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The defence thematic is back, baby. While things in Israel-Gaza have apparently settled down (for now), and while the world still can’t really figure out if Syria actually matters for markets or not, there’s a new frontier: It’s starting to look like the United States might be gearing up to attack Iran. Again.

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This, of course, ignores the fact we’re still seeing the most bloody conflict in Europe since WW2 play out; that is, Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

While this is probably a little insensitive, all of this war got me thinking of another on the ASX: What’s the deal with the company-themed arms race between Electro Optic Systems (ASX:EOS) and DroneShield (ASX:DRO) – the two biggest defence darlings (or the only ones, really) Down Under in CY25?

Well, we’ve got a clear winner early now. Because, after acquiring a business called MARSS, which, get this, focuses on counter-drone technology.

If that’s not a direct stab at DroneShield, I don’t know what is.

DroneShield, for all intents and purposes, was having a very good year until its CEO, Oleg Vornik, sold all of his shares, before eventually taking to LinkedIn weeks later to tell everybody everything was actually fine. The price action is perhaps evidence enough that the market mightn’t be so sure.

But all of this talking (well, typing) is probably superfluous when you can just superimpose DRO onto EOS’s 1Y chart, which looks like this:

EOS vs DRO a/a 2.00pm AEDT Tuesday 13 Jan (TradingView)

That says it all, really.

EOS last traded at $11.06/sh.

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EOS by the numbers
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