Axon says drone tactics evolving

Axon announced that Dedrone by Axon released a comprehensive report, The Current & Future State of Airspace Defense, revealing how low-cost, rapidly evolving drone threats are reshaping battlefields and national security strategies worldwide. Drawing on comprehensive operational datasets from Dedrone’s global sensor network across Europe, the Middle East, and Asia, the report reveals concerning trends in drone behavior across the region, including a 4.3x increase in DIY drone detections in 2025 as compared to 2024 and an observation that 37.5% of all 2025 detections to date occurred in low-visibility conditions. “The drone threat is evolving faster than most defences can respond,” said Aaditya Devarakonda, CEO of Dedrone by Axon. “At DSEI, we’re not just talking about the problem; we’re demonstrating solutions that are live, operational and ready to scale. This report is both a warning and a roadmap: nations that fail to modernise will find themselves outpaced in the next era of airspace warfare.” Dedrone’s report exposes critical vulnerabilities in current defense approaches. While 83% of 2025 detections were still DJI drones, it shows a meaningful drop from the 95% of detections that were DJI in the year before over the same time period. This growing prevalence of a much broader array of drone types including DIY and even RF-silent flights signals a tactical shift that could blind existing sensor networks. “We’re witnessing the collapse of the old air defence economics,” said Ash Alexander-Cooper OBE, VP EMEA and APAC at Dedrone by Axon. “A $20,000 Shahed drone can prompt the launch of a $4 million Patriot missile. The asymmetry is unsustainable unless we fundamentally rethink how we detect, classify and defeat these threats.” For Editorial Inquiries Contact: Editor Kym Bergmann at [email protected] For Advertising Inquiries Contact: Group Sales Director Simon Hadfield at [email protected]