A Lindon-based counter-drone company landed one of the biggest federal contracts in Utah County history on Tuesday, Aug. 4, and the hiring wave that follows will ripple through the I-15 corridor from Lehi to Alpine.

The Department of Homeland Security selected Fortem Technologies as a prime contractor on a five-year counter-drone contract with a starting ceiling of $1.011 billion, the company announced Tuesday, Aug. 4. Fortem was the only small business among seven companies chosen for the deal's hardware and software track, beating out firms backed by Axon and Motorola Solutions.

CEO Jon Gruen told TechBuzz News he learned of the award on Thursday, July 30, the morning after appearing on a Utah defense tech panel in Salt Lake City hosted by The Salt Lake Tribune, JPMorgan Chase and the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute.

"We're the only true small business on there," Gruen said. "Those are multibillion-dollar corporations, obviously."

What it means locally

Fortem has already grown headcount roughly 60% in 2026, according to Gruen, and he expects that pace to continue as DHS task orders ramp up. The company's Lindon headquarters sits on I-15 about 10 miles south of Lehi and within easy commuting distance of Highland, Alpine and Cedar Hills.

The facility is already bursting. Fortem's landlord is adding roughly 15,000 square feet to the Lindon plant, a buildout expected to take about a year. In the meantime, the company is shifting shipping, receiving and component production to off-site facilities while keeping radar and DroneHunter interceptor manufacturing at the main building. Gruen said he is weighing second and third manufacturing shifts to run production closer to around the clock.

Flight testing tied to the expanded workload is taking place at Cedar Valley Airport on the west side of Utah County, roughly 20 miles from Lehi.

The contract

The deal is structured as an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract, meaning every DHS component can issue recurring purchase orders to Fortem over the five-year window rather than making a single buy. Customs and Border Protection, the Secret Service, the Coast Guard and the Federal Protective Service are all eligible to order Fortem's DroneHunter net-capture interceptors, TrueView radars and SkyDome command-and-control software.

Gruen said the Secret Service is likely among the first to place orders, citing "pent-up demand" from deployments at the presidential inauguration, the National Christmas Tree lighting, the Masters golf tournament and a recent UFC event.

Fortem's exclusive subcontractors on the award are Lockheed Martin, which invested $25 million in the company in April, and Microsoft, whose Azure cloud and AI tools underpin the system's software backbone.

Building momentum

The DHS contract caps roughly 18 months of federal wins for Fortem: selection under the Pentagon's Replicator-2 initiative, an $18 million three-year U.S. Army contract, and a protective role at 11 DHS-designated 2026 FIFA World Cup venues. Fortem is the only company authorized to deploy a drone-on-drone kinetic interceptor in U.S. airspace.

Gruen estimated current demand for Fortem's products at "approaching $100 million" over the next few years but cautioned the company lacks strong visibility into the actual number.

The 15,000-square-foot expansion is expected to be complete in about a year. Fortem has not publicly posted specific job titles or salary ranges for the expected new positions.