All Team

Brigadier Rudolf Zauner is Head of the Science, Research and Development Department at the Austrian Ministry of Defence. His focus is on the strategic development of defence research, particularly in the areas of digitalisation and innovation.

Richard Weitz is senior fellow and director of the Center for Political-Military Analysis at Hudson Institute. His current research includes regional security developments relating to Europe, Eurasia, and East Asia as well as US foreign and defense policies. Before joining Hudson in 2005, Dr. Weitz worked for several other academic and professional research institutions and the US Department of Defense.

Lieutenant General Harald Vodosek serves as the National Armaments Director of the Austrian Armed Forces and heads Directorate 5 – Armaments. In this role, he oversees the strategic planning and execution of major procurement programmes, including the comprehensive introduction of unmanned systems and counter-unmanned capabilities across Austria’s armed forces.

Thomas Vahrner joined EKO Cobra in 1998 and was instrumental in establishing the unit’s drone and counter-drone capabilities. He currently heads the department for “Drone Operations and Counter-Drone Measures” and serves as Chairman of the Innovation Forum within the European special forces network ATLAS.

Bernhard Treibenreif, born in 1965 in Vöcklabruck, Upper Austria, joined the Federal Gendarmerie in 1986, following his school-leaving exams in 1984 and reserve officer training with the Austrian Armed Forces. In April 2004, he became commander of the Cobra Special Operations Unit. On 1 June 2013, he was appointed Director of the Special Forces Directorate / Cobra Special Operations Unit.

Klaudia Tanner has served as Austria’s Federal Minister of Defence since 7 January 2020. Her tenure has been marked by an unprecedented modernization phase of the Austrian Armed Forces. Under the framework of the so-called „Development Plan 2032+“, Austria’s military is being rebuilt to restore full defence capabilities – including the expansion of drone and counter-drone capacities.

As Partner Manager Special Security Solutions, Christoph Süß is responsible for expanding strategic partnerships and driving business development in Eastern and Southern Europe, with a particular focus on Austria and Switzerland. Prior to this role, Süß served in the German Armed Forces (Bundeswehr) from 2011 to 2024 as a logistics officer, holding various leadership and management positions.

Sven Steingräber is responsible for strategic orientation in sales, national and international market development, the establishment and expansion of long-term relationships with the armed forces, authorities, critical infrastructure operators and industry. Among other things, he focuses on the development of a scalable, international market-entry strategy and a robust commercial position to integrate cutting-edge „Made in Germany“ technology into modern security architectures.

Colonel Jürgen Schlechter recently assumed command of Austria’s Armaments and Defence Technology Agency. He previously led the Austrian Armed Forces’ CBRN defence unit and brings extensive experience in military hazard response, as well as in national and international cooperation on advanced CBRN technologies.

Christian Rucker is Manager of New Business Development for UAS and is responsible for strategic business development in the fields of Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) and Loitering Munition Systems (LMS) at Rheinmetall. Prior to joining Rheinmetall, he held roles in business development at General Atomics AeroTec Systems and General Atomics Europe, amongst others.

Thomas Rothacher has held various positions at armasuisse and has served as Director of Science and Technology—the technology centre of the DDPS—since 2013. In 2020, he was appointed Deputy National Armaments Director by the Federal Council. Since June 2024, he has also been responsible for the newly established Taskforce Drones (TFD), which serves as a permanent testbed until at least 2027.

Colonel Markus Reisner is a historian and legal scholar and serves as Head of the Institute for Basic Officer Training at the Theresian Military Academy. His academic work focuses, among other topics, on the employment of drones in modern warfare.