Private military contractor and President Trump ally Erik Prince is growing his empire of security work with the launch of a startup that he says will help protect critical infrastructure such as data centers, energy installations and military bases from drone attacks.

Prince said Friday he has formed Vectus Air Defense Systems to provide companies, militaries and governments with the design and operation of customized air-defense systems. He's formed the company with Ukrainian drone software company Swarmer, which owns a 20% stake in the new startup.

"It's clear that the threat is evolving rapidly and the demand for a private-sector solution is very strong," said Prince, who is a former Navy SEAL. Vectus would reduce the cost of air-defense systems for governments and the private sector, he said.

The U.S.-based Vectus Air Defense Systems follows the launch of Vectus Global, Prince's new brand for a network of companies established to do security work in Latin America and across the world, The Wall Street Journal reported.

He sold his private security contracting company, Blackwater, in 2010. Blackwater gained notoriety during the U.S. war on terror when contractors working for the company shot dead more than a dozen unarmed Iraqi civilians in 2007. Trump pardoned the contractors who committed the shooting.

Prince has been a confidant and ally of the president and his advisers, the Journal has reported. Prince is the brother of former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, who served in Trump's first term.

Prince, who has had business interests in Ukraine since before the country's war with Russia began in 2022, became chairman of the board at Swarmer in December, shortly after meeting the company through one of its investors. Swarmer's software enables groups of drones to coordinate with each other in attacks and adapt to changing battlefield conditions. Its software has helped the Ukrainians advance AI-powered drone swarms to attack Russian positions.

Vectus and Swarmer said the air-defense designs will pull together software from Swarmer and technology from a range of other vendors, including providers of sensors, electronic warfare, drone interceptors, guns and cannons. Among the potential participants: Powerus, a drone company backed by the president's sons, Don Jr. and Eric Trump.

Powerus, which is expected to start publicly trading in October after completing a reverse merger with a Trump-backed golf course holding company, has a partnership with Swarmer. It also announced on Thursday a $22 million contract to provide counterdrone technology to oil and gas operators in the Middle East.

Vectus is focused on selling to customers in the Middle East, where Iranian drones have menaced critical infrastructure, including American military bases and data centers.

It will also aim to sell into Ukraine, where Russian strikes have caused massive damage in Kyiv amid a shortfall of interceptors, and other parts of Europe under threat from Russia. Ukraine has relied on American-supplied Patriot interceptor missiles, but the U.S. has used up much of its stockpile during the war with Iran.

"Militias are going to try to hit whatever causes the most damage. Those are the things that need protection. And in some cases the damage is financial," Alex Fink, Swarmer president and chief executive of its U.S. operations, which are based in Texas, said in an interview. "And in some cases the damage is more about perception. If it's a very remarkable site that's hit, then it's a symbolic victory for the enemy."

Fink declined to name customers and other investors in Vectus.