In the past year alone, Russian-origin drones have reportedly entered the airspace of Poland, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia and Romania, triggering NATO intercepts and disrupting civil aviation. And NATO’s traditional air defense systems — designed for large aircraft and ballistic missiles, not cheap drones — are struggling to keep up.

Now the counter-drone company that Axon (the same company that makes the taser) acquired has a plan to fix it.

Dedrone by Axon announced this week that it’s partnering with TYTAN, a Munich-based defense startup, to create a system that can detect, track, and destroy drones ranging from small consumer drones to medium-sized military platforms like the Iranian Shahed-136.

Group 3 drones pose challenges for military

Group 3 drones are a class of drones weighing 150-600 kg. They sit in what defense analysts call the “gray zone” of modern warfare. They’re too small and inexpensive for traditional missile systems to engage cost-effectively. But they’re too capable to ignore.

The Shahed-136, which Iran supplies to Russia and which has been used extensively in Ukraine to strike infrastructure, is the poster child for this category. It costs a fraction of what a cruise missile costs, flies low and slow to avoid radar, and can carry enough explosives to destroy power stations, fuel depots or command centers.

When one of these crosses into NATO airspace — whether by accident, as a provocation, or as a genuine attack — the calculus gets ugly fast. Fire a multi-million-dollar interceptor missile at it? Let it go? Try to scramble jets?

“Shahed-type drones have replaced cruise missiles as a cheaper, devastating way to hit critical infrastructure,” said Rick Smith, CEO and Founder of Axon, in a prepared statement. “The world needs bold advances in UAS and counter-UAS technology. The future of defense will be defined by how fast we can connect sensors, systems, and allies into one network that acts at machine speed.”

That’s exactly what the Dedrone-TYTAN partnership is designed to do.

How the system works

In short, Dedrone’s AI detects the drone, and TYTAN’s interceptor kills it. Here’s the longer version:

Dedrone brings DedroneTracker.AI, an artificial intelligence platform that’s already logged over 800 million drone detections across 30+ countries. The system fuses data from multiple sensor types — radio frequency, radar, optical cameras, acoustic sensors — into a single unified airspace picture. It uses machine learning trained on over 18 million images to identify drone signatures and virtually eliminate false positives.

When DedroneTracker.AI spots a threat, it can automatically cue TYTAN’s kinetic interceptors for launch.

TYTAN’s interceptors are essentially autonomous missiles purpose-built to chase down hostile drones. They launch from modular containers that can be mounted on vehicles or deployed as semi-fixed installations. Using computer vision and AI guidance, they sprint toward targets at speeds exceeding 250 km/h with engagement ranges up to 25 km.

The interceptors maintain lock on targets even in GPS-denied environments or under electronic jamming — critical capabilities when facing adversaries who know how to disrupt communications. Once the interceptor gets close enough, it destroys the target drone through direct kinetic impact.

The entire sequence — from detection to launch to destruction — happens in seconds, with minimal human intervention required.

“This alliance allows us to offer our customers a seamless CUAS platform that spans Group 1 through Group 3 threats,” said Aaditya Devarakonda, CEO of Dedrone by Axon in a prepared statement. “Together, Dedrone and TYTAN are helping NATO and its partners build the connected network that will define the future of air defense.”

Combat-proven in Ukraine

Dedrone’s detection systems are deployed at military installations, airports and critical infrastructure sites globally. The company was the only counter-drone provider acknowledged under the Department of Homeland Security’s SAFETY Act for anti-terrorism technology.

TYTAN’s interceptors have undergone operational testing in Ukraine. Videos from those tests show the interceptors successfully engaging drone targets, controlled by operators using commercial gaming devices like the Steam Deck — a deliberate design choice that prioritizes rapid iteration over military procurement bureaucracy.

In October 2025, Germany awarded TYTAN a multi-hundred-million-euro contract to develop interceptor systems for the Bundeswehr. The German military specifically wanted a solution based on what had been proven in Ukraine.

The TYTAN partnership represents the first of several collaborations Dedrone by Axon has suggested that it plans to announce. The company is positioning DedroneTracker.AI as an open platform that can integrate multiple detection sensors and mitigation technologies from different manufacturers.

The system scales from protecting single facilities through DedroneCity deployments to nationwide networks covering entire countries.

Both Dedrone and TYTAN emphasize their commitment to “technological sovereignty” — meaning the systems are developed and manufactured in Europe (specifically Germany), with software that allies can rapidly update without depending on non-allied technology providers.

From Tasers to drone killers

For Axon, this partnership represents a significant expansion beyond the company’s traditional public safety roots.

Axon is best known for Tasers, police body cameras, and digital evidence management software. But the company has been steadily expanding into robotics and aerial systems. Before acquiring Dedrone in October 2024, Axon bought Sky-Hero (which makes indoor tactical drones) and Fusus (which creates unified intelligence ecosystems for law enforcement).

The Dedrone acquisition alone added an estimated $14 billion to Axon’s total addressable market, opening doors to military, government and critical infrastructure customers that previously weren’t in the company’s orbit.

AXON CEO Rick Smith’s visit to Ukraine crystallized the strategic vision. Working with BRAVE1 and defense innovators in Kyiv, Smith saw how rapidly the nature of conflict is changing — and how traditional defense procurement cycles are too slow to keep pace.

“Ukraine has become a proving ground for the future of defense innovation — especially in unmanned and counter-unmanned systems,” Smith said. “FPV drones have become the new IED — low-cost, everywhere, and deadly at the front lines. To meet these threats, we need to connect sensors, systems, and allies into one network that acts at machine speed.”

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