Oleg Vornik

Oleg Vornik was the founding Chief Executive Officer of DroneShield (ASX: DRO), the Australian Counter-UAS company that grew from a niche start-up into one of the world's leading electronic warfare and drone-defeat platform companies under his leadership. Vornik departed on 8 April 2026 simultaneously with founding Chairman Peter James, a joint exit that sent DroneShield shares down 20% on the day.

During Vornik's tenure DroneShield expanded from a single-product jammer business into a multi-platform portfolio spanning handheld devices, vehicle-mounted systems, fixed-site installations, and a nascent kinetic kill capability. FY2025 revenue reached AUD .5 million, up 276% year-on-year, with a European headquarters opened in Amsterdam and EU manufacturing capacity scaling toward AUD .4 billion annually by end-2026. The strategic groundwork — including the Amsterdam HQ and the Origin Robotics kinetic-kill MOU — was largely laid under Vornik's watch.

The circumstances of his departure were not disclosed publicly. His simultaneous exit with the Chairman, rather than a staggered transition, was unusual for a company in the middle of a Major operational scale-up and was interpreted by markets as a signal of internal disagreement rather than planned succession.