DroneShield Ltd (ASX: DRO) shares are charging higher on Tuesday morning.

At the time of writing, the counter drone technology company's shares are up 5% to $1.62.

Why are DroneShield shares rising?

Today's gain could have been driven by the release of announcement out of the company highlighting its significant market opportunity outside Australia.

According to the release, DroneShield is making a significant investment to expand its operations in Europe and support the continent's domestic defence programs. This includes the ReArm Europe Plan/Readiness 2030.

The company notes that it is working to establish a European manufacturing and in-house assembly facility. This will be its first outside of Australia.

The expansion includes plans to establish a new sales hub and create a second manufacturing line for select DroneShield hardware, with at least 65% European-based industry content for certain products sold in the region.

Huge market

The company highlights that Europe is one of DroneShield's largest geographical segments, with over $500 million across dozens of opportunities.

The local manufacturing program is expected to bring further demand through qualifying the company for additional deals.

It is also coming at an opportune time with Europe enacting its 800 billion euros (~A$1.4 trillion) ReArm Europe Plan/Readiness 2030 plan. This has the aim of making the continent more militarily self-reliant and counter the threat from Russia.

The latter is something DroneShield has great experience in. Management highlights that its technology and best-in-class devices continue to play a major role in supporting Ukraine in the Russia-Ukraine War.

 Commenting on its European plans, DroneShield's CEO, Oleg Vornik, said:

This battleground has become ever more important to our European allies as they rapidly expand their defence capabilities. That defence must be centred around the modern threats of warfare which we're engaged with daily, even using AI to significantly advance counter drone capabilities by accurately identifying, tracking, and classing drones.

Establishing a robust European supply chain to support equipment sold in the region will strengthen sovereign capability, while DroneShield's experienced Australian software development team will continue to deliver critical updates that address emerging threats faced by customers not only in Ukraine but worldwide.

DroneShield advised that it will continue to build its European team in line with the expansion, adding to the highly experienced CUAS experts it has on the ground.

Meanwhile in its home market, the company plans to expand its Australian assembly facilities. This will support Australia's own rise in modern defence capabilities alongside allies across the globe.