La República projects anti‑drone market $32bn
- La República reported Saturday that Colombia’s anti-drone push is accelerating around the Defense Ministry’s Escudo Nacional Antidrones program, a planned 6.7 trillion-peso effort that has drawn interest from 74 companies in 20 countries. - The paper singled out seven firms with visible traction in Colombia: Dedrone, Indra, Tekniam Colombia, Zehirut Colombia, Strinso Defense, UID and Biotelecomm, with disclosed contracts ranging from about $100 million to $9 billion pesos. - The backdrop is a fast-growing but fragmented market: La República cited a forecast above $32 billion by 2034, while other researchers project lower totals. (larepublica.co) (fortunebusinessinsights.com)
Counter-drone systems are tools that spot, track and stop hostile drones, and Colombia is turning that niche into a major defense procurement race. (businesswire.com) (fortunebusinessinsights.com) La República reported on April 25 that seven companies now stand out in Colombia’s market: Dedrone, Indra, Tekniam Colombia, Zehirut Colombia, Strinso Defense, UID and Biotelecomm. The newspaper said its list was based on online records, local supply evidence and in-country development capacity. (larepublica.co) The immediate driver is Escudo Nacional Antidrones, the Defense Ministry program to buy fixed, semi-fixed, vehicle-mounted, shipboard and portable counter-unmanned-aircraft systems. The ministry has put the project’s value at 6.7 trillion pesos and said phase one in 2026 is expected to use about 1 trillion pesos. (mindefensa.gov.co 1) (mindefensa.gov.co 2) Defense Minister Pedro Sánchez said 74 companies from 20 countries had expressed interest in the program, underscoring how wide the field remains. A March 19 ministry statement said the procurement was still in the structuring stage and warned that no outsider was part of the contracting process. (larepublica.co) (mindefensa.gov.co) The contracts already visible in public records are much smaller, which shows how uneven this market can be. La República cited a US$25.3 million Dedrone contract disclosed in June 2025 for Army and Colombian Aerospace Force base surveillance, and an approximately US$1.8 million Biotelecomm deal for eight Orion 10-mp units in Cauca. (larepublica.co) Indra’s local profile comes from event security as much as battlefield demand. La República said the Spanish group handled the anti-drone system used during COP16 in Cali, where the Defense Ministry had deployed an 11,000-member security operation around the October 2024 summit. (larepublica.co) (mindefensa.gov.co) The ministry says the threat is no longer hypothetical. It reported 115 drone attack incidents in 2024 and said anti-drone systems are being added to protect communities, security forces and critical infrastructure such as military facilities and power networks. (mindefensa.gov.co) La República tied that urgency to 2025 data, reporting that up to 9,000 attack attempts were detected and 96% were jammed or otherwise inhibited. The paper said the remaining 4% still caused deaths, including the August 23, 2025 attack on a police helicopter in Amalfi, Antioquia. (larepublica.co) (mindefensa.gov.co) The market forecast attached to the story is directionally clear but not uniform. La República cited a global anti-drone market of US$4.93 billion last year rising above US$32 billion by 2034, while Fortune Business Insights pegs 2025 at US$3.11 billion and 2034 at US$16.45 billion. (larepublica.co) (fortunebusinessinsights.com) That gap says as much about the sector as the headline number does: demand is rising faster than consensus is forming. In Colombia, the next hard signal will be who converts interest in Escudo Nacional Antidrones into signed contracts. (mindefensa.gov.co) (larepublica.co)
