Boresight Headquarters: Fyshwick, ACT 2609, Australia
US Operations: Huntsville, Alabama
Parent company: Criterion Solutions, Canberra
Units sold (last five years): 5000+
Markets served: Australasia, North America, Europe, Middle East
Military customers: 11 Western armed forces including all four US services
Commercial customers include: Northrop Grumman, Anduril, DroneShield, Nammo, QinetiQ JV
A Canberra-based manufacturer of military target drone systems has emerged as the Western Hemisphere's leading supplier of small target Uncrewed Aerial Systems (UAS).
Armies use sophisticated aerial systems to train and test their counter-drone defences, as demand from Western military forces accelerates in response to the growing threat posed by hostile unmanned aircraft.
Boresight Pty Ltd, headquartered in Fyshwick, ACT, delivers an integrated aerial target drone ecosystem that enables realistic counter-UAS training and testing for defence forces. This includes designing, developing, and manufacturing a range of cost-effective UAS and associated control technology for military and defence industry customers across Australasia, North America, Europe and the Middle East.
In the past five years, the company has sold more than 5000 systems to some of the world's most demanding military customers, a remarkable achievement for an Australian small-to-medium enterprise operating in a sector long dominated by international primes.
The Problem Boresight Solves
The rapid proliferation of low-cost drones has fundamentally changed the nature of modern conflict and public security.
From commercial quadcopters repurposed for battlefield reconnaissance to sophisticated loitering munitions capable of precision strikes on armoured vehicles, the threat posed by hostile UAS is no longer theoretical. It is a daily operational reality for militaries around the world, and one that Ukraine has brought into sharp focus for defence planners in every Western capital.
The response is the development and fielding of Counter-UAS (C-UAS) systems capable of detecting, tracking and neutralising hostile drones. It has become one of the fastest-growing segments of global defence spending.
But effective Counter-UAS training requires realistic, repeatable and affordable targets. That is precisely the gap Boresight was built to fill.
Boresight Managing Director Justin Olde explains the core value proposition: "Every Counter-UAS system in the world needs to be tested against realistic drone targets before it can be deployed. And every soldier operating that system needs to train against the real threat. You cannot train effectively against a threat you have never seen fly. Boresight provides cost effective targets, and an easy to use ground control system and that enables the consistency, repeatability and reliability that military training demands."
Western Militaries Are Customers, Not Just Prospects
Boresight's customer list is among the most compelling in the Australian defence industry. Military customers include:
Australian Defence Force
British Army
United States Army
United States Marine Corps
United States Navy
United States Air Force
Canadian Armed Forces
New Zealand Defence Force
Dutch Army
Italian Army
Finnish Army
Commercial and defence industry customers include Northrop Grumman, Anduril, DroneShield, EOS Defence Systems, Department 13, Nammo, Houbara (a joint venture of MBDA Group and QinetiQ), Kongsbergand the University of Sydney. A roster that reflects Boresight's credibility across both military procurement and the private sector Counter-UAS industry.
The company also provides UAS system operator training services and tailored training exercises, a high-value service that places Boresight personnel at the centre of some of the most sensitive Counter-UAS capability development programs in the Western alliance.
A Product Range Built Around the Threat
Boresight's flagship product, the BQ-400 Raider quadcopter, is a compact, low-cost target drone weighing 1.3kg and capable of speeds up to 65 Kph with a flight endurance of up to 25 minutes. It’s closely replicating the performance envelope of the commercial quadcopters most commonly repurposed by adversaries for battlefield use.
The company's product range has expanded significantly to cover a broader spectrum of threat profiles:
BQ-750 Quadcopter: a larger target platform with a 2kg payload capacity and up to 45 minutes endurance, suited to threat scenarios involving heavier commercial or military UAS
BS-350 Quadcopter: an Australian-manufactured alternative to Chinese-made camera drones, offering 1080p live video, dual 12-megapixel cameras and a 5km range, designed for military and law enforcement surveillance applications
BQ-300 FPV Quadcopter (in development): a high-speed first-person-view target capable of 150 Kph+, replicating FPV attack drones of the type used extensively in recent conflicts
BF-100 Group 1 Fixed Wing (in development): a small fixed-wing target replicating the performance of Group 1 fixed-wing UAS at speeds of 100-150 Kph over a 5km range
BF-150 Group 1 Fixed Wing (in development: a larger fixed-wing platform designed to replicate loitering munitions, a class of weapon that has dominated recent battlefield coverage
The Differentiator
Across all platforms, Boresight operates a proprietary Ground Control System (GCS) capable of managing multiple UAS simultaneously in both one-to-one and one-to-many (swarming) configurations. This purpose-built system, a significant step above hobby-grade alternatives, enables simple, safe, consistent and repeatable piloting across training, testing and demonstration environments, providing an end to end target drone ecosystem that is a key competitive differentiator for the company.
Established in Australia, Expanding Globally
Boresight was established as a subsidiary of Canberra-based defence and intelligence company Criterion Solutions, after the parent company identified the need for purpose-built, consistent and high-quality target drones to serve the emerging C-UAS market.
The original BQ-400 Raider was developed to meet that need, and sales growth drove the establishment of Boresight as a standalone entity focused on manufacturing and marketing low-cost, disposable UAS at scale.
The company is headquartered in Fyshwick ACT — a fitting address for a business that sits at the intersection of Australian manufacturing capability and national security.
Boresight is a member of the Australian Association for Unmanned Systems (AAUS) and operates in full compliance with Australian Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) regulations, with CASA-certified Remote Pilot Licence holders on staff.
Reflecting the scale of demand in the United States, the world's largest defence market, Boresight has established Boresight USA in Huntsville, Alabama, the hub of the US defence industry.
A Market at Its Inflection Point
The global Counter-UAS market is, by Boresight's own assessment, still in its early stages.
Western militaries are only now beginning to introduce C-UAS systems into service at scale despite the threat having been present and growing for years. The war in Ukraine and the war in the Middle East have dramatically accelerated defence procurement timelines and increased the urgency with which governments are investing in counter-drone capability.
The result is a rapidly expanding addressable market for both Counter-UAS systems and the target UAS required to train and test them.
Boresight's future product roadmap reflects both the maturity of the existing target UAS business and the company's ambitions to move further up the capability stack.
Planned additions include a range of Interceptor UAS for kinetic Counter-UAS missions, One Way Mission systems with variable payloads and control interfaces, and expanded cost effective surveillance UAS for military and law enforcement operations, all integrated through a single Ground Control System ecosystem that gives operators a consistent interface regardless of platform.
"We built Boresight on the principle that asymmetric advantage shouldn't be expensive," said Mr Olde. "The drone threat is asymmetric by nature, a commercial quadcopter costing thousands, can cause millions of dollars of damage or compromise a critical operation. Our job is to make sure forces can train against that threat, test their systems against it, and develop the doctrine to defeat it at a cost that makes large-scale training and testing sustainable."
CONTACTS FOR MEDIA ENQUIRIES
Boresight Managing Director, Justin Olde
About us:
About Boresight:
Boresight Pty Ltd delivers an integrated aerial target drone ecosystem that enables realistic counter-UAS training and testing for defence forces. The company’s systems combine attritable aerial target drones, mission planning software and scalable ground control systems to support threat emulation and operational readiness. Boresight’s platform range includes quadrotor and fixed-wing aerial targets designed to replicate evolving drone threats and enable repeatable training scenarios without risking high-value ISR assets.
With teams in Australia, the United States and the United Kingdom, Boresight supports defence partners globally with scalable training infrastructure and integrated engineering and production capability.
Contact details:
Jane Morgan Management
