DroneShield Appoints President for its U.S. Subsidiary
Sydney, Australia | Warrenton, Virginia – 8 April 2026 – DroneShield announces that Ray Fitzgerald has been appointed President of DroneShield LLC, the Company's U.S. subsidiary, based in Virginia.
In this role, Fitzgerald will help lead the company’s next phase of its U.S. growth, supporting strategic partnerships, and market expansion across military and national security sectors - including the deepening cooperation between the United States, Australia, and key allied partners driving the next generation of integrated military capability.
Fitzgerald brings nearly two decades of extensive leadership experience across the aerospace and military sectors, with a career spanning corporate strategy, business development, mergers and acquisitions, and defense innovation. His career has focused on scaling advanced technology organizations and deepening collaboration between industry and government partners, which provide a strong foundation for DroneShield to further entrench its combat-proven C-UxS platform in the market.
Prior to joining DroneShield, Fitzgerald held senior leadership roles in the defense sector and most recently served as Senior Vice President for Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC), leading enterprise strategy, business development, and international growth across US and allied military markets.
Earlier in his career, Fitzgerald served as a U.S. Navy F/A-18 pilot and Aviation Director for the Naval Special Warfare Development Group, providing firsthand operational experience supporting some of the most demanding missions in national defence - experience that informs his deep understanding of what deployed technology must deliver in the field.
“Ray brings a rare combination of operational experience, strategic insight, and industry leadership. His understanding of the evolving defence landscape and his track record of building high-growth organizations make him the right leader for our next phase of expansion. As our combat-proven technology continues to advance through continuous AI-driven iteration, and as trusted partnerships between allied governments and industry become ever more critical, Ray’s experience across all of those dimensions is exactly what this moment demands. In a sector where the reliability and safety of deployed systems is non-negotiable, that experience matters,” said DroneShield CEO and Managing Director Angus Bean.
Image: Ray Fitzgerald, President of DroneShield LLC
“I am pleased to join DroneShield at an important stage of its growth. The increasing pace of change in modern conflict demands technology that has been proven in real-world operational environments, continuously sharpened through AI-driven threat based iterative development, and delivered through strong, trusted partnerships with government and industry. Critically, it demands technology that operators and commanders can rely on absolutely, and I am excited to be a part of DroneShield whose systems have been validated where it counts. I look forward to working with the team to deepen those partnerships across the US, Australia, and our allied partners, and to delivering capabilities that make a real difference for those responsible for protecting national security,” said Ray Fitzgerald.
Significant Ongoing Sector Momentum
DroneShield is continuing to experience strong tailwinds, as evidenced by its $2.2 billion sales pipeline across approximately 300 opportunities, and $133 million in committed revenues for 2026, including $20 million in committed SaaS revenues.
As the nefarious use of drones continues to proliferate, the demand for CUxS systems is expected to continue to grow across military, public safety and civilian markets. DroneShield has previously estimated a Total Addressable Market for CUxS of over $63 billion. As a nascent sector, where customer adoption has only started several years ago with the Ukraine war, governments worldwide are expected to be moving into large acquisition cycles of CUxS, buoyed by increasing military and security budgets. DroneShield has a number of unique technical and commercial differentiators with a well-known brand in the sector, and continues to rapidly innovate, with a number of next generation hardware and software solutions, due to start being released to the market from 2H2026.
The Company has also unveiled its senior leadership succession plan, with Hamish McLennan stepping into the Chairman-elect role succeeding Peter James, and Angus Bean succeeding Oleg Vornik as the CEO and Managing Director, both after a decade with the business.