American-Australian startup DroneShield announced the sale of its DroneGun tactical drone jammer to an undisclosed Middle Eastern country the company says is “closely allied with the Western countries.”
DroneShield officials cited terrorist fears – especially from ISIS—as a motive for the purchase. In January the terrorist group announced the formation of “Unmanned Aircraft of the Mujahideen,” an incendiary campaign deploying a fleet of weaponized drones that has already reportedly killed or injured Iraqi soldiers.
“We are glad to both be on the right side of the fight against terrorism and deliver commercial success to our shareholders,” said DroneShield’s Chairman Peter James.
A growing number of government agencies worldwide have already signed on with DroneShield. Last month, Swiss police deployed the DroneGun at the World Economic Forum in Davos to neutralize potentially rogue drones. The “gun” is a signal-killing device that can drop errant drones and block video signals from their cameras
DroneShield reports the deal is “the first reported sale of a tactical drone jammer product to a Middle Eastern government by any supplier.”
Company officials stressed the importance of DroneGun’s mobility, affordability (“in the tens of thousands of dollars rather than hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars”) as well as safety.
“[DroneGun] allows for safe handling of situations such as drones carrying an explosive or a biological agent, can be utilized against a number of drones at the same time, and does not require consumables, reloading time or maintenance.”
DroneShield deployed drone-mitigation tech at the 2015 and 2016 Boston Marathon; the company has been retained for this year’s race as well.
A recent study predicts the drone mitigation (or anti-drone) market will to grow to a billion-dollar industry within six years with predicted compound annual growth rate of 23.89 percent across 2017-22.
Jason is a longstanding contributor to DroneLife with an avid interest in all things tech. He focuses on anti-drone technologies and the public safety sector; police, fire, and search and rescue.
Beginning his career as a journalist in 1996, Jason has since written and edited thousands of engaging news articles, blog posts, press releases and online content.
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