Missile company Covenant, founded in the US by entrepreneur Michael Kaufman, with centers of activity in Israel and Germany, has emerged from stealth. The defense company has unveiled long-range weapons systems, agreements with the US military, a new factory in Dallas and a total of $250 million in funding from investors in defense giants such as Palantir, Anduril and Kela.
After a number of intriguing trials that demonstrated the company's activities, Covenant has unveiled a "long-range, heavy payload weapon system called Anthem, which, according to industry estimates, can make up the depleted inventory and slow production rates of long-range missiles in the West - such as the US Tomahawk missiles and the Franco-British Storm Shadow missiles - a stock that has been depleted following the wars in Iran and Ukraine.
According to the company, Anthem has been developed because of "the rapid depletion of long-range precision missiles in recent conflicts, which are being consumed at a faster rate than the defense industries can renew them. Large-scale production is intended to allow for the maintenance of an available stock even during a prolonged conflict."
According to estimates, this is a long-range missile that can be mass-produced in the thousands per year and at an estimated cost of several hundred thousand dollars per unit.
Covenant says the weapon system is designed to be produced and operated on a large scale and includes solutions for storage, transport, launch and reloading; as well as software that enables mission planning and management; and command and control to coordinate large-scale launches in a more cost-effective manner than existing infrastructures - in troops and money.
"Most of Anthem's parts are commercially available items, and for additional key components, Covenant has secured supply through long-term agreements. "Production relies on suppliers in several countries, to enable continuous production on a large scale and maintain system availability even in wartime," the company said.
Total fundraising of $250 million
Covenant also announced over $250 million in funding across three rounds led by Andreessen Horowitz, Founders Fund, Lux, 8VC, Aleph and Lightspeed.
After about 200 flights conducted by Anthem since 2025 as part of various trials - including with the US military - the company is inaugurating a new factory in Dallas, Texas covering 10,000 square meters, which can be added to another factory that the company operates in Saxony, Germany, on a similar area, alongside an R&D and manufacturing facility in Israel that covers 3,000 square meters.
Covenant promises to reach a production rate of 5,000 Anthem units per year in the long term at the new factory in Dallas, and revealed that it has so far an orders backlog and contracts worth $150 million, and that it is expected to receive additional orders by the end of the year.
The company is operating under an agreement with the US Army to accelerate the testing and certification process of the system. Covenant signed a contract with the US Navy worth $70 million to develop a naval version of Anthem and adapt the system for export to additional countries. The company is hiring in the US, Germany and Israel, to expand development, production and program management teams in the three countries.
"Maintaining deterrence"
According to "Defense News," the shortage of long-range cruise missiles following the Iran war led the US Department of Defense to establish the GBAM program to establish production and operational systems for guided and autonomous surface-to-surface missiles at a cost of less than $250,000 per unit, which would be ready for demonstration within three months and could enter full production within a year and a half. In addition, the Pentagon launched a program called FAMM to launch cruise missiles from aircraft. Covenant did not respond to the question of whether it would take part in these programs.
Covenant CEO Michael Kaufman said, "When you look at our adversaries, you see thousands of hardened targets, beyond the range of current capabilities. Anthem was built to credibly hold those targets at risk in a prolonged conflict. If our stockpiles run thin, so does our deterrence."
"In the first Replicator Initiative, we focused the Pentagon on moving fast to scale delivery of small, inexpensive autonomous systems," said Kathleen Hicks, former U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense and advisor to Covenant. "That same focus is needed to drive production and delivery of affordable capabilities at higher ranges and larger payloads. Covenant has built Anthem in direct alignment with Replicator's principles."
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on September 8, 2026.
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