Safe Pro Group Inc. (SPAI) shares jumped 20.74% in after-hours trading on Wednesday to $3.9, giving investors something to smile about after a rough regular session that saw the stock close at $3.23, down 5.28%.
The catalyst? The Florida-based company filed a patent application for AI-powered computer vision technology designed to spot small explosive threats in drone-based video and imagery. It's the kind of technology that sounds like science fiction but is increasingly becoming standard equipment in modern defense operations.
How the Technology Works
The patent application, titled "Object Detection Precision Enhancement Methods, Tools and Systems," describes methods to improve detection precision and accuracy for small objects captured in drone imagery. Think of it as giving drones the ability to spot dangerous items that human analysts might miss when scrolling through thousands of aerial photos.
According to Safe Pro, this enhanced approach has demonstrated improved effectiveness in large-scale operations that require rapid processing of huge volumes of data. When you're dealing with threat detection, speed and accuracy aren't just nice features—they're critical requirements.
Proving Ground at U.S. Army Events
The company isn't just filing paperwork and calling it a day. Safe Pro will showcase its capabilities at the 2026 Concept Focused Warfighter Experiment (CFWE), Live Breach event and CFWE Maneuver technology demonstration. These are the venues where defense technology companies get to show whether their innovations actually work in real-world military scenarios.
"Our AI team continues to rapidly enhance our unique AI-powered computer vision technology, greatly improving the accuracy of threat detection," said Dan Erdberg, chairman of Safe Pro Group Inc.
Building an Intellectual Property Fortress
Safe Pro's intellectual property portfolio already includes U.S. patents with 21 claims covering the autonomous detection, identification and labeling of explosives in orthomosaic images using AI processing of drone imagery. That patent remains valid through 2043, giving the company two decades of protection.
The company isn't stopping at U.S. borders, either. It has filed international applications across 47 jurisdictions, including Europe, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Israel and Ukraine. That's a smart move for a technology with obvious global defense applications.
The real proof of concept comes from the numbers: Safe Pro's SpotlightAI technology has analyzed over 2.2 million drone images, identifying more than 41,400 threats across 11,400 hectares. That's not a prototype in a lab—it's a working system processing massive amounts of real data.
The Stock's Rocky Year
Despite Wednesday's after-hours pop, Safe Pro has had a challenging year. The stock is down 14.78% over the past 12 months, reflecting what's been a persistent bearish trend. With a market capitalization of $67.74 million, the company operates in that interesting space where it's substantial enough to have real operations but small enough that individual news items can move the stock significantly.
The 52-week trading range tells the volatility story: between $1.47 and $9.16. Currently trading at about 22.7% of that range, the stock sits much closer to its lows than its highs, suggesting investors remain cautious unless momentum improves.
The technical picture shows short and medium-term consolidation alongside long-term upward movement—basically, the stock has been treading water recently while maintaining a longer-term positive trajectory. Whether this patent application provides the catalyst for a sustained move higher remains to be seen, but it's certainly given after-hours traders something to get excited about.