DroneShield Scores $3M deal in Undisclosed Middle Eastern Nation

Australian counter-drone firm DroneShield just scored a huge deal with a major Middle Eastern nation to provide UAV mitigation solutions.

The company received a $3.2 million order of 70 DroneGuns – an anti-drone “gun” that discharges radio signals that can take control of a rogue drone, deliver it to the gun user and disable video capabilities.

For DroneShield, the order – from an undisclosed “major Middle Eastern country allied with the Western governments” — represents the largest ever for the company and its first multi-million-dollar order. A company statement says the order is the “largest known order of its kind in the industry to date, globally.

“We view this order as just a start of our relationship with the [undisclosed nation’s defense ministry] and expect to receive substantial — and substantially larger — additional orders for this product and other products of the company for [the nation],” DroneShield CEO Oleg Vorna said.

He added:

“This sale, the largest ever in the industry for this kind of equipment, establishes DroneShield as the leader in the industry, globally, and places DroneShield well ahead of its competitors in the global anti-drone industry ‘land grab.’ A large order by one of the most sophisticated users of security and defense equipment in the world validates the quality, effectiveness and competitiveness of our products.”

Vornik added the company has dozens of potential contracts in the pipeline ranging from tens of thousands to tens of millions of dollars.

Although the company will not disclose the Middle Eastern buyer, nations with ties to Western allies include Israel, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Kuwait.

Currently, DroneShield provides detection coverage for the Boston Marathon. The company also scored a major European victory last year, protecting the Davos Economic Forum in Switzerland.

DroneShield also manufactures DroneSentinel and DroneSentry.

• DroneSentinel is a multi-prone detection product designed to locate rogue drones. The solution is aimed at customers unable to deploy jamming because of regulatory or operational restrictions.
• DroneSentry detects and neutralizes unmanned aerial bandits using jamming technology. The product is geared toward foreign clients – the product has not been authorized by the FCC and may not be sold or leased in the U.S. because it jams radio signals.

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 2018-22.