Labor’s $17m step towards counter-drone capability

Labor is taking tentative first steps to introduce counter-drone technologies with a $17m investment to test a range of new capabilities, including signal jammers and high-energy lasers.

Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy. Picture: Jacquelin Magnay

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Labor is taking tentative first steps to introduce counter-drone technologies to protect troops and military bases with a $17m investment to test a range of new capabilities, including signal jammers and high-energy lasers.

The Albanese government has issued an initial flurry of contracts to 11 companies to bolster the Australian Defence Force’s acquisition of counter-drone technologies, as part of a promised $10bn investment in the technology over the next decade.

Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy said the critical role of counter-drone capabilities on the modern battlefield had been highlighted in Ukraine, with the government funding threat detectors and drone-defeating technologies to protect Australian military personnel and bases.

Mr Conroy has outlined Labor’s vision to boost the nation’s sovereign defence industry, under a project known as LAND 156, by investing in Australian companies producing high-energy lasers, radio signal jammers and other drone-destroying technologies.

“The use of drones in all conflict zones clearly shows the nature of modern warfare has changed,” Mr Conroy said.

“We can learn lessons from Ukraine, and we are watching very closely how the combatants are using both drones and counter drones.

“But the threats we face in our Indo-Pacific region are not the same as those in the trenches of Ukraine. We need to concentrate our efforts on what we need in the circumstances of our region to defend Australia and deny any attempts at military coercion today, tomorrow and into the future.”

Mr Conroy said drone technology would enhance the ADF’s capabilities rather than replace other cutting-edge fields of development.

“The ADF must own both ends of the spectrum,” he said.

“We have to master the manufacturing and evolution of our own drone capabilities, and we have to own the potent, high-end platforms that deliver long-range deterrent effects.”

Under the initiative to upgrade drone capabilities, the government has invested $4.3bn in uncrewed aerial systems.

The government has also partnered with Australian companies DroneShield, Sypaq Systems, AMSL Aero, Grabba Technologies, Boresight and DroneShield to deliver threat-detectors and drone-fighting technology.

Defence will evaluate the merits of the technology produced.

“To support Australian industry, the government is putting a serious amount of work and focused investment into building a resilient domestic industrial base with the ability to scale and innovate,” he said.

The companies issued contracts under the latest round of funding were Axon Public Safety Australia, CACI Inc, Droneshield, EPE Trusted to Protect, HiFraser, Highcom Technology, Key Options, Pioneer Computers Dream Industrial, Precision Technic Defence, Southtech Systems and Steelrock Technologies.

The government’s Defence Strategic Review, released in 2023, warned Australia’s strategic circumstances have “radically” worsened, with the nation facing the “prospect of major conflict in the region that directly threatens our national ­interest”.