GuardAero has won the inaugural Austrian Defence Innovation Conference (ADIC) Hackathon 2025. Organised by the Austrian Federal Ministry of Defence and the Austrian Armed Forces, the event brought together military experts, industry, research institutions and start-ups to develop practical solutions for current defence and security challenges.
GuardAero convinced the jury with APS-1, its active protection system for military vehicles. The system is designed to autonomously protect soldiers against close-range drone attacks and can be integrated into a wide range of existing military vehicle platforms. As the winner, GuardAero will enter into a cooperation agreement with the Austrian Armed Forces for the testing and further development of APS-1.
“Winning the Austrian Federal Ministry of Defence’s Hackathon is a major milestone for GuardAero and confirms the operational relevance of GuardAero‘s approach. The cooperation agreement enables us to test APS-1 under realistic conditions and to further develop the system in close cooperation with its future users,” said Lukas Kerschdorfer, CEO of GuardAero FlexCo.