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The West needs to see the bigger picture when it comes to the drone threat, a counter-drone tech company is warning. The number of potential targets is skyrocketing, going well beyond war. Matt McCrann, CEO of DroneShield's US arm, told Business Insider that in the US alone, "there's a lot of area to cover," from critical infrastructure and large gatherings to speaking events and landmarks. "We definitely have to expand our thinking as far as the potential threats and how we guard against them," he said. The use of drones in Russia's invasion of Ukraine — including massive bombardments that have struck civilian infrastructure as well as military sites — has alarmed the West, showing how future wars may be fought. And concerns are only growing, even outside active conflict, with more Russian and unidentified drones crossing into European airspace, flying near military bases, and disrupting civilian areas like airports. In the US, there have been hundreds of drone incursions over military sites. DroneShield, an Australian company with US operations, makes counter-drone tech that detects, tracks, and disrupts drones by jamming their radio links, and it's noticing a growing demand. It has multimillion-dollar US military contracts and a range of systems operating in Ukraine. McCrann said that week after week, there's rising "alertness about drones and the threats that they pose" to airports, critical infrastructure, energy and data centers, and sporting events. And awareness that drone defenses are inadequate is "snowballing," he said. The drone threat is here In Europe, where DroneShield is expanding, drones are becoming a serious problem. Incidents include Russian drones entering Polish airspace — prompting NATO F-16s and F-35s to respond — and repeated sightings near northern military bases. Some countries have seen airports repeatedly disrupted as drones fly nearby. McCrann said the concern is evident in incidents around large US sporting events. The NFL said that there were 2,537 reported unauthorized drone flights over games in 2022 and 2,845 in 2023. Many have resulted in disruptions. He said that "there's at least a couple of games every couple of weeks or so where there's a high-profile drone flying over a stadium of 70,000 people and nobody knows the source of that drone or its intent." Related stories Business Insider tells the innovative stories you want to know Business Insider tells the innovative stories you want to know There hasn't been a major incident yet, McCrann said, but it might only take one drone with bad intent to make the danger clear. Hopefully, that doesn't happen, he said, but drone tech has already collided with helicopters, forced down emergency aircraft, and grounded planes for hours at airports. In many cases, it takes a serious wake-up call to really generate investment, he said, but people are recognizing the risk and urgency, with budgets increasingly aligning more closely with policies and technological capability. A new equation In Ukraine, where the Russians often launch hundreds of drones in a single night, apartment buildings, energy facilities, schools, hospitals, and public spaces are regularly hit thousands of miles from the front-line fighting. It's a massive problem — not only stopping the drones but also the cost imbalance. A single interceptor for a US-made Patriot air-defense system costs about $4 million, while attack drones can cost only thousands. That's forcing Ukraine to innovate. NATO has concluded that it has underinvested for decades in ground-based air defenses to stop missiles and drones. It now sees the need for cheaper, faster-to-deploy defenses, but efforts to drive development have only recently gained momentum. Adm. Pierre Vandier, NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Transformation, who oversees modernization efforts, told Business Insider previously that NATO is building a "Walmart" of cheap counter-drone systems. "We need to find a mass versus mass solution," he said. "We are working on that, and the goal I've given to my team is a cost-efficient solution in order to match the threat." Lessons from Ukraine The drone threat was growing even before Russia's invasion. Iran and its proxies used drones against Saudi oil fields, and drones have been used in assassinations, including by the US military, and in disruptions at airports and bases. But now, particularly with the war in Ukraine, drone technology is being used more than in any conflict in history, their numbers, technology, and inventive use creating a new level of risk. Ukraine's Operation Spiderweb, which snuck drones deep into Russia and unleashed swarms of them to set aircraft on fire, showed that large-scale attacks can originate from unexpected places. Ukraine, through necessity, has had to pioneer cheaper ways to stop enemy drones, including building interceptor drones — drones designed to stop and destroy other drones. McCrann called Ukraine "a big part" of ongoing innovation in the sector. Western militaries were investing in this space but are now pursuing it more aggressively. McCrann said "the emphasis and the urgency coming out of Europe and NATO allies" has been reflected in soaring demand. For DroneShield, the US has long made up 70 to 80% of its business, but now "we are seeing Europe as basically as large of a potential market or addressable market for us as the US, or at least close." The company is still investing heavily in the US, doubling its workforce there. As "much success as we've had here, we've just scratched the surface of meeting the demand," he said. That's been playing out over the past six months to a year. McCrann said the thousands of systems DroneShield has put in Ukraine have given them data and feedback "on how to improve our systems and make them better." A NATO-Russia war wouldn't look much like the one in Ukraine, as NATO has far greater combat power, but when it comes to drones, the West's concerns go far beyond the battlefield. "This threat is here to stay, and it moves very quickly," McCrann said. It evolves as fast as the creativity and ingenuity of the people experimenting with it on the front lines. He called that "a scary thought," but as a company in the space, "we have to realize that that is the reality and our solutions have to be different than what this industry was building five, 10 years ago when we first started."
