Live-fire demonstration of new 40mm ARWEN cartridge and PARA OPS products at industry Range Day
Initial orders from law enforcement agencies for 40mm cartridge and follow-on demonstrations of PARA OPS
Company scaling up U.S. production to supply 100% "Made In America" products
Ottawa, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - February 5, 2024) - KWESST Micro Systems Inc. (TSXV: KWE) (TSXV: KWE.WT.U) (NASDAQ: KWE) ("KWESST" or the "Company") is pleased to report on the success and highlights of SHOT Show 2024 which took place in Las Vegas, January 23-26.
The Company featured its new ARWEN 40mm cartridge and its PARA OPS non-lethal system, with live fire demonstrations at the industry Range Day, January 22nd in advance of the Show.
"At the Show itself, many law enforcement agencies at the federal, state and local level, plus foreign distributors from Europe, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East, specifically sought us out for these new products," said Sean Homuth, KWESST President and CEO.
The Company is leveraging its established ARWEN riot launcher business as a channel to the law enforcement market. "The long-standing performance reputation of our ARWEN 37mm cartridge catalyzed substantial interest at the Show in our new 40mm ARWEN cartridge," said Homuth. "We are currently working through the fulfillment of a large backlog of ARWEN 37 orders and have begun to receive initial orders for the new 40mm for testing and evaluation."
"Our established ARWEN business with its existing customer base is also proving, as expected, to be a ready channel to the law enforcement community for our new PARA OPS non-lethal product line just being introduced to market now," added Homuth. "We received many requests at the Show for follow-on demonstrations to police agencies to take place over the next several weeks, and coming months, including to some of the biggest agencies in the U.S."
Meetings at the Show included several key S.W.A.T./tactical teams and trainers in the U.S. regarding use of these tools. Some of these officers specialize in less lethal and non-lethal training, including educational blogs for police, and they expressed interest in featuring KWESST's new 40mm cartridge and PARA OPS products. "An important part of our discussions with users like this also focused on the demand profile for 2024 and beyond, which confirmed a growing market for public safety related products in the current and foreseeable operating environment," said Homuth.
Just prior to SHOT Show 2024 the Company opened its e-commerce online order system. "This makes it convenient for customers to initiate orders directly if they wish, though we expect most customers to order through local law enforcement distributors which is the common practice in the industry," said Homuth.
The Company stated that it also met with strategic suppliers at the Show to scale for higher production and provide 100% "Made In America" products for U.S. customers.
"Overall, we are very encouraged at the growing momentum behind our public safety products as a result of this year's SHOT Show and the early order flow," concluded Homuth.
SHOT Show 2024 was also an opportunity for KWESST to test interest in its new Lightning Software as a Service (SaaS) for shared situational awareness in real time among officers responding to a critical incident. As well, the Company provided a live demonstration of its new T-SAS (Tactical Surveillance and Sniper) system, with a live "incident" streamed from a remote city to demonstrate the capability for responders and commanders to view and share video intelligence in real time. There was also interest from strategic industry players in adapting these kinds of capabilities to their own products, with follow-on meetings to be scheduled.
About KWESST
KWESST (NASDAQ: KWE) (NASDAQ: KWESW) (TSXV: KWE) (FSE: 62U) develops and commercializes breakthrough next-generation tactical systems for military and security forces. The company's current portfolio of offerings includes digitization of tactical forces for real-time shared situational awareness and targeting information from any source (including drones) streamed directly to users' smart devices and weapons. Other KWESST products include countermeasures against threats such as electronic detection, lasers and drones. These systems can operate stand-alone or integrate seamlessly with OEM products and battlefield management systems, and all come integrated with TAK. The company also has a new proprietary non-lethal product line branded PARA OPSTM with application across all segments of the non-lethal market, including law enforcement.