02/02/2024

Former General Manager of General Dynamics Mission Systems International to Provide Strategic Defence Advisory to KWESST

February 2, 2024 – Ottawa, Ontario – KWESST Micro Systems Inc. (TSXV: KWE) (TSXV: KWE.WT.U) (NASDAQ: KWE) (NASDAQ: KWESW) (“KWESST” or “the Company”) today announced that Dave Ibbetson, former General Manager of General Dynamics C4 Systems International, and General Dynamics Mission Systems International (“GDMS”) has been engaged as a Strategic Defence Advisor.

Mr. Ibbetson, with more than 30 years in the Aerospace and Defence Industry, spent 25 years with General Dynamics where he served in progressively senior executive roles delivering major Canadian programs such Land C4ISR, CH-148 Cyclone and CP-140 Aurora Integrated Mission System and exporting products and systems into the US, Europe, South America and The Middle East. During his tenure with GD Mission Systems Dave spent 8 years leading GDMS international portfolio of businesses with operations in Canada, UK, Italy, Turkey and the Middle East. “I’m excited to be joining the energetic team at KWESST at an exciting time for the Company and our industry. Digitization and integration of the battle space will continue to drive the operational advantage our forces rely upon for mission success and survivability. SME’s like KWESST bring innovation and agility to bear in that solution space.”

“Dave brings a wealth of experience, knowledge and energy to the Company,” said Sean Homuth, President and CEO of KWESST. “His experience leading a global defence organization will be invaluable to us as we continue to execute on our strategy of winning and delivering on large defence programs”, added Homuth, “I’m thrilled to have attracted his support to our growing team and look forward to achieving great outcomes together.”

About KWESST

KWESST (NASDAQ: KWE) (NASDAQ: KWESW) (TSXV: KWE) (FSE: 62UA) 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. The Company is headquartered in Ottawa, Canada, with representative offices in London, UK and Abu Dhabi, UAE.

For more information, please visit https://kwesst.com/.

Contact:
David Luxton, Executive Chairman: luxton@kwesst.com
Sean Homuth, President and CEO: homuth@kwesst.com
Jason Frame, Investor Relations: frame@kwesst.com 587.225.2599

Forward-Looking Information and Statements
This press release contains “forward-looking statements” and “forward-looking information” within the meaning of Canadian and United States securities laws (collectively, “forward-looking statements”), which may be identified by the use of words such as “plans”, “is expected”, “expects”, “scheduled”, “intends”, “contemplates”, “anticipates”, “believes”, “proposes” or variations (including negative and grammatical variations) of such words and phrases, or state that certain actions, events or results “may”, “could”, “would”, “might” or “will” be taken, occur or be achieved. Such statements are based on the current expectations of KWESST’s management and are based on assumptions and subject to risks and uncertainties. Although KWESST’s management believes that the assumptions underlying such statements are reasonable, they may prove to be incorrect. The forward-looking events and circumstances discussed in this press release may not occur by certain specified dates or at all and could differ materially as a result of known and unknown risk factors and uncertainties affecting KWESST, including KWESST’s inability to secure contracts, statements of work and orders for its products in 2024 and onwards for reasons beyond its control, the renewal or extension of agreements beyond their original term, the granting of patents applied for by KWESST, inability to finance the scale up to full commercial production levels for its physical products, inability to secure key partnership agreements to facilitate the outsourcing and logistics for it’s Arwen and PARA OPS products, overall interest in KWESST’s products being lower than anticipated or expected; general economic and stock market conditions; adverse industry events; loss of markets; future legislative and regulatory developments in Canada, the United States and elsewhere; the inability of KWESST to implement its business strategies; risks and uncertainties detailed from time to time in KWESST’s filings with the Canadian Security Administrators and the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, and many other factors beyond the control of KWESST. Although KWESST has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results to differ from those anticipated, estimated or intended. No forward-looking statement can be guaranteed. Except as required by applicable securities laws, forward-looking statements speak only as of the date on which they are made and KWESST undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its respective Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.