over financial reporting beginning with our second filing of an Annual Report on Form 10-K with the SEC. However, while we remain an emerging growth company or smaller reporting company, we will not be required to include an attestation report on internal control over financial reporting issued by our independent registered public accounting firm. To achieve compliance with Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act within the prescribed period, we will be engaged in a process to document and evaluate our internal control over financial reporting, which is both costly and challenging. In this regard, we will need to continue to dedicate internal resources, potentially engage outside consultants, adopt a detailed work plan to assess and document the adequacy of internal control over financial reporting, continue steps to improve control processes as appropriate, validate through testing whether such controls are functioning as documented and implement a continuous reporting and improvement process for internal control over financial reporting. In addition, w e have identified material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting. If we are to effectively remediate these material , identify additional material in the future, or otherwise to maintain internal control over financial reporting, it could result in an reaction in the financial markets due to a of confidence in the reliability of our financial statements.
Our business and financial performance could be adversely affected by inflation.
In recent years, we have been faced with challenging global economic conditions. U.S. and international markets have experienced inflationary pressures, and inflation rates in the U.S. and in other countries in which we operate have been at elevated levels. While more recently the global inflation rate has stabilized, we cannot be sure that this trend will continue. In the event of a significant increase in consumer prices, particularly over an extended period of time, customer demand for our products and services could be adversely affected and we could experience lower than expected sales. In addition, if any of our suppliers implemented price increases in response to higher raw material, labor, and energy costs or otherwise, we may not be able to pass along such price increased to our customers and our profitability may be reduced. The occurrence of any of these events could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
We cannot predict the consequences of future macroeconomic conditions or geopolitical events, but they may adversely affect market and economic conditions, the markets in which we operate, our ability to insure against risks, our operations or our profitability.
The global credit and financial markets have experienced extreme volatility and disruptions in the past several years, including severely diminished liquidity and credit availability, rising inflation and monetary supply shifts, rising interest rates, supply chain constraints, labor shortages, declines in consumer confidence, declines in economic growth, increases in unemployment rates, recession risks and uncertainty about economic stability. For instance, ongoing instability and current conflicts in global markets, including in Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Asia, and the potential for other conflicts and future terrorist activities, as well as other recent geopolitical events throughout the world, including new or increased tariffs and potential trade wars, have created and may continue to create economic and political uncertainties and impacts that could have a material effect on our business, operations, and . We have not experienced, and do not anticipate, any in our supply chain or other business operations due to the ongoing in Ukraine. However, if the were to expand and impact our supply chain or sales, we could experience a impact to our results of operations and financial position. Sanctions imposed by the United States and other countries in response to military , including the one in Ukraine, may also impact the financial markets and the global economy, and any economic by the affected countries or others could market and economic . If credit in financial markets outside of the United States tightened, it could affect the ability of our international customers and suppliers to obtain financing and could result in a decrease in or of orders for our products, systems and services or impact the ability of our customers to make payments. In addition, global pandemics or other public health emergencies, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, have in the past and could in the future result in widespread , economic and extreme in the capital markets. These types of matters can cause uncertainty in financial markets and may significantly increase the political, economic and social in geographic areas in which we operate now or may operate in the future. The extent of the impact of these conditions on our operational and financial performance, including our ability to execute our business strategies and initiatives in the expected timeframe, as well as that of third parties upon whom we rely, will depend on future developments which are uncertain and cannot be predicted. There can be no assurance that further in credit and financial markets and confidence in economic conditions will not occur. Events involving limited liquidity, , non-performance or other developments that affect financial institutions, or or rumors about any events of these kinds or other similar risks, have in the past and may in the future lead to market-wide liquidity . Our general business strategy may be affected by any such economic , business environment or continued and market conditions. If the current equity and credit markets , it may make any necessary debt or equity financing more , more and more dilutive. to secure any necessary financing in a timely manner and on terms could have a material effect on our growth strategy, financial performance and stock price and could require us to or clinical development plans. In addition, there is a risk that one or more of our current suppliers or other partners may not survive an economic , which could directly affect our ability to our operating goals on schedule and on budget.
Our quarterly results of operations, revenues and cash flows may fluctuate from period to period due to a number of factors, which makes predicting financial results difficult.
We expect our quarterly results of operations to continue to fluctuate due to a number of factors, including as a result of supply chain issues, product introduction schedules, competitive products entering the market and the seasonality and uneven sales patterns of our OEM customers.
For example, we expect that a large portion of the Avionics segment’s OEM sales in the future will consist of sales of products to a customer operating in the eVTOL market. We are subject to changes in buying patterns among our OEM customers, including unpredictable circumstances such as failed certifications and delayed production schedules. Significant delays to the certification and production of the OEM aircraft could delay revenues to future years and may result in cancelled orders by the OEM’s customers, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition. As a result of these and other factors, quarter-to-quarter comparisons of our results of operations may not be reliable indicators of our future performance.
