DroneShield's Adelaide R&D Push, a Fresh CFO, and a Share Price That Keeps Slipping

DroneShield opened an Adelaide R&D facility, booked a first RfRecon order, and named Rebecca Lowde CFO effective November 2, 2026.

DroneShield is pressing ahead on two fronts at once. The Australian counter-drone specialist opened a new research and development facility in Adelaide on Wednesday, widening its engineering footprint on home soil even as it reshapes the team running its finances.

The Adelaide site is meant to shorten the distance between concept and deployment. By expanding its development capacity in Australia, DroneShield aims to move newly designed detection and defeat systems toward market readiness faster and to fold customer-specific modifications more tightly into military requirements. Management frames the investment as the technical bedrock for winning and servicing contracts from armed forces.

RfRecon's first buyer, and a US fielding milestone

There is already a commercial signal to point to. DroneShield booked an initial order for its AI-powered detection device RfRecon from a Western European military customer, a win the company reads as validation of its newer counter-drone offerings.

On the operational side, the company recently completed the successful installation and acceptance of its DroneSentry-X Mk2 countermeasure systems on US military Infantry Squad Vehicles under the JIATF-401 contract. That milestone, announced roughly a week ago, was followed by a 4.2% decline in the share price.

Order book anchored at $251 million

Looking further out, DroneShield has put its secured order volume for the 2026 financial year at $251 million, a figure it disclosed about two weeks ago and which it says keeps it within its revenue targets. The demand backdrop is favorable: defense budgets are climbing worldwide, and with them the appetite for precise surveillance and the defeat of small aerial threats.

Lowde takes the finance helm

Running alongside the infrastructure build-out is a change at the top of the finance function. DroneShield named Rebecca Lowde as its new chief financial officer, effective November 2, 2026. She arrives with three decades of experience in the finance departments of listed technology companies, including stints at Afterpay and MYOB.

Her track record covers more than routine reporting. At MYOB, Lowde oversaw a comprehensive debt refinancing and drove growth in operating earnings. At Afterpay she wore two hats, serving as both finance and people chief while steering a $1.5 billion capital raise and shepherding the company through its eventual takeover by Block in a deal worth $39 billion.

Lowde succeeds Carla Balanco, who is leaving after more than eight years as finance chief. Balanco joined DroneShield in an earlier phase of its development, rose to the CFO role, and built out the group's internal financial systems, reporting, and compliance and treasury structures for its global operations.

Market response stays muted

Investors have yet to reward the operational and leadership moves. The stock closed Thursday at EUR 1.01, leaving it down 44% since the start of the year. The share also shed 4.0% in the period following the CFO announcement. With the Adelaide facility now up and running, management is betting that a firmer technological base will translate into future orders — even if the tape has yet to agree.