Newscasts - Australian laser firm to move to Europe as NATO builds up defense

Electro Optic Systems Holdings

30/01/2026 20:36

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Source: 'Reuters - General news videos'

Description: Australia's Electro Optic Systems (EOS) is "very likely" to shift its headquarters and stock market listing from Australia to Europe within a year, its CEO told Reuters, in a strategic pivot to capitalize on booming European defense spending. Kristy Kilburn reports.

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Video Transcript:

The Australian-based company making these laser weapons may soon call Europe home in a strategic pivot that could boost Europe's defense buildup and offer a cost-effective countermeasure for Ukraine. Electro Optic Systems, or EOS, plans to relocate its headquarters and stock market listing to Europe within a year, which, if done, would make them the first major defense company to move permanently to Europe. It produces the Apollo high-energy laser weapon, which uses an invisible and silent beam of light to burn through targets, sending drones tumbling to the ground. CEO Andreas Schwer claims it's a superior and much less expensive alternative to conventional rockets, missiles, and guns encountering the growing threat of drone warfare.

The laser is extremely cheap because there is no ammunition supply needed. You can shoot down a drone for cost of the energy, which is $1-5 per shot. The cost of a missile is about $500,000 on average. The cost of a rocket is 30, $40,000. The cost of a cannon-based engagements usually use proximity ammunition, but you still have a burst of about ten rounds. So it's still about $20,000, $30,000, $40,000 per kill. And you can easily add this up.

High-energy lasers are not yet fully battle-tested. Rain, fog, and dust can severely degrade the effectiveness of the beams, while substantial cooling and energy demands make frontline use hard to predict. EOS's product could get a real-world test in Ukraine. Schwer says it has received requests for the Apollo weapon from the Ukrainian government but has yet to find a country willing to foot the bill despite offering discounted prices.

We are happy to support Ukraine with all what we can do.

He adds that most of their Western European partners want to test and verify the system themselves before funding it for Ukraine, though they are not yet deployed at scale and Europe's high-energy laser programs remain largely in prototype or research and development. Control of IP is also emerging as a central issue in Europe's defense buildup as NATO allies move away from their dependence on US-made weapons. EOS owns all its IP, which is based in Singapore, where it benefits from their export rules and enables it to transfer the tech to clients.

But any military component has its origin in the US, that is mandatory, not only for NATO countries, also for Asian and Middle Eastern countries.

Schwer says EOS production and engineering facilities are already being set up in Germany and that they are in talks with 10 European governments about future orders.