DroneGun MkIII sits in the middle of DroneShield's handheld jammer lineup, and the naming across that lineup is easy to confuse. The original rifle-shaped DroneGun (and its MkII revision) came first, offering the longest range at the cost of bulk. DroneGun Tactical, launched in early 2018, repackaged that long-range capability into a single self-contained rifle-style housing (no separate backpack battery) with over 1 km of effective range, but still weighs roughly 6.8-7.3 kg.^3,4 DroneGun MkIII, covered in this article, went the opposite direction: DroneShield built it specifically to be light enough that a soldier or officer could carry it as a secondary tool alongside a primary weapon, trading range for a sub-2.5 kg package operable with one hand.^2,5 DroneShield later added a fourth model, DroneGun Mk4 (2023), pitched as a mid-point between Tactical's range and MkIII's compactness.⁶ This article covers MkIII specifically.

DroneGun MkIII weighs approximately 2 kg including its battery — cited variously as 1.95 kg and 2.14 kg across DroneShield's own spec sheet and reseller listings, a small enough discrepancy that it likely reflects different accessory configurations rather than a real design change.^7,9 The handheld unit measures about 629 x 393 x 209 mm and ships with a rugged carry case that brings the total kit to roughly 7 kg.^9,11 It is rated IP55 for dust and water resistance and specified to operate across a -20°C to +55°C range.⁷

The system's core job is denying two links a small drone needs: the pilot's control/video uplink and, optionally, satellite navigation. It jams the 433 MHz and 915 MHz bands used by many remote-control systems and the 2.4 GHz and 5.8 GHz ISM bands used for control and video on most consumer and prosumer drones; an optional module adds disruption of GNSS L1 and L2 signals, covering GPS, GLONASS, BeiDou and Galileo.^7,8 DroneShield states that a jammed drone will typically perform a vertical controlled landing on the spot or automatically return toward its take-off point or controller, and that the video feed to the drone's operator cuts out immediately — useful both for stopping surveillance in the moment and, since the airframe itself is left intact rather than destroyed, for potential forensic recovery afterward.^1,8

Power comes from a rechargeable, NATO-standard-format lithium-ion battery running at 10.8VDC, rated for over an hour of active jamming per charge and more than 8 hours on standby, with a startup time under 3 seconds from power-on to ready.^7,8 The control panel is a simple physical interface on the unit itself, letting the operator select which frequency modes to engage rather than requiring a separate tablet or laptop — part of what keeps the system usable one-handed. DroneShield does not disclose the internal directional-antenna design in public materials, though independent reporting describes the emission pattern as directional rather than omnidirectional, consistent with a device meant to be aimed at a specific target rather than blanket-jam an area.¹

DroneShield was founded on 10 January 2014 in Virginia, United States, by Brian Hearing and John Franklin, initially working on acoustic detection technology; the company listed on the Australian Securities Exchange in 2016 and has been run by CEO Oleg Vornik since 2015, with its operational base subsequently centered on Sydney.^12,13 The company's handheld RF-jammer line began with the original rifle-shaped DroneGun, followed by a DroneGun MkII revision released in late 2017.^4,14 DroneGun Tactical followed in January 2018, built after DroneShield received requirements input from a major European military and completed international end-user trials; it consolidated the design into a single self-contained rifle housing with no separate backpack pack, while retaining well over 1 km of effective range.^4,14

DroneGun MkIII arrived in July 2019, developed explicitly in response to military feedback that units wanted something small enough for every soldier in a squad to carry as a secondary tool without displacing a rifle or other primary weapon.^2,5 DroneShield CEO Oleg Vornik summarized the intent at the time: "You can still have your primary weapon, a machine gun or a rifle, but at the same time carry a DroneGun MKIII as a supplementary device."⁵ The United States Army's Joint Counter-small Unmanned Aircraft Systems Office evaluated the system at Yuma Proving Ground, Arizona, in late September 2021, gathering effective-range and command-link-disruption data alongside operator feedback on how the unit should be carried and stowed in the field.¹⁵

In October 2022, DroneShield announced a $1.8 million contract with the U.S. Department of Defense for DroneGun MkIII units, which the company described at the time as its largest U.S. sale to date, positioning the system as a "lightweight, flexible countermeasure that can go anywhere" to fill force-protection gaps for personnel and assets.^16,17 DroneShield launched a fourth model, DroneGun Mk4, in April 2023, described by the company as an addition to the lineup — sitting between MkIII's compactness and Tactical's range — rather than a replacement for either existing model.⁶ By DroneShield's current product listings, however, only DroneGun Tactical and DroneGun Mk4 appear as actively marketed dismounted jammers; MkIII is absent from that page, suggesting Mk4 has since effectively superseded it in the catalogue even without a formal discontinuation announcement.¹⁰ That said, MkIII purchases continued into at least December 2025, when Belgium's armed forces signed a roughly €2.8 million deal covering both DroneGun Tactical and DroneGun MkIII units as part of a national response to a sharp rise in drone incursions over Belgian airspace.¹⁸

No independently documented combat or active-war-zone use of DroneGun MkIII specifically has been confirmed as of this writing. DroneShield's broader product line has drawn attention in the context of the war in Ukraine and other conflicts, but the sourcing found for this article does not tie a specific, named MkIII deployment to combat operations — as opposed to the security, law-enforcement, and force-protection roles (military bases, government facilities, public events) that account for its confirmed sales.^16,18 This section will be updated if a documented combat deployment of this specific model is confirmed.

The United States Department of Defense is a confirmed operator, following the $1.8 million contract announced in October 2022 through the Joint Counter-small Unmanned Aircraft Systems Office, after an evaluation period at Yuma Proving Ground in 2021.^15,16 Belgium's armed forces are a confirmed customer as of a contract signed in December 2025, though that roughly €2.8 million order covers DroneGun MkIII alongside the longer-range DroneGun Tactical, and public reporting does not break out how many of each model were included.¹⁸

DroneShield markets its handheld jammers broadly to law-enforcement agencies, prisons and correctional facilities, VIP/close-protection details, and critical-infrastructure operators such as airports, in addition to militaries, since the drone-incursion problem those buyers face — a hobbyist or malicious quadcopter flying over a controlled area — is largely the same regardless of customer type.^1,18 Public sourcing for this article did not surface a specific, named law-enforcement or corrections agency confirmed to operate the MkIII model by name (as opposed to DroneShield's product line generally), so no such customer is listed here as a confirmed operator.

Within DroneShield's own range, DroneGun MkIII is deliberately the compact end of a two-axis trade: it gives up most of DroneGun Tactical's 1-2 km range and roughly triples the weight-to-range efficiency in exchange for a package light enough to be a genuine secondary tool rather than a dedicated crew-served item. DroneGun Mk4, introduced in 2023, was pitched by DroneShield explicitly as a middle ground between the two, and by 2026 appears to have taken over MkIII's spot in the company's active catalogue.^6,10

Against outside rivals, IXI Technology's Dronekiller — a similarly rifle-style, man-portable RF jammer — reaches out to roughly 1 km, twice MkIII's 500 m, while covering seven frequency bands (versus MkIII's four ISM/ISM-adjacent bands plus optional GNSS) and running on built-in batteries good for about 2 hours of active use; the trade-off is weight, at roughly 4 kg versus MkIII's 2 kg.¹⁹ Where MkIII (and its DroneShield siblings) compete on being carried by an individual, Leonardo's Falcon Shield occupies a different category entirely: a vehicle- or fixed-site, radar-and-ESM-cued layered system whose directive jammer is one component of a broader 360-degree detect-track-defeat architecture, optionally paired with a laser or gun effector — built for base or convoy protection rather than for a single dismounted operator to carry and aim by hand.²⁰ The honest comparison, then, is less "which jammer is better" than "which class of system a given customer needs": MkIII is the answer when the requirement is a rifle-squad-portable stopgap, not a persistent, radar-integrated perimeter defense.

MASS Assessment

DroneGun MkIII's ten MASS component scores read almost as a mirror image of a networked system like Falcon Shield's — strong where a handheld tool should be strong, weak everywhere that requires infrastructure it deliberately doesn't carry.

Mobility (90) is the highest score any weapon in this batch has recorded so far, which fits: at roughly 2 kg and pistol-shaped, MkIII is genuinely one-handed and needs no vehicle, tripod, or power source beyond its own battery. Non-kinetic options (80) and reaction time (80) reflect the sub-3-second startup and the fact that jamming, unlike a kinetic shot, can be released and re-released instantly without expending anything.

Detection range (20) is MkIII's weakest component, and structurally so: the unit has no onboard sensor of its own — it is aimed by an operator who has already spotted or been cued to a drone by some other means, unlike a fused system such as Leonardo's Falcon Shield, which detects and tracks before anyone reaches for an effector. Multi-target capability (20) is equally low: MkIII's directional beam engages one drone at a time in whatever direction it's pointed, with no ability to hold or service multiple contacts simultaneously.

The comparison underlines a point made above: MkIII and Falcon Shield aren't really competing for the same purchase order. One is a squad-portable stopgap; the other is the networked layer MkIII's own detection gap describes.

What is the DroneShield DroneGun MkIII? It is a handheld, pistol-shaped RF and GNSS jammer built by Australian company DroneShield, designed to force small consumer and commercial drones to land or return to their operator by disrupting their control link and navigation signal, rather than shooting them down.^1,2

What is DroneGun MkIII's range and how much does it weigh? DroneShield specifies an effective range of about 500 m in clear line of sight, with the handheld unit weighing approximately 2 kg (reported as 1.95-2.14 kg across sources) including battery.^7,9

How is DroneGun MkIII different from DroneGun Tactical and DroneGun Mk4? DroneGun Tactical is the older, rifle-shaped, longer-range model (roughly 6.8-7.3 kg, 1-2 km range) meant to be carried on its own. DroneGun MkIII, covered here, trades range for a lighter, one-handed pistol-shaped package meant to be a secondary tool. DroneGun Mk4, launched in 2023, was introduced as a middle ground between the two and appears to have taken MkIII's place in DroneShield's current catalogue.^3,6,10

Who uses DroneGun MkIII? Confirmed customers include the U.S. Department of Defense, which ordered the system for $1.8 million in October 2022 after a 2021 evaluation at Yuma Proving Ground, and Belgium's armed forces, which included MkIII in a roughly €2.8 million December 2025 order alongside DroneGun Tactical units.^15,16,18

Can civilians buy a DroneGun MkIII? No, not in most jurisdictions with meaningful RF-spectrum regulation. In the United States, for example, FCC rules restrict intentional jamming devices to government, military and law-enforcement buyers regardless of the purchaser's intent.¹