Airobotics Acquires Iron Drone Assets, Launches New Counter-Drone System at World Police Summit

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by DRONELIFE Staff Writer Ian M. Crosby

Ondas Holdings announced today that its subsidiary Airobotics has completed the acquisition of the assets of autonomous counter-drone systems specialist Iron Drone, whose new system will be presented March 7th – 9th at the World Police Summit in Dubai.

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Ondas will integrate Iron Drone’s counter-drone technology within its Ondas Autonomous Systems business unit. Alongside its Optimus System™, Ondas offers a government-grade drone solution for security and critical infrastructure protection and monitoring.

This transaction provides Ondas with a new revenue opportunity as it enters the growing public safety, homeland security, and defense markets. Together, the companies will offer customers an integrated security platform able to intercept hostile drones in a range of environments. The Iron Drone technology will be available as both a standalone technology offering and an addition to the Optimus System™ Urban Drone Infrastructure.

“Iron Drone’s counter-drone technology is a perfect fit for Ondas’ portfolio as it is a mission-critical system that can be installed to protect sensitive assets,” said Ondas Chairman and CEO Eric Brock. “The combination of Airobotics with Iron Drone represents a new revenue opportunity for Ondas in a market that is seeing a lot of growth. Iron Drone’s expertise and technology will be complementary to the Optimus System drone, providing our growing list of customers in the public safety and industrial sectors with the solution they are looking for.”

“We’re moving fast to bring the Iron Drone solution to the homeland security worldwide market,” said Ondas Autonomous Systems President Meir Kliner. “We have already been approached by various potential customers who are looking for a reliable, non-weaponized counter-drone solution. The unique integrated AI-based Iron Drone solution relies on physical elimination of the target drone. This makes it effective against pre-programmed hostile drones and UAVs which do not rely on operators radio-link. Moreover, due to its low collateral signature, it can be operated in areas where the use of jamming is prohibited, such as airports, populated areas, and critical infrastructures. With Iron Drone, our customers will be able to neutralize threats while utilizing Optimus drones for monitoring, observation, and video surveillance.”

Recently, terrorist and criminal elements have been increasingly utilizing drones and other small UAS to attack and disrupt strategic facilities, major events and city centers. Designed to defend assets against hostile drones and UAVs, the Iron Drone system is a fully-automated intercepting system capable of eliminating small drones without the use of GPS or RF jamming. The interceptor drone is launched from a designated pod, flying autonomously towards the targets based on initial radar guidance, then locking on to them using advanced AI vision. The drone pursues the target to incapacitate and capture it with a net and a parachute, safely lowering it to the ground. The entire process is fully-automated and does not require a human pilot.

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Ian attended Dominican University of California, where he received a BA in English in 2019. With a lifelong passion for writing and storytelling and a keen interest in technology, he is now contributing to DroneLife as a staff writer.