ASX small cap DroneShield (ASX:DRO) revealed today that it had won a competitive tender to serve the European Union Police Force — news that sent shares up as much as almost 81 per cent.

DroneShield’s DroneGun Tactical solution can take control of independent drones and interrupt video transmissions to operators without destroying the drones, which can aid investigations by authorities.

“This is the first framework rollout of counter-drone equipment by any government customer, anywhere in the world,” CEO Oleg Vornik said.

“This win of the competitive tender illustrates that security is at the forefront of governments globally as well as the fact that, after a brief interruption caused by the COVID crisis, global procurement processes have resumed.”

 

Doing business globally is still possible

The win comes despite restrictions on cross border travel. While rumours are circulating that Trans-Tasman travel will be allowed within weeks, trips to Europe still appear some time off yet.

Qantas (ASX:QAN) CEO Alan Joyce said earlier this week flights to Europe could be off the cards until “well into 2021”.

But DroneShield’s boss believes his company can cope with a period of physical isolation from Europe.

Vornik told Stockhead DroneShield’s partners on the ground would do anything that he couldn’t and it helped that the defence and security business remained essential in these times.

“DroneShield has a network of about 150 local partners in around 100 countries globally, including our Benelux partner,” he said.

“For our line of business (defence and security), this sort of network is required whether in COVID times or not, as the customer needs a permanent on-the-ground contact who can speak their language and relate to them culturally, be in same timezone, be able to organise local training and setup.

“This allows us to focus on what we do best — product development. Today, we operate in three countries — Australia, US and UK — through our own on-the-ground teams and lean on partners elsewhere for sales in those other countries.”

Featured Companies

You might be interested in