Inside the Aussie company preventing drone attacks worldwide

Based in Sydney and listed on the ASX, DroneShield's products are essentially countermeasures which disable flying drones by using radio frequency sensor detection and jamming technology.

DroneShield is being used around the world in warfare situations, as well as by governments protecting critical infrastructure such as airports and major events including the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games and the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympics.

The company's technology also defends against drones which attempt to smuggle contraband into prisons, a growing problem worldwide.

As the use of drones continues to explode, DroneShield CEO Oleg Vornik says Australia is the perfect place for his company to continue developing its product, protecting against those who would use drones for the wrong reasons.

Deployment of the DroneSentry

"I think in terms of capital structure, the ASX is a fantastic exchange for allowing young companies like ourselves to list and raise capital to invest money in developing breakthrough drone security tech," says Vornik.

"In the United States for example, the only way to really finance these kinds of ventures is through private equity. In Australia private equity is also around, but that ASX financing angle is certainly allowing us to drive these technologies.

"Australia also has a great pool of engineering talent that we are utilising so that combination of tech, talent and availability of funding really allows us to drive the business."

Vornik says a major milestone for the company came when DroneShield tech was used by Texas law enforcers, including the Fort Worth Police Department and Texas Rangers, to protect the 2018 NASCAR Cup Series at the Texas Motor Speedway.

It was the first time that all three of the company's major product groups DroneGun, DroneSentry and DroneSentinel were deployed together at a major event.

"While we have had deployments at large events in the past, for example the Winter Olympics and the Commonwealth Games, this was the first time all three of our product groups were deployed together," says Vornik.

According to DroneShield, monitoring of drone activity at high-profile mass events has become a critical concern of modern event management, on par with perimeter access control and participant credentialing.

French president Emmanuel Macron with the DroneGun

Vornik says that while DroneShield's key markets are currently in Australia and the US, his company maintains a global focus.

"The US certainly has enormous opportunity in terms of the size of the market, but today we're in 50 countries and we see large opportunity across the globe," he says.

"We released an image about a month ago of the French president Emmanuel Macron reviewing our latest drone gun product and we're making good headway in Europe on the whole.

"While yes, we are Australian headquartered and listed on the ASX with a substantial presence in the US, we very much see ourselves as a global business."