XTEND drones: $1.5B Nasdaq listing from Tampa. StemRad: NASA Artemis radiation vests from Tampa. Both FIBA portfolio companies. The defense layer of the Florida–Israel corridor.
Two Israeli defense technology companies — XTEND and StemRad — now operate from Tampa, Florida. One builds AI-driven autonomous drones for the U.S. Department of Defense and the Israel Defense Forces. The other co-developed a radiation protection vest with Lockheed Martin for NASA's Artemis deep-space program. Both came through the Florida-Israel Business Accelerator. Both chose Tampa over every other American city. Together, they represent the defense and dual-use layer of the Florida–Israel corridor — and the reason the corridor is more than a real estate story.
XTEND: From Israeli Garage to $1.5 Billion Nasdaq Listing
XTEND was founded in 2018 by Aviv Shapira, Matteo Shapira, Rubi Liani, and Adir Tubi. The company builds human-guided autonomous machine systems — small tactical drones controlled via a portable VR headset and gesture-based handheld controller. The operator sees what the drone sees and guides it with hand movements. The system is designed for close-quarters defense applications where autonomous navigation alone isn't enough — indoor environments, urban terrain, tunnels.
XTEND's biggest client is the U.S. Department of Defense. In November 2020, the company secured an $8.8 million DoD contract. Its systems are also deployed by the Israel Defense Forces — hundreds of XTEND units were used in the Gaza operations following October 2023 — and by the armed forces of Singapore, the UK, and multiple European countries.
In February 2026, XTEND announced a $1.5 billion Nasdaq listing via an all-stock merger with JFB Construction Holdings, a Florida-based SPAC. The merger is backed by a $152 million strategic investment from investors including Eric Trump, Protego Ventures (the Israeli defense-tech fund that led XTEND's previous round), Unusual Machines (whose advisory board includes Donald Trump Jr.), Aliya Capital (Miami-based), and Agostinelli Group. Upon closing — expected mid-2026 — the combined entity will be renamed XTEND AI Robotics and trade on Nasdaq under the ticker XTND. XTEND shareholders will own approximately 70% of the merged company.
The Tampa production facility is the deal's strategic anchor. The merger announcement emphasized NDAA-compliant, U.S.-made domestic production capacity at XTEND's Tampa facility — a requirement for selling to the Pentagon and NATO allies. Israeli-designed, American-manufactured, Florida-assembled. That is the dual-use thesis in one sentence.
StemRad: Protecting Astronauts From Tampa
StemRad was founded in 2011, months after the Fukushima nuclear disaster, by Dr. Oren Milstein. Milstein, who holds a PhD in biology and immunology, had spent years studying radiation's effects on living tissue. Fukushima was the catalyst. The founding insight: you don't need to shield the whole body from gamma radiation. You need to protect the organs most sensitive to it — bone marrow in the hip and vertebrae, the gastrointestinal system. Selective shielding at a wearable weight.
StemRad's first customer was the Israel Atomic Energy Commission. The company then expanded to nuclear industry workers, radiological first responders (the 360 Gamma product line), and military forces. But the marquee partnership is space. StemRad's AstroRad vest, co-developed with Lockheed Martin and supported by the Israel Space Agency and the German Space Agency (DLR), was tested aboard NASA's Artemis I mission — the first uncrewed flight of the Space Launch System and Orion spacecraft. The vest is manifested for Artemis II, expected within months, which will be the first crewed flight beyond low Earth orbit since Apollo 17 in 1972.
In November 2022, while Artemis I was orbiting the Moon, Milstein and retired astronaut Scott Kelly traveled to Ukraine to deliver 60 StemRad shields to emergency responders. One was given directly to President Zelensky, who has traveled with it since — including to the battlefield.
StemRad's U.S. subsidiary operates from Tampa, originally inside the Bryan Glazer Family JCC (alongside FIBA) and now at the Embarc Collective innovation hub. The company is a FIBA portfolio company. StemRad MD, the newest product line, extends the selective-shielding approach to physicians exposed to fluoroscopic radiation during medical procedures.
The Dual-Use Corridor: Why Tampa
Tampa is home to MacDill Air Force Base and the headquarters of U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) and U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM) — two of the most operationally active unified combatant commands in the American military. For Israeli defense technology companies seeking U.S. government contracts, proximity to CENTCOM and SOCOM matters. It shortens the sales cycle, eases classified-environment requirements, and puts the company's engineers within driving distance of the operators who test and deploy their systems.
FIBA's location in Tampa — and its relationships with FloridaCommerce, Select Florida, and the Hillsborough County economic development apparatus — created the institutional pathway. XTEND and StemRad didn't discover Tampa on their own. They were placed there by an accelerator that understood the defense customer's geography.
The result is a defense-tech micro-cluster forming in Tampa alongside the better-known capital and real estate corridors in Miami and Palm Beach. Israeli-designed drones manufactured in Tampa for the Pentagon. Israeli-designed radiation vests tested on NASA missions from a Tampa office. The corridor's defense layer is small — but its customers are the largest in the world.
This article is part of Olam's Florida–Israel section — ongoing reporting and research on the capital, companies, and community building the Florida–Israel corridor.
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- The Florida-Israel Business Accelerator
Olam and 5W AI Communications share common ownership. Olam reports independently on the Israeli economy, including on research produced by 5W. Editorial decisions are made by Olam's editorial team.
Ronn Torossian is the founder and chairman of 5W AI Communications, the AI Communications Firm. He is the publisher of Everything-PR and the author of two best-selling editions of For Immediate Release.
