DroneShield (ASX: DRO) has received a package of five separate contracts totalling $32.2 million from an undisclosed in-country reseller for delivery to a military end customer in the Asia-Pacific.
The reseller is a wholly owned subsidiary of a multi-billion-dollar global publicly listed customer contractually required to distribute the products to a major military government department.
Under the terms of the contract, DroneShield will supply vehicle-mounted and fixed Counter-UxS (counterdrone) systems to the reseller and expects to make delivery of all equipment through the second and third quarters of this year.
DroneShield chief executive officer Oleg Vornik said demand had been growing for the company’s artificial intelligence (AI)-based platforms for protection against advanced threats such as drones and autonomous systems.
“DroneShield products are again meeting the challenge set by our sophisticated customer and a close military ally of Australia in the Asia-Pacific region,” he said.
“The scale and frequency of orders for our equipment have been increasing as leading counterdrone customers are moving from testing hardware to broader roll-outs and we are rapidly expanding all aspects of our business to meet this demand across multiple regions.”
DroneShield announced in January that it had received seven other standalone contracts worth $12.3m from the reseller for the same end customer.
DroneShield conducted a $75m capital raising exercise a year ago designed to build up its long-term inventory for high-quality customer opportunities.
The company earmarked approximately $57.5m of this for equipment including handheld detection and defeat systems (such as RfPatrol Mk2, DroneGun Mk4 and DroneGun Tactical), on-the-move systems (DroneSentry-X Mk2) and fixed-site systems (RfOne and DroneCannon, which are components of DroneSentry).
DroneShield also planned to spend $7.5m of the proceeds on research and development activities including an investment in AI and machine learning for enhanced detection, identification and response to unmanned aerial system threats.
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