Collective Defence S.à r.l., the Luxembourg-headquartered multi-domain defence company, today announced the acquisition of Asterion, manufacturer of counter-unmanned aerial systems (C-UAS), spanning radio-frequency detection, AI-enabled tracking, and layered kinetic and non-kinetic effectors.
The transaction — led by C5 Capital, the specialist defence and national security investment firm headquartered in Washington DC, and backed by a number of strategic sovereign investors — values the combined business in excess of USD1 billion.
The acquisition brings together Collective Defence’s network defence, threat intelligence and Security Operations Centre (SOC) capabilities — built on the integration of ITC Secure and IronNet — with Asterion’s portfolio of C-UAS systems.
“Asterion’s scalable C5ISR technology that fuses multi-layered detection and enables the launch of autonomous interceptors has been tested in operational conditions in Ukraine and the Middle East, where it demonstrated effectiveness against Iranian-designed Shahed-series loitering munitions and Russian first-person-view (FPV) drones,” said the company in a press release. “Conducted alongside local armed forces, these deployments validate the system’s ability to detect, classify and neutralize hostile UAS at scale across contested electromagnetic environments….Asterion holds contracts exceeding Euro 100 million with allied governments and has one of the fastest-growing contract pipelines in Europe and the Middle East.”
The combined company will offer governments, critical national infrastructure operators and enterprise customers a single integrated stack covering: cyber threat detection and incident response across IT, OT and ICS environments; detection, classification and tracking of hostile drones and swarms; kinetic and electronic effectors, with software-defined targeting and rules of engagement; and a unified command-and-control layer linking cyber defence and physical airspace defence
For more information
https://collectivedefence.com/
(Image: Asterion’s Hitchhiker drone is a cost-effective electric-powered interceptor designed to counter threats such as Shahad drones. Asterion)
The 2026 Unmanned Airspace Global Counter-UAS Systems Directory is now available. The Guide is the world’s only comprehensive, continually updated directory of global C-UAS companies and systems. It itemises over 1,000 C-UAS products and services with performance details, company sales and partnerships arrangements. It is updated every month and broken down into niche sub-sectors (net-capture, missiles, intercept drones, detectors etc) to give C-UAS procurement and industry personnel a unique perspective of global C-UAS technical capabilities and market positions. It is available in word, PDF and excel formats and Unmanned Airspace readers are eligible for a range of discounts. For more information about the Directory please contact the editor Philip Butterworth-Hayes at philip@unmannedairspace.info.