Australian counter-UAV tech to aid Ukraine zap Russian drones while sparing its defense budget

With Ukraine battling dozens of incoming, explosive-packed Russian drones assaulting its cities every night, one additional concern in shooting those craft down is the considerable cost to the nation’s financially strapped defense reserves that involves – a pinch an Australian counter-UAV tech producer is now acting to solve.

Based in the suburbs of Australia’s Canberra capital, Electro Optic Systems (EOS) is preparing to ship several of its Slinger counter-UAV systems to Ukraine defense units combatting Russian drones. In addition to their effectiveness in taking out attacking aerial projectiles, those EOS assets will resolve the tangential concern facing Kyiv: the financial strain of neutralizing hundreds of craft that cost tens or thousands of dollars to produce with arms that are often just as expensive – or more so.

EOS Slinger systems shrink that secondary yet – in the longer wartime term – crucial cost factor by lowering the operational outlay of destroying Russian drones to between $150 to $1,500 per riposte. While saving lives otherwise lost to aerial assaults is invaluable, Matt Jones, vice president of the Australian startup’s defense unit, says those lower deployment costs will increase the relative return on destroying Shaheed and other relatively cheap Russian UAVs produced for $30,000 and even less.

“The issue is the types of systems you would currently use to defeat drones are way too expensive to defeat a $10,000 or even a $1,000 drone,” Jones told the Australian Broadcasting Company, noting most counter-UAV systems used by Ukraine cost hundreds of thousands of dollars – if not millions – to fire.

EOS says its Slinger anti-drone asset uses a specialized proprietary munition shot from a 30-millimeter cannon, often mounted atop a vehicle. Relying on its founding spatial activities, the company links those counter-UAV systems to its network of satellites, which assist the efficient detection, tracking, and targeting of Russian craft nearing Ukraine targets. Operators can also use a small screen equipped with a joystick to ensure precision of the final strike in cases where the tech may appear slightly off kilter.

EOS says accuracy of the combined spatial and human capacities make Slingers effective for “tracking and engaging moving drones beyond 800m,” and safer for civilians being defended in “urban environments due to its unique ammunition.”

Its minimal per-deployment price makes the Australian counter-UAV unit doubly valuable to Ukraine defense forces, though – as always – there is an upfront cost to realize savings later. EOS Slingers sell for $1.55 million per unit ($994,000), though Jones indicates that rate may come down as the broader, historic period drone evolution is in continues.

“This has literally been a Cambrian explosion in the use of drones in warfare,” Jones said. “(It’s) one of the most intense periods of innovation and adaptation in the systems that we have ever seen, and we’re probably not at the end yet.”