New Partnership Aims to Close Gaps in European Drone Defense
Intelic and DroneShield partner to better protect Europe against hostile drones.
14 January 2026 – Dutch defence software company Intelic is partnering with DroneShield, the global leader in counter-drone technology. The two companies announced today that they will collaborate to develop scalable, modular, interoperable counter-drone solutions, able to detect and stop hostile drones more quickly. The partnership responds to a wider issue: Europe lacks effective and affordable drone defense, as most current systems are expensive, not interoperable, and not designed for the fast-growing threat of small drones.
Drones are everywhere
The war in Ukraine and recent incidents in Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Denmark, and around Brussels show how difficult it is to stop drones when detection and defense tools are fragmented. Europe’s air-defense chain often relies on legacy systems that cannot be updated easily with modern sensors, jammers, or interceptors. This leaves critical gaps, even when countermeasures are available.
A modular and interoperable foundation
EDIS and NATO guidelines have long warned that Europe remains vulnerable as long as air-defense systems cannot communicate or scale. Modern counter-drone capability requires a layered and modular approach in which sensors, reconnaissance drones, and interceptors can be plugged in or replaced without vendor lock-in. Traditional systems are often too costly and too rigid to support this.
One unified, scalable defense chain
The collaboration between Intelic and DroneShield aims to break this fragmentation. Intelic’s Nexus software, already in use in Ukraine, consolidates drones and sensors into a single real-time air picture. By building interoperability with DroneShield’s detection and jamming system, a seamless chain from observation to effect is created. New or lower-cost sensors, jammers, and interceptors can be added quickly, allowing forces to scale protection without the astronomical costs of classical air defence.
DroneShield provides the ground component; Intelic adds an aerial layer with reconnaissance drones and automated interceptor control. Together, they enable faster, coordinated action across different effectors and platforms.
“Europe needs fast, layered counter-drone capability that can be deployed anywhere,” said Maurits Korthals Altes, CEO of Intelic. “By connecting our aerial layer to DroneShield’s detections, we create a solution that responds faster and is far more affordable than classical air defense.”
DroneShield CEO Oleg Vornik emphasized the importance of scalability: “Small drones have become a strategic threat, and you cannot counter them with only large, expensive systems. By openly building interoperability between our technology and Nexus, we demonstrate what modern, affordable air defense looks like: see faster, understand faster, act faster, all without astronomical costs.”
The interoperability work has begun and will be tested over the coming months at multiple military and civilian locations across Europe.