The company Dedrone discovered a gap in the market by defending against incoming drones. With great success. Now it is being taken over by an American security company. The company location in Kassel should also benefit from this.

By Leander Löwe

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Detecting foreign drones and removing them from the sky using a jamming signal – that is the idea that has made the Kassel-based company Dedrone one of the world’s leading airspace defense companies. Now it is to be taken over by the American shareholder Axon, as it announced after the close of trading on the New York Stock Exchange late on Monday evening. First reported the HNA about it.

“I think the companies fit together well,” said Dedrone co-founder and managing director Jörg Lamprecht in an interview with hessenschau.de this Wednesday.

Both companies are keeping quiet about how much money will flow. Industry experts expect an investment volume of several hundred million dollars. Exactly how high the amount will be will only be known when Axon’s quarterly report is published.

Kassel Dedrone location benefits from the sale

“The takeover will make our business more stable and have a greater reach,” says Dedrone co-founder Lamprecht. The Kassel location in particular will benefit from the entry of the large American corporation.

“Nowhere else can you find top technology that is produced so cheaply and with such high quality,” said the company boss. That’s why the Kassel Dedrone branch will be expanded further in the coming years.

Dedrone primarily develops systems for detecting and defending against drones. This is particularly relevant for authorities, for example if a drone is supposed to smuggle drugs into prison or obstruct the airspace at the airport.

In such cases, a Dedrone system can trigger an alarm, explains Lamprecht: “There is also a kind of gun that shoots a jamming signal with a quiet click and causes the drone to land.” Also on the battlefield in Ukraine The drone warning systems were already in place Mission.

The main market is and remains the USA

The customers are primarily the military, police, security companies and judicial authorities and are often located in the USA. That’s why, in addition to its European locations in Kassel, Bristol and Odense, the company also has branches in the American cities of Westerville and San Francisco.

Dedrone’s headquarters are now located near the American capital Washington DC. There is also a Dedrone office in Phoenix – the place where the new owner Axon has its headquarters.

The new parent company Axon has similar, and sometimes even the same, customers as Dedrone. It produces security equipment for police and authorities and is listed on the American stock market index Nasdaq.

The company’s best-known products are electric shock tasers and body cameras. The company describes itself as a “global leader in public safety technologies.”

Business unit remains in existence

But Axon’s products are not without controversy. With the Idea to equip drones with electric shock tasers to stop school shooters fightcompany boss Rick Smith made headlines two years ago.

Lamprecht says that Axon’s priority is always to save human lives. Axon itself writes: “Our goal is to reduce the number of firearm deaths between police and the public in the USA by 50 percent by 2033.”

According to Lamprecht, the takeover also has many advantages for the 55 Dedrone employees in Kassel: “The employees have greater career opportunities and can go to work in other countries at any time.” The company employs around 180 people worldwide.

Within Axon, Dedrone will remain a separate business unit – also with its own name. Only the approval of the US Antitrust Office is currently pending. After that, nothing stands in the way of the deal.