Mr. David Luxton reports

KWESST ANNOUNCES "LIGHTNING": A SCALABLE SITUATIONAL AWARENESS SOLUTION FOR THE PUBLIC SAFETY MARKET

Kwesst Micro Systems Inc. is developing a patent-pending SaaS (software-as-a-service) product for public safety agencies to enable lightning-fast real-time shared situational awareness among front-line responders during critical incidents. Built using the TAK (the United States government team awareness kit) software at the foundation, the solution addresses the issues of scalability, interoperability and time to engagement, while customizing the user experience to meet the demands of the specific mission sets that responders encounter.

"Over the past year, we heard from many law enforcement agencies asking if we could adapt our military digitization knowledge to provide them with similar TAK-based shared situational awareness on their smart devices during critical incidents," said David Luxton, Kwesst executive chairman.

Kwesst was already under contract with a national public safety agency to develop a ground search and rescue (GSAR) app for the community of law enforcement and volunteer organizations that conduct searches for thousands of lost people each year. The company expects to demo a version of Kwesst Lightning to potential customers in November, 2023, and expects to launch the first commercially available version for GSAR application by mid-2024. Thereafter, the company will continue to develop custom front-end applications to serve different agency target groups and addressing their unique mission requirements. At the core of all applications related to Kwesst Lightning will be lightning-fast time to engagement, seamless interoperability with co-operating agencies, and limitless scalability in the cloud.

Mr. Luxton added that: "Our market research confirmed an unmet need and a large potential market among not only law enforcement and public safety agencies, but among humanitarian and disaster relief agencies as well, on a global scale. As a result, we've been developing a SaaS solution that makes it very easy for organizations to have this capability without capital investment or maintenance costs, while also enabling lightning-fast and limitless scalability to thousands of users. Responders know better than anyone from many mass incidents that co-ordinated response time is a matter of life and death."

The company also announces that is has filed a provisional patent addressing its solution to the problems of seamless onboarding of responders in a speedy and secure manner, as well as role management, control and interoperability using the TAK platform at the foundation of the service.

"As a SaaS product, the business model is one of recurring revenue from user fees," concluded Sean Homuth, chief financial officer. "A key tenet of our strategy moving forward is to develop scalable recurring revenue from unique IP [intellectual property] that we create and own. The market has a clear unmet need, and Kwesst is responding with a compelling solution that will provide sustainable recurring revenue for the company."

Retirement of Jeff MacLeod

The company also announced today that Mr. MacLeod, Kwesst founder, chief executive officer and president, has indicated that he will be retiring effective Oct. 31, 2023. "It has been very gratifying to see the company progress from startup, based on a single digitization technology, to the range of digital applications and products that are now ready for market and gaining traction," said Mr. MacLeod. As well, the company is in the hands of a seasoned leadership team, which gives me confidence in Kwesst's ability to execute as it grows. I remain a significant shareholder and am excited to see the company's extensive opportunity set come to fruition."

Kwesst is working through the transition process with Mr. MacLeod and expects to name a new CEO by the end of October.

About Kwesst Micro Systems Inc.

Kwesst Micro Systems commercializes breakthrough next-generation tactical systems for military and security forces and personal defence. The company's current portfolio of unique proprietary offerings includes non-lethal systems (Para Ops and Arwen) with application across all segments of the non-lethal market, including law enforcement and personal defence. Kwesst also facilitates digitization of tactical forces with its signature TASCS (tactical awareness situational control system) for real-time awareness and targeting information from any source (including drones) streamed directly to users' smart devices and indirect fire weapons. Other Kwesst products include countermeasures against threats such as drones, lasers and electronic detection. These include the Phantom electronic battlefield deception system to mask the electromagnetic signature of friendly forces with decoy signatures at false locations that deceive and confuse adversaries; a battlefield laser detection system to counter the emerging threat of laser targeting of personnel; and a non-kinetic system to counter the threat of tactical drones. These systems can operate standing alone or integrate seamlessly with third party OEM (original equipment manufacturer) products and networked battlefield management systems such as ATAK. The company is headquartered in Ottawa, Canada, with operations in Stafford, Va., and representative offices in London, United Kingdom, and Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

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