About DroneShield
DroneShield (ASX:DRO) is an Australian/U.S. publicly listed company focusing on RF sensing, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, Sensor Fusion, Electronic Warfare, Rapid Prototyping and MIL-SPEC manufacturing.
Our capabilities are used to protect Military, Government, Law Enforcement, Critical Infrastructure, Commercial and VIPs throughout the world.
Through our team of engineers we offer customers bespoke solutions and off-the-shelf products designed to suit a variety of terrestrial, maritime or airborne platforms.
Leadership Team
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Oleg Vornik
CEO & Managing Director
Oleg is an experienced senior executive with successful track record of rapid business scale up, including IPO and subsequent growth of the DroneShield teams in Australia, and the U.S., and presence in over 100 countries. Through that time, he fostered organic deep technology development, through to mass deployment of the solutions around the world in the homeland security, intelligence community and military segments.
Prior to DroneShield, Oleg’s career spanned across Deutsche Bank, Royal Bank of Canada, Brookfield and ABN AMRO.
Oleg has a Bachelor of Science (Mathematics) from Canterbury University and completed a Columbia University business program.
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Matt McCrann
CEO, DroneShield (USA)
Matt is an experienced business development executive, having successfully built and led business units delivering innovative technology to government and enterprise end users worldwide. Matt joined DroneShield in 2019 and is responsible for the growth and scaling of its U.S. organization.
Prior to DroneShield, Matt held leadership positions at rapid growth scale-ups, successfully building business units serving the Defense and Intelligence markets. His career experience includes management level roles across engineering, operations, and sales functions at high growth businesses.
Matt is a veteran of the United States Navy and served as an Intelligence Operator and Analyst and a member of NSA/CSS’s Cryptologic Direct Support Element.
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Angus Bean
Chief Technology Officer
Angus merges the various fields of mechanical hardware, electronics, software, digital interface and technology. He brings a wealth of knowledge in product development, team leadership and technical innovation strategy.
Angus joined DroneShield early in 2016, since then has been a driving force in DroneShield’s technology team, working to build the team and the technology to deliver on key projects and milestones.
Over his career, Angus has adopted both a collaborative and leadership role on a number of projects which have attracted multiple Australian and International Awards in Innovation, Consumer Electronics, Defence and Cyber Security.
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Carla Balanco
CFO & Joint Company Secretary
Carla is a member of Chartered Accountants Australia & New Zealand (CA ANZ). She holds an Honours in Accounting from the University of Johannesburg and an Honours in Accounting Science from the University of South Africa.
Carla started her career working for Chartered firms Crowe Horwath and HLB Mann Judd in the audit division. She moved on from Chartered to gain experience working in Commercial and Business Development roles.
Since joining DroneShield in 2018, she has spearheaded improvements to critical systems and internal controls and has been instrumental in scaling the Company’s financial management systems. Today, as CFO and Company Secretary, Carla oversees statutory reporting, management reporting, payroll, treasury, administration, and compliance for the global DroneShield Group of companies.
Carla was selected as a finalist in the 2021 ADM’s Women in Defence Awards and 2020 Australian Defence Industry Awards.
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Paul Cenoz
General Counsel & Joint Company Secretary
Paul joined DroneShield in 2023 as Legal Counsel. He is admitted to practice law in California and New South Wales. He brings his experience working on multi-jurisdictional matters with technology businesses.
Prior to DroneShield, Paul held executive roles at high growth scale-ups, successfully building businesses in the US and Australia. He was COO and General Counsel of OSINT Combine in Sydney. Before moving to Australia, Paul co-founded and was COO and General Counsel of Morning Consult in Washington, DC.
Paul’s prior legal experience includes MurdockCheng Legal Practice, a Sydney based boutique law firm, and Cox Wootton Lerner, a maritime litigation firm in Los Angeles, California.
Paul has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Southern California and Juris Doctor degrees from Monash University and American University Washington College of Law.
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Carl Norman
Vice President, Embedded Systems
Carl has over 25 years of experience in electronic product design, development, manufacturing and project management.
He has a strong background in design and development of embedded RF products, covering ISM band RF, analogue design, embedded system design, high speed digital design coupled with a hands on project management, delivering products to the Communication, Security and Industrial sectors around the world.
Carl carries the experience required to meet the fast paced timelines of delivering commercially viable products to market. Carl has studied Electronics Engineering at TAFE NSW.
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Tom Branstetter
Director of Business Development (USA)
Tom is a U.S. Navy veteran and former Navy SEAL. Upon separation from active duty in 2010, he began work as a high-threat protective officer for the U.S. government.
Tom now serves as the Director of Business Development for DroneShield’s U.S. operations focusing on overall growth across DoD and other federal agencies. Tom’s responsibilities include identifying and developing new business opportunities as well as expanding brand presence. Additional areas of focus include leading cross-functional teams and managing existing partnerships.
Tom holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Entrepreneurship. He and his family reside in Northern Virginia.
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Red McClintock
Director
Red is a Business Development Manager with a military technical background. He served 23 years as an officer in the Royal Australian Navy including operational deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan and served in 7 different classes of warships. During his time with the Navy, Red evaluated, acquired, and operated numerous capabilities including Command and Control, Electronic Warfare and Hard-Kill options. He has a broad military experience spanning operational, technical, acquisition and sustainment roles – from this he recognises that the needs of frontline operators should be fundamental to all systems (although lamentably this is not always the case).
Prior to joining DroneShield, Red worked for five years with BAE Systems as a Business Development and Account Manager. Over this period, he was a key individual in the successful “Hunter Class” future frigate bid ($35b), following this with roles in the Electronic Warfare and Geospatial Intelligence domains. He is a staunch believer in Australian Industry and seeks to grow SMEs wherever he sees a good opportunity.
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Lawrence Marychurch
Vice President, Design
Lawrence is an experienced Industrial Designer and has been with DroneShield since early 2018. With a deep involvement in product development, manufacturing and QA, Lawrence is involved at every stage of the product lifecycle. He works closely with RF, electrical and software engineers to deliver innovative counter-drone products. Lawrence manages a large portfolio of suppliers in Australia and abroad regularly visiting their facilities and runs DroneShield’s manufacturing facility in Sydney.
Lawrence holds a BDesign in Integrated Product Design from the University of Technology, Sydney.
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Raffael Blattner
Operations Manager
Raffael has over 15 years of experience in Manufacturing and Operations Management backed by a strong educational foundation in Engineering and Project Management.
Raffael started at DroneShield in 2023 as an Operations Manager. Prior to DroneShield he held Management positions in deep-tech start-ups as well as corporate organisations delivering products and projects into the automotive, telecommunications and industrial market. Raffael has a wealth of experience developing and improving operational processes in a fast-paced scale-up environment.
Raffael holds an Engineering qualification in Mechatronics and Project Management from a Swiss Advanced Business School for Engineers.
Our Story
DroneShield commenced operations in 2014 in Virginia, USA. In 2016, we listed on the ASX, and the business became substantially Australian owned over the recent years, with approximately 8000 shareholders (we do not have a strategic/controlling shareholder). The team today is split between Sydney and Virginia, as our two
home markets.
In addition, we maintain a vibrant community of in-country partners in over 120 countries around the world. As the pioneer in the counterdrone market globally, we have rapidly grown with that sector as it continues to evolve. Along the way, DroneShield has expanded into adjacent areas such as Electronic Warfare and Signals Intelligence (SIGINT).
January
DroneShield LLC Incorporated
February
First Acoustic Sensor Sold
September
DroneShield Limited incorporated
June
DroneShield Limited IPO
November
DroneGun Mk1 launched
January
DroneGun deployed by Swiss Police to protect World Economic Forum in Davos
April
DroneShield to be Deployed at Boston Marathon for Third Year
June
DroneGun successfully passes French Army safety certifications
July
DroneSentry and DroneSentinel launched
September
DroneGun Mk2 launched
October
First DroneSentinel demo
$2.32m capital raise
February
DroneGun Tactical launched
DroneShield equipment deployed at 2018 Olympic Games in South Korea
June
$3.2m Order with Saudi MoD
August
DroneShield accepted on GSA schedule
October
DroneNode launched
November
DroneShield participates in British Army Autonomous Warrior Exercise
$1.7m capital raise
December
Teaming Agreement with Thales
April
RfPatrol launched
July
DroneGun Mk3 launched
August
RfZero Launched
$9.55m capital raise
September
Partnership with British Telecom
October
Australian DoD purchases RfPatrol
November
DroneSentry-X launched
DroneShield protects 30th SEA Games in Philippines
April
RfPatrol Mk2 launched
July
USAF Grand Forks order received
September
US AFRL C2 Funding
$17m capital raise
October
DroneGun Tactical $900k order
November
Electronic warfare contract
December
Altenrhein Airport (Switzerland) deployment
Move to the present larger Sydney office
January
EU Police Framework Agreement Signed
February
Next Gen Artificial Intelligence Software Rollout
March
Multiple Sentry-X orders
2x $1m repeat US Agency Orders
April
US Law Enforcement Initial Order
June
Team exceeds 50 staff across Sydney, Canberra, Brisbane, Virginia and UK
$3.8m Electronic Warfare Contract
July
DroneShield reports $7.4m cash receipts for June quarter
August
DroneSim launched
CompassOne launched
September
SonarOne launched
November
Australian Department of Defence $800,000 Defence Innovation Hub contract in AI sensorfusion space
December
$600,000 Five Eye Government Agency Order
ACMA licence received for smart jamming and EW work in the DroneShield Sydney facility
February
State of Texas Contract Framework signed
$750,000 US Govt Agency order
Partnership with Allen Vanguard
Teledyne FLIR collaboration for a marquee Defence customer
March
Initial GSA order
$2m International Govt Agency order
DroneShield and Thales strengthen partnership
UK MOD Sapient Compliance Reached
April
Nearmap partnership
May
DroneShield deployed at IRONMAN Texas
June
DroneShield Deployed for Counterdrone Security at Davos 2022
August
First U.S. Airport Deployment
September
Record $2 million European Order
October
$1.8 million U.S. Department of Defense Contract
Launch of Regional NSW Testing Facility
DroneShield Recommended by U.S. DoD
$900,000 Asian Order
November
U.S. Government Contract
Epirus Invests $3.7 million in DroneShield
DroneShield and XRG Partner for Extended Reality Training
December
DroneShield Receives Record $11 million Order
January
DroneShield Protects Brazil Presidential Inauguration
Successful Completion of Defence Innovation Hub Project
DroneShield Receives Another $11 million Order
February
Admission into MSCI Global Micro Cap Index
March
Initial UTM Order
April
DroneGun Mk4 launch
$2.2 million US DoD order
Successful completion of delivery of $11 million order
DroneShield Protects IRONMAN Texas 2023
May
DroneShield completed AU$11-million purchase order for a government agency
June
Release of major firmware update including DroneLocator technology
Strategic expansion of US Business and Headquarters
DroneShield and Epirus Complete Integration
July
$9.9 million DoD Contract
DroneShield Assigned with NATO Stock Numbers
DroneShield Awarded $33 Million U.S. Government Contract
August
DroneShield Launches Area-Specific Satellite Denial Systems
October
DroneShield releases DroneSentry-X Mk2 -
DroneShield launches SensorFusionAI
DroneShield Adds Long-Range Radar
Australia Supplies DroneShield Equipment to Ukraine
November
DroneShield Teams with ADF Drone Racing Association
DroneShield and Lockheed Martin Collaborate
Australian Government Supports DroneShield as a Sovereign Solution Provider
December
DroneShield Releases DroneSentry-C2 Tactical
January
1Q24 AI Firmware Update
DroneShield Exceeds 100 Employees Milestone
DroneShield releases the Expeditionary Fixed Site (EFS) Kit for DroneSentry-X Mk2
February
DroneShield Releases Record 2023 Annual Results, Surging to Profitability
DroneShield Commences Development of Software Defined Radios for Next-Gen C-UAS Technologies
March
DroneShield Added to the S&P/ASX All Ordinaries Index
DroneShield Receives Consecutive HIRE Vets Gold Medallion Award from the U.S. Department of Labor
DroneShield Awarded $4.3 Million U.S. Government Contract