DroneShield, as Australian developer of counter-unmanned aircraft system (C-UAS) technology which last month announced funding from a U.S. investor, received an early Christmas gift last week, sharing that it won “an all-time record purchase order” worth about A$11 million (almost $7.4 million USD).
The company said in a statement that the order includes several different types of DroneShield counterdrone/C-UAS equipment. “A substantial part of the order is expected to be delivered shortly, with the remainder in late March 2023,” the statement said, adding, “$11 million corresponds to the combined value of both phases of the project. Payment for each batch is expected to be received within a month of each delivery. The proceeds are expected to be received across March and June 2023 quarters.”
“With this transformational next step in DroneShield’s growth, and as the counterdrone industry continues to rapidly grow, we look forward to rapidly fulfilling this contract,” said DroneShield CEO Oleg Vornik. “From the start of the company seven years ago, DroneShield has demonstrated a consistent progression, first by building and then refining its product suite along with global distributor network, then moving to customer demos, followed by initial smaller sales, repeat $1m+ sales, and now moving into $10m+ sales territory.”
The contract win comes after the company has spent the last two years scaling its operations and earning other contracts, including recent deals government deals in the U.S., Europe, and Australia.
Also last week, DroneShield said it successfully completed the Counter Uncrewed Aerial Systems Sandbox 2022 exercise in Alberta, Canada, which was led by the Canadian Joint Operations Command (CJOC), coordinating with the Canadian Army, Royal Canadian Navy (RCN), Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF), and Canadian Special Operations Forces Command (CANSOFCOM). The exercise represented a blending of requirements and characteristics of interest to one or more of the services, as well as the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). The US Department of Defense’s Irregular Warfare Technical Support Directorate (IWTSD) has also participated in the CUAS 2022 Sandbox as an official Application Evaluator and Observer, giving international exposure, expertise, and feedback to the participants, according to DroneShield.
DroneShield last month announced a $2.5 million USD investment from Epirus, a Torrance, California-based C-UAS company. Other drone companies that have been in the news lately include Dedrone, which announced a partnership with Axis, and Draganfly, which announced a new shipment of drones to Ukraine for humanitarian applications.