In the land far away where it would be un-democratic to disallow teenagers to purchase guns and assault weapons, the nation is doubling down and increasing their layer of protection to now include airborne firearms through a major purchase from counter-defence company DroneShield (ASX: DRO). 

The $1.8 million purchase comes from the US Department of Defence (DoD) which has specifically engaged DroneShield for its DroneGun MKIII – a handheld counterdrone system. It comes after an evaluation of the defence weapons by the DoD’s Joint Counter-small Unmanned Aircraft Systems Office (JCO). 

“As the threat of UAS continues to seemingly adapt in real-time, countermeasures need to be both effective and flexible,” said US CEO of DroneShield, Matt McCrann. 

“DroneGun MKIII is that lightweight, flexible countermeasure that can go anywhere and serve as the ideal gap fill capability to protect personnel and assets wherever they might need to operate.” 

The purchase is the single largest contract won in the US to date by DroneShield where its DroneSentry are already deployed at undisclosed US airports as a means to protect airspace from drones. Famously, Gatwick Airport in the UK was shut down for three days when an unidentified drone was found within the airport’s airspace before two neighbouring civilians were arrested for the incident which was not deemed an act of terrorism. 

For the half year ended 30 June 2022, DroneShield reported $3.7m in revenue which was a 45% decline on the previous year. The company is still recovering from effects of the pandemic where manufacturing and supply chain facilities were shut down, but is on the mend as evidenced by this new DoD contract. 

Going forward, DroneShield says they have a potential sales pipeline of $125 million for the remainder of 2022 and in discussions with clients that boast a pipeline of $230 million in potential sales in 2023. 

DroneShield estimates that the addressable market for their counterdrone products is upwards of USD $10 billion per annum based on the application of their technology across  defence and armed forces, government facilities, airports, law enforcement, shipping and infrastructure sites.