Guardaero
Active protection system for vehicles that autonomously detects and neutralises drones — detection to 80 m, hard-kill engagement from around 50 m, retrofittable from tank to pickup.
Latest event found: 1 May 2026 · 6 months ago
Vitality Radar
Pillar Analysis
Strategic Assessment
Strategic Vector
GuardAero is moving from publicly funded technology demonstration toward commercialization of an autonomous active-protection system for military vehicles, with close Austrian Armed Forces engagement and a completed seed round in 2026. The company appears focused on counter-drone vehicle protection and intends to pursue another financing round for expansion.
Efficiency Ratio
A small team has produced a funded demonstrator and military-facing prototype activity, indicating strong resource-to-output efficiency, although public evidence of scaled production, recurring revenue, or deployed systems remains limited.
Evidence Signals
GuardAero presented its APS-1 active protection system for military vehicles together with the Austrian Armed Forces at Technology Day at the Europa-Forum Wachau.
GuardAero FlexCo completed a seed financing round led by Angels United GmbH and BKIemen Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH, with additional business angels participating; the proceeds are intended primarily for system development.
Background · older than 12 months
Austria’s Federal Ministry of Defence commissioned GuardAero under project 1068 to develop the MLS1 technology demonstrator, including mechanics, sensors, and software, and to deliver the demonstrator and test report.
- About
- Graz defence-tech company founded in 2025 by Lukas Kerschdorfer, now 11 to 50 staff across two locations. Registered as GuardAero FlexCo. Company line: engineered to protect. Its own description of the product is an active protection system for vehicles that AUTONOMOUSLY DETECTS AND NEUTRALISES DRONES. ORIGINS. The idea began in 2022 with the opening of the war in Ukraine and the visible scale of drone use for reconnaissance and strike. Kerschdorfer had served with the Austrian Armed Forces mountain infantry, and the work started as a mechanical engineering master's thesis in Graz on how to defend vehicles against very cheap small drones. SYSTEM. It covers the full close-range kill chain from detection through defeat, because at that range everything happens in fractions of a second. Detection extends to roughly 80 metres with engagement from around 50 metres, positioned explicitly as a last line of defence rather than an area air-defence system. The effector is shotgun-based — a deliberate hard-kill choice, since many modern drones fly autonomously and cannot be stopped by jamming. Tests with the Austrian Armed Forces produced the best close-range results with this approach. The architecture is modular and retrofittable to any military vehicle from main battle tank to pickup, with quick mounting and one-button automatic operation. FUNDING. A seed round closed in March 2026 in the low single-digit millions of euros, led by Angels United GmbH and BKlemen Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH with several business angels participating; a further multi-million round has been signalled within the year.
- Relevancy
- Austria's own counter-drone company. Founded in Graz in 2025 out of a master's thesis, now 11 to 50 people, building a vehicle-mounted system that detects and shoots down drones at close range — developed and tested with the Austrian Armed Forces. The clearest example of new Austrian capability in this field.
- Tags
- #CUAS #startup #hardkill #activeprotection #vehicleprotection #Bundesheer #Graz #seedfunded #autonomousdefeat