DroneShield secures its largest counter drone arms deal

Counter drone technology provider DroneShield (ASX: DRO) has set a world record with the largest sale of drone mitigation equipment in history.

DroneShield has secured an order for 70 units of its DroneGun tactical jammer by an as-yet-unnamed “major Middle Eastern country allied with Western governments”, with the identity of the country remaining a mystery, potentially for security reasons.

“We believe that this is a company-making sale and a gamechanger for DroneShield,” said Oleg Vornik, CEO of DroneShield.

The counter drone company said that the order is worth $3.2 million and was secured through local distributor Zariba Security, an Ottawa-based company founded by a group of British and Canadian “security and intelligence professionals” in 2003.

According to DroneShield, its first multimillion sale represents the largest order for tactical drone mitigation equipment of this kind in the history of the industry.

The deal is significant because drone detection and drone mitigation remain embryonic industries that have developed very recently on the back of growing use of drones.

As drones have become more widely adopted, their use has led to increasing amounts of problematic consequences for various parties, both in conflict zones around the world and in civilian areas such as airports and major transportation hubs.

The US army and its band of allies have repeatedly been dogged by drone activity across several of its bases in the Middle-East in countries such as Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Saudi Arabia.

Drones are being deployed by various parties because of their ability to record high-resolution video and deliver payloads without being detected.

Several groups in the Middle-East have turned to drones as an effective means to counter the occupations being conducted by the United States and her allies such as the UK and Israel.

Although DroneShield’s record deal has been formally agreed, it must still be approved by US regulators overseeing defence exports. DroneShield says it expects to receive approval, in the next two months.

However, there is still a chance of the deal being scrapped if the US decides it is against its national interest, although this is highly unlikely considering that the buyer is currently allied to ongoing Western influence in the Middle-East.

Flying into trouble

Whereas consumers see drones as an enjoyable past-time that can record breath-taking aerial footage, other groups have been using drones for guerrilla purposes in a bid to ward off foreign threats as well as to collect reconnaissance about standing armies camped within their borders.

Western armies in the Middle-East are encountering greater use of drones in opposition to their activities – adopted as effective tools to ward off US domination of the region. Furthermore, drones provide an excellent reconnaissance tool, making it more difficult for large bases and outdoor activities from being kept secret.

DroneShield’s $3.2 million order comes against the backdrop of significantly intensified nefarious drone activity in the Middle East, including dozens of drone attacks in this year alone.

Both Israel and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are both reportedly detecting increasing amounts of drones which both countries are attributing to Iran. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia is encountering drone activity aimed at detecting activities at several of its royal palaces.

In Yemen, Houthi loyalists fighting against imperialism and Zionism have turned to drones to disrupt activity at Saudi Aramco’s numerous facilities in the country.

Saudi Aramco is Saudi Arabia’s state-backed oil producer and currently the world’s largest oil and gas company with revenues of around US$500 billion per year.

Back in 2015, Saudi Arabia launched a military intervention into Yemen aimed at asserting its geopolitical and commercial dominance in the region including securing key oil and gas supply routes.

Drone fightback

Freedom fighters, guerrilla fighters and amateur drone operators are being targeted by various governments in the Middle-East, as a means of stifling dissent and rebellion against the establishment and government operations in the region.

As a result of the growing number of drone incidents, defence ministries across the Middle-East are waking up to the potential problems and are looking to solve them before their established operations are damaged even further and their geopolitical and commercial dominance is weakened by drone activity.

“We view this order as just a start of our relationship with the Ministry of Defence and expect to receive substantial (and substantially larger) additional orders for this product and other products of the Company and for other ministries and agencies in-country and elsewhere in the region,” said Mr Vornik.

DroneShield shares were up 17% in early morning trade at $0.21 per share on the back of its record deal.