Exclusive: ZeroMark shows off counter-drone gun gear
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ZeroMark CEO Joel Anderson readies a gun during a demo in rural Virginia. Photo: Colin Demarest
Ordinary guns are emerging as a dramatic defense against drone attacks. Clips coming out of the Russia-Ukraine war show lucky shots saving lives when all else fails.
Why it matters: Combatting unmanned tech requires many tools, ranging from incredibly precise and expensive missiles to sci-fi-adjacent directed energy to cope cages and whatever else is in-hand at the moment.
- Insiders know this as layered defense — countermeasures galore for any and all situations.
Driving the news: Axios was given exclusive access to a counter-drone demo in rural Virginia put on by ZeroMark, a small defense company that wants to equip troops with smarter weaponry.
- Participants used a rifle and shotgun outfitted with ZeroMark's Apex sensor-and-buttstock combo to blow cheap target drones out of the air.
- Not every shot landed. There was also a learning curve for novice shooters.
How it works: ZeroMark's quickly installed gear fine-tunes aim with a of mix of computer vision and robotics.
- It helps keep a gun trained on a target as, in this case, it zips across the sky and hovers overhead. It doesn't interfere with the trigger.
- "We do not change the way you train with or use a rifle. We don't change the fundamentals of marksmanship. You still need to be aiming as if the system wasn't there," CEO Joel Anderson told Axios.
- But when "you engage the system, it's going to boost you. It's going to make you better." Toggling it meant pressing a small pad near the muzzle. The result was snappy.
State of play: New York-based ZeroMark earlier this year announced a $7 million seed-funding round led by Ground Up Ventures and Andreessen Horowitz.
- The military in October published photos of Marines trying ZeroMark's fire control system on an M27 Infantry Automatic Rifle.
Zoom out: The market is flooded with drone defenses. That includes interceptors, like RTX's widely purchased Coyote, and specialized optics.
The bottom line: "Shooting down a drone is like being in a firefight," said Anderson, who enlisted in the Navy following high school.
- "That's not a place you want to be. But when you're there, you need your tools to work."
