NewsBite

Drones

November

Oleg

The DroneShield share sales should not have been a surprise

The $60 million sell-off by the firm’s top brass triggered a 70 per cent crash, but the fall was foreshadowed at businesses linked to chairman Peter James.

The market darling, the $50m share dump and the silent CEO

Jonathan Shapiro on the rise of DroneShield, why its CEO just dumped all his stock and whether the company can restore the faith.

Ben Greene was the chief executive of Electro Optic Systems until 2022.

Drone outfit EOS admits to disclosure failures, but ex-CEO fights on

The corporate regulator alleges the company and its then-chief executive, Ben Greene, did not tell investors about a downgrade they knew was coming for weeks.

Chief executive of DroneShield, Oleg Vornik.

Oleg Vornik defends $50m DroneShield share sale, citing risk to life

While the businessman has been circumspect about the reasons for offloading his entire stake, privately he has given an explanation to some investors.

Oleg Vornik with one of the “nefarious” drones.

Wanted! DroneShield seeks help to quell investor fury

Someone in the company’s human resources department thinks it’s set for future growth, even if shareholders are less convinced.

Advertisement
The counter-drone firm has faced increased scrutiny after chief executive Oleg Vornik and two directors offloaded their stakes in the company.

DroneShield struggles to keep up with evolving battlefield

Changing tactics and technology are posing a challenge for the under-fire defence contractor’s signature product, military experts say.

Oleg Vornik has disappeared from the public eye.

DroneShield’s Oleg Vornik goes MIA

The tech company’s share registry isn’t the only place the chief executive has vanished from. Meanwhile, investors are desperately seeking answers.

Charles Goode is one of DroneShield’s bigger individual investors.

DroneShield’s blast radius includes Charles Goode

The former ANZ chairman looks like he’s more loyal to the company than its own, at least as far as holding on to shares goes.

DroneShield’s Oleg Vornik prior to his share sell down.

DroneShield executive needed cash for Sydney’s property market

Months before Oleg Vornik sold off nearly $50 million in DroneShield shares, he was tapping one of the company’s directors for loans.

Oleg Vornik, the chief exectuive of DroneShield, has sold 40.46 million shares for a total value of $60.63 million since the start of 2023.

Hedge fund says DroneShield had 17 red flags

The multibillion-dollar hedge fund is short the drone platform stock, which has slumped after its chief executive offloaded all his shares with no explanation.

A Ukrainian drone pilot at work.

The elite Russian unit hunting Ukraine’s drone warriors

After two years of striking Russian units with near impunity, Ukraine’s scrappy, innovative drone pilots have become the hunted.

DroneShield chief executive Oleg Vornik has sold all of his shares in the company except about 900,000 worth of options.

DroneShield dream run comes to abrupt end after CEO dumps $50m stake

Shares in the defence technology business crashed almost 30 per cent after Oleg Vornik and two directors sold considerable holdings with little explanation.

Missile and interceptor trails in the sky above Tel Aviv.

Does Australia need its own ‘Iron Dome’? Experts think so

Security experts say the government needs to bolster its investment in missiles to protect Australia’s major cities and critical infrastructure from attack.

October

Drones!

Russian drones are turning Europe into an ‘operational battle lab’

As Russia brazenly probes NATO’s defences with a drone onslaught, Europe is waking up to the threat, and Australian air crews are on the front lines.

Australian members of the E-7 Wedgetail deployment to Poland: Jonathan Zingle, Samuel Parry, Georgia Crean and Brett Allen, with Australia’s military representative.

Australia’s spy plane steps up as Russia’s drones swarm Europe

An Australian early warning aircraft is returning home from Poland after operating during a heavy period of aerial warfare in the Russian-Ukraine war.

Advertisement

September

FILE — A Ukrainian drone pilot in the Kharkiv region of northeastern Ukraine on April 24, 2025. Ukraine has modified Chinese-made hobbyist drones for military use against the Russians.

The algorithm that could end the world

AI lacks our empathy and common sense. Giving machines the responsibility to decide to take human lives in a war would cross a moral and legal red line.

Vasyl Myroshnychenko, Ukraine’s ambassador to Australia

Ukraine offers drone tech and battlefield expertise to Australia

The war-ravaged country has reached out to help Australia keep pace with the changing face of modern warfare.

DroneShield boss Oleg Vornik with one of the company’s handheld products.

Downing Russian drones took a little Australian firm to ASX success

Small Australian company DroneShield has grown its way into being a global player thwarting Russian drone attacks and supplying the US and European defence forces.

Ukrainian firefighters battling a blaze in central Kharkiv after several Russian drones struck the area in July.

Russia made drone production a priority. Now they swarm the skies

Ukraine is struggling to defend itself against the growing number of attack drones that Moscow has started using in its onslaughts.

Polish F16 fighter jets over Warsaw this year.

Poland, NATO shoot down Russian drones for violating airspace

Prime Minister Donald Tusk says “the Polish airspace was violated by a huge number of Russian drones”.

Original URL: https://www.afr.com/topic/drones-5wi