AIM Defence sells two more anti-drone lasers to Defence

Melbourne-based AIM Defence has delivered two more of its Fractl high-powered counter-drone laser systems to Defence in a contract worth $4.8 million. The deal, signed at the end of August, comes less than four months after the Melbourne-based company supplied Defence with its first direct-energy weapon and brings the value of its work with the department to more than $10 million over the past year.

The Fractl Portable High Energy Laser system is powerful enough to burn through steel and can track objects as small as a 10-cent piece travelling 100km/h a kilometre away, according to Defence.

The Fractal system uses in house developed AI tracking and ultra compact laser technology to track and neutralise drones up to 1.5 kilometres away, and successfully shot down over 30 targets during a recent exercise in Canada.

AIM co-founder Dr Jae Daniel said: “While we are immensely proud of our achievements to date, we’re just getting started. We’ve seen a significant uptick in demand for effective counter drone technologies and plan to reinvest the winnings back into AIM so we can continue to develop best in class technology and protect our allies.”

Earlier this year AIM Defence’s Fractl Tactical Directed Energy Laser took out first place at an international Counter Drone Sandbox in Canada, netting a C$1 million dollar prize. The win cemented AIM’s position at the forefront of low cost and compact Tactical Counter-Drone Systems and follows the Australian Government’s $5.4 million commitment to buy a Fractl counter drone system for internal test and evaluation.

The Sandbox, conducted as part of the Canadian Armed Forces’ Innovation for Defence Excellence and Security (IDEaS)’ program, is designed to competitively evaluate state of the art counter drone technology across the globe. Reflecting the proliferation and growing concern of weaponised drones the 2024 Sandbox focused on the effective detection and defeat of quadcopter, FPV and fixed wing targets.

AIM co-founder Ms Jessica Glenn said: “We’re extremely thankful to the Canadian Government for giving us this opportunity and to their red team who really put our system to the test with a range of drones that we’d never seen before from FPVs to fixed wings across a range of scenarios.

“It was a challenging event and we’re proud to have come out on top.”

The program has run biannually for the last six years and is internationally regarded as an independent assessment of counter drone capabilities for both NATO and Five Eyes allies.

AIM Defence was one of fifteen companies selected to show off their technology at the event. The Canadian evaluation team judged that the AIM Fractal system best met sandbox prize criteria for demonstrated performance and continuous improvement.