Exclusive: Vectus, led by Erik Prince, pitches air defense as a service

Colin Demarest

Photo collage of a shield and money. — Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios

Vectus Air Defense Systems launched Friday, led by Blackwater founder Erik Prince and backed by drone-collaboration specialist Swarmer.

Why it matters: The company is taking an unorthodox tack, applying the as-a-service model, often associated with software subscriptions, to overhead defenses, like jammers, cannons and interceptors seen on the battlefields of Ukraine and the Middle East.

"It's clear that the threat is evolving rapidly, and the demand for a private-sector solution is very strong," Prince said in a statement to Axios.

"We need to achieve a drastic reduction in the cost of defense and to enable customers to take the protection of critical assets into their own hands."

The big picture: Much critical infrastructure was designed or built before today's proliferation of cheap, exploding drones. Military bases, data centers, shipping lanes and refineries are being bombarded the world over.

What they're saying: "You have a really large cost-asymmetry right now, between how much it costs to attack a valuable site and how much it costs to defend it from that attack," Swarmer's U.S. CEO, Alex Fink, tells Axios.

"You have a great diversity of threats, of terrain, of sites," which is why "you need experts," he said. "Just think about the size of this market."

Follow the money: Swarmer is a founding investor in Vectus, holding a 20% equity interest. The companies are expected to collaborate on counter-drone tech, including sensing and swarming.

Go deeper: A teachable moment amid Northeast drone madness

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Exclusive: Vectus, led by Erik Prince, pitches air defense as a service

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