Virginia and Sydney (April 26, 2022) – DroneShield, an Australian/US global leader in Artificial Intelligence based platforms for protection against advanced threats such as drones and autonomous systems, has commenced a release of a ground-breaking software update across the global fleet of its C-UAS portable, vehicle/ship based and fixed site devices, deployed with military, intelligence community, Homeland Security, law enforcement, critical infrastructure and other users.

Enrolled devices receive quarterly firmware updates of the proprietary DroneShield RFAI Artificial Intelligence engine, with periodic quarters being major enhancements, such as this 2Q22 release.

Major upgrades include:

• Site Install Wizard – the new ‘Spectrum Viewer’ mode, in which C-UAS detection devices scan the deployment area for optimal sensor placement, and

• the “Machine Learning in the loop” option to enhance the RFAI engine from the data received by the user. These features were added in response to the end-user requirements.

DroneShield RfPatrol body-worn C-UAS device with enrolled firmware upgrades

Angus Bean, DroneShield Chief Technology Officer, commented, “DroneShield offers unparalleled C-UAS performance as the original pioneer in this sector. Ongoing R&D programs sustain the cutting-edge nature of our products, protecting and serving our user community. We are excited about the enhancements to the performance of our deployed fleet of devices, developed, field-tested, and rolled out in a highly expedient manner.”

The updates will be rolling out across DroneShield devices globally in the next week, with heightened urgency given the continuous widespread use of drones in Ukrainian and Middle Eastern conflicts. The technology upgrade is validated by deployments with the US Air Force and Australian Army.

Additional information about the system can be found at www.droneshield.com.

• Demonstrated multi-sensor data fusion and automatic target recognition (ATR) using AeroVironment’s Blue Hotel tactical grade computer vision and data analysis software package

• AeroVironment’s battlefield proven DDL technology provided robust command, control and video datalink for U.S. and Royal Navy airborne assets in the challenging maritime environment

Blue Hotel AI/ML in action at IMX/CE 22, fusing together data from multiple UAVs and USVs to provide ATR and identify patterns of activity. (Image: AeroVironment, Inc.)

ARLINGTON, Va., April 26, 2022 –AeroVironment, Inc. (NASDAQ: AVAV), a global leader in intelligent, multi-domain robotic systems, today announced the successful maritime demonstration of Interoperability to Interchangeability (I2I) operations by the U.S. Navy and Royal Navy using AeroVironment’s Puma™ 3 AE small unmanned aircraft systems. The demonstration was part of a combined event – International Maritime Exercise 2022/Cutlass Express 2022 (IMX/CE 22) – that took place from Feb. 6-17, 2022.

IMX/CE 22 is the largest maritime exercise in the Middle East with more than 60 partner nations and organizations participating with 9,000 personnel and 50 ships. IMX/CE 22 was also the largest maritime unmanned systems exercise to date with more than 80 unmanned systems, including unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), unmanned surface vessels (USVs) and unmanned undersea vehicles (UUVs).

The I2I capability demonstration was supported by AeroVironment as part of the U.S. 5th Fleet’s Task Force 59 team, denoted as Task Force X (TF-X), participating in IMX/CE 22. TF-X was comprised of various multinational government and industry partners working together to integrate and demonstrate new unmanned systems capabilities for U.S. and coalition naval forces in a series of pre-planned serials.

During the exercise, AeroVironment’s Blue Hotel computer vision and analytics solution demonstrated the visual identification of maritime targets simultaneously from multiple UAV and USV video feeds in real-time during all of the TF-X serials. It was also used by the U.S. Navy as the primary video repository and distribution hub for TF-X, providing all coalition partners with access to real-time video feeds and artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) analytic results for Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA). The advanced AI/ML software enabled the warfighters to quickly sift through the large amounts of video data, pinpointing individual vessels of interest, and providing real time information on their activities throughout the exercise.

“Built upon past demonstrations, such as REP(MUS) 21 and 2018 U.S. Navy Coastal Riverine Craft maritime S2S exercises, these successful I2I operations coupled with Blue Hotel’s automated target recognition and MDA capabilities offer a glimpse at the maritime and autonomy product capability expansions AeroVironment’s MacCready Works Advanced Solutions team is spearheading,” said Jeff Rodrian, AeroVironment vice president of AV Ventures.

 • Donation is independent of other AeroVironment systems already being provided to Ukraine by the United States Government

• Donated Quantix Recon unmanned aircraft systems will ship this week with more to follow

• Operational training services for donated systems will also be provided at no cost

Quantix Recon is a powerful, simple-to-use unmanned aircraft system that delivers rapid, automated reconnaissance and hands-free data collection to operators. (Image: AeroVironment, Inc.)

ARLINGTON, Va., April 19, 2022 –AeroVironment, Inc. (NASDAQ: AVAV) a global leader in intelligent, multi-domain robotic systems, today announced it will donate more than 100 Quantix™ Recon unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) and operational training services to the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine and territorial forces amid the ongoing war against Russia. The donation was presented to the Ambassador and the Defence Attaché at the Embassy of Ukraine by AeroVironment chairman, president and chief executive officer Wahid Nawabi during a face-to-face meeting last week.

“As the Ukraine military’s fight to protect their homeland and defend their nation’s freedom against Russia’s invasion intensifies, their need for solutions that can offer force protection and force multiplication capabilities continues,” said Nawabi. “This donation will provide operators with a tool that can fly undetected by enemy forces and unaffected by radio frequency jammers to deliver accurate and rapid reconnaissance of remote, inaccessible areas of the dynamically changing battlefield.

“Using the actionable intelligence gathered by the Quantix Recon, operators can conduct quick mission planning and verification to help keep Ukrainian ground forces out of harm’s way. AeroVironment is honored to support the people of Ukraine,” Nawabi added.

AeroVironment’s Quantix Recon UAS is a lightweight, easily deployable, fully automated reconnaissance solution that provides on-demand actionable intelligence using high-resolution, georeferenced terrain, vegetation and infrastructure imagery. With its unique hybrid vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) design, Quantix Recon combines the VTOL advantages of a multirotor drone with the range, speed and efficiency of a fixed-wing unmanned aircraft. Featuring fully automated flight operation, the UAS can survey up to 1.6 square kilometers (0.6 square miles), or 20 linear kilometers (12.4 miles), per 45-minute single battery flight.

Delivery of the Quantix Recon UAS is independent of other AeroVironment tactical missile systems and UAS already being provided to Ukraine by the United States Government. The first half of the donated Quantix Recon UAS shipment is expected to be delivered this week with operational training commencing immediately.

DroneShield, an Australian/US global leader in Artificial Intelligence based platforms for protection against advanced threats such as drones and autonomous systems, has today announced an enhanced version of its DroneSentry-C2 Command-and-Control software, in partnership with location intelligence firm, Nearmap. Nearmap provides city-scale 3D content, artificial intelligence data sets, geospatial tools, and high-resolution aerial imagery in Australia, New Zealand, and North America.

DroneSentry-C2 provides an intuitive and feature-rich software platform, providing counter-UAS awareness and reporting capability. It integrates both DroneShield and third-party C-UAS sensors and effectors. Those include multiple AI-enabled sensing and tracking products, such as RfOne long-range direction-finding sensors for UAS detection and tracking, and camera-agnostic DroneOptID optical/thermal camera AI software.

DroneSentry-C2 will come with a standard mapping solution for cost-sensitive customers, and an optional Nearmap mapping upgrade for best-in-class mapping data for high-performance environments, such as Government, intelligence, Homeland Security and defence markets, when precision and quality are critical.

The system receives regular secure software updates, capitalising on years of DroneShield’s extensive experience in the C-UAS arena.

DroneSentry-C2 with Nearmap location data

The software comes as an on-prem, air-gapped solution which focuses on intelligence, Homeland Security and defence users, or secure cloud for enterprise customers. The on-prem solution also includes a high-grade physical server. Both options come with regular mapping updates, including ability for the user to load own maps, for sensitive locations.

Oleg Vornik, DroneShield CEO, commented, “One of DroneShield’s differentiators is that we are both a sensor manufacturer and an integrator. Providing a streamlined and standardised hard/software bundle that gives our user community an easy to deploy and run command-and-control software, will be critical, as more fixed and pop-up site users seek to deploy counter-UAS products. Importantly, the offering is already validated by deployments such as US Air Force and Australian Army, amongst number of other tier 1 end users globally.”

Dr Rob Newman, Nearmap CEO and Managing Director, said, “Our customers tell us they prefer Nearmap because of the quality, city-scale coverage, and currency of our location intelligence offering. Combine this market-leading geo-spatial capability with DroneShield’s innovative software, and the ability to defend against the threat of autonomous aerial vehicles, including drones, is even more powerful.

“Nearmap continues to drive innovation in the use of geo-spatial data and tools. This includes harnessing location intelligence to help organisations plan smart cities of the future, support the growth of greener spaces, and assist recovery efforts after major natural disasters.”

DroneShield Limited (ASX:DRO) (“DroneShield” or the “Company”) is pleased to advise it has reached compliance with UK Ministry of Defence (UK MOD) SAPIENT format. SAPIENT is a common operating format for defence devices (with similar principles to the US Department of Defense ATAK system), originally developed by the UK’s Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL). It was since adopted as the standard counter drone communication system in the UK.

SAPIENT offers a standard approach for AI and autonomy in networked multi-sensor systems in security and defence, and is being evaluated as a potential NATO standard for counter-drone systems.

Additional information on SAPIENT is available at www.gov.uk/guidance/sapient-autonomous-sensor-system

Going forward, DroneShield’s AI-enabled counterdrone/C-UAS RfPatrol, RfOne, and DroneSentry-X products now have the capability to provide a SAPIENT compliant output.

Image: DroneSentry-X system, now with SAPIENT interoperability

Oleg Vornik, DroneShield CEO, commented, “In the current challenging geopolitical environment, DroneShield continues to substantially progress our engagement across the NATO militaries, and specifically UK, alongside Australia and the US. We have on-the-ground team members in all 3 countries, supported by a network of highly capable local partners – in the case of UK, our partner is BT with its substantial defence credentials, as well as being a household name in the UK market.”

“Compliance with the SAPIENT format was driven by end-user requests from our UK and European militaries. It ensures our networked devices are plug-and-play compatible to the common operating format of other devices and systems of those end-users. We are currently involved in meaningful acquisition tender processes with UK and European end-users, which require this compliance as part of the deployment.”