Australian DroneShield secures $5.2-million European handheld C-UAS order as drone threats grow.

Australian C UAS specialist DroneShield has booked a new 5.2 million dollar handheld counter drone order for a European military customer via its long standing in country reseller. The deal builds on a record 61.6 million dollar handheld C-UAS package signed in June 2025, underscoring how portable jammers and detectors are becoming standard kit for frontline European forces, not just urgent gap fillers.

DroneShield has added another tranche to its growing European backlog, announcing a 5.2 million dollar contract for handheld counter drone systems and accessories placed by a trusted European reseller on behalf of a repeat military buyer. All equipment is described as off the shelf, with delivery and cash payment scheduled in the fourth quarter of 2025, which means no lengthy development cycle or conditional milestones. The same reseller has now placed a dozen contracts worth more than 70 million dollars in total, a trajectory that indicates the end user has shifted from small-scale trials to routine procurement and unit-level rollouts. This latest order lands on top of the record 61.6 million dollar handheld C-UAS package disclosed in June 2025 for the same reseller and the same European customer, already slated for delivery in the third quarter of 2025.
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DroneGun Mk4 handheld counter drone system (Picture source: DroneShield)

DroneShield does not specify the exact configuration selected for this order, but recent deliveries to Europe are concentrated around the Immediate Response Kit (IRK), which combines the handheld DroneGun Mk4 jammer and the portable RfPatrol Mk2 detector in a rugged case certified to IP67. RfPatrol Mk2 is a passive, non-emitting receiver that provides 360-degree detection of unmanned aerial systems (UAS) by monitoring their command and telemetry links, using interchangeable antennas to cover wide portions of the radio spectrum while remaining discreet. The unit weighs around 800 grams, uses a lithium-ion battery in a standard North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) format, and offers up to eight hours of continuous operation, allowing dismounted patrols or military police units to keep it in service for the duration of a mission.

DroneGun Mk4 constitutes the neutralisation element of this distributed architecture. Presented as a pistol-configured jammer weighing about 3.2 kilograms including the battery, the system applies non-kinetic radio interference to a broad range of industrial, scientific, and medical bands, as well as to Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) signals. Start-up time is under three seconds and a single battery meeting NATO standards provides more than one hour of aggregate jamming. The device is designed for single-operator use, with visual feedback via LEDs on the active bands, Picatinny rails and several quick-attachment points so that it can be integrated into existing infantry equipment. Depending on terrain, masking, and radio clutter, specialist resellers indicate an engagement range of up to one kilometre against small rotary-wing drones, with line of sight remaining a key constraint as for most handheld jammers.

The combination of a man-portable detector and a compact jammer alters everyday force protection against low-cost threats. A platoon securing a convoy halt, a tube artillery battery, or a forward command post can keep an RfPatrol Mk2 on standby to pick up hostile control links and gain a few critical seconds before a quadcopter or remotely piloted first-person-view munition comes into visual range. Once the trajectory is located, operators can employ DroneGun Mk4 within its one-kilometre envelope, cutting command, navigation, and video streams so that the aircraft either carries out a controlled landing or returns to its point of origin. This non-kinetic method of neutralisation is particularly sought around ammunition depots, fuel points, and airports, where fragments from interceptors and falling debris would be difficult to accept.

The broader context is a European theatre in which uncrewed systems are becoming routine, whether in the exchange of strikes using quadcopters and loitering munitions between Russian and Ukrainian forces along the front line, or in the use of commercial drones by non-state actors around sensitive infrastructure and border crossings. The European Union (EU), through the ReArm Europe and Readiness 2030 initiatives supported by several hundred billion euros in additional defence spending, places explicit emphasis on air defence and counter-drone capabilities within a wider effort to rebuild stockpiles and harden key sites.

Against this backdrop, the succession of repeated C-UAS orders for the same European military customer points to the emergence of a reference model for distributed counter-drone equipment within at least one North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) member or partner force. As European armies link handheld jammers, radar, electro-optical sensors, and command-and-control networks in layered architectures, each new tranche of C-UAS capabilities of this type increases the cost of using small unmanned aircraft as tools of coercion or attrition on the battlefield.