Another Strawman favourite also made the AFR Fast Global List with an article included in todays AFR
https://www.afr.com/technology/why-the-ceo-of-droneshield-is-studying-flight-paths-20230523-p5danz
Oleg Vornik, the chief executive of DroneShield, is extra careful about which airlines he chooses to fly with after his name appeared on Vladimir Putin’s naughty list for supplying counter-drone technology to Ukraine.
Speaking to The Australian Financial Review from Turkey, the chief executive says he chose not to fly with a particular airline on his most recent trip abroad because the route skirted Russia’s southern border.
The chief executive, whose family migrated from Russia to New Zealand when he was 15, was wary after a Belarusian activist was detained in 2021 when his flight was forced down while passing Belarussian airspace.
“I don’t want the same thing repeating [for] me. So, I was like, all right, I guess I’m flying with Singapore Airlines instead to make sure I’m not flying over Russian space,” Vornik says.
The rise in geopolitical tensions complicating Vornik’s travel plans has also provided a serious boost to the drone detection and security software group’s international revenue, which has grown from $3.8 million in international revenue in FY20 to $14.4 million in FY22, according to The Australian Financial Review’s Fast Global list.
DroneShield has been providing its counter-drone technology to Ukraine since the start of the war with Russia and in December 2022 and January 2023, the business won two separate $11 million contracts with US and European government agencies.
Its share price is up almost 26 per cent so far this year and while not yet profitable, the $175 million company is forecasting a strong result in fiscal year 2023 with $22.5 million of orders under contract so far this financial year.
DroneShield was founded in Virginia by two US scientists in 2014 and moved its headquarters to Sydney to coincide with its ASX listing in 2016.
Back in those days, Vornik says DroneShield’s biggest challenge was convincing potential customers that drones would cause a threat that would justify investing in the hardware and software solutions that detect and disable drones used for nefarious purposes.
Its first big customer came from Saudi Arabia, who wanted a way to stop Houthi rebels in Yemen from deliberately crashing small drones into their oil facilities, Vornik says.
The South Korean army’s drones fly during South Korea-US joint military drills earlier this year.
The chief executive says the extensive use of drones by both sides in the Ukraine war has “opened the eyes of defence customers around the world” that both drone and counter-drone equipment will be necessary in future conflicts.
“In military thinking, you have to fight the next war, not the last war,” he says.
“We see the US in particular, but also dozens of other countries around the world, continuing to stock up on both drones and counter-drone kit.”
That kit includes the DroneGun Mk3s, a two-kilogram pistol that neutralises an attacking drone by sending a powerful signal to the drone which forces it to land on the ground, at which point it can be captured and forensics extracted from it.
The ASX-listed company raised $40 million from shareholders this year to secure the inventory and staff needed to make sure it can deliver big contracts to customers quickly.
“When customers come to us asking for counter-drone equipment, they have a pressing, urgent problem that they cannot wait for six months to receive delivery,” Vornik says.
