The United Kingdom will open its largest drone production facility in Swindon next year, the Defence Secretary announced on Monday. The factory will bring production of the Tekever AR5 long-range drone to the UKS for the first time and expand work on the RAF’s AR3 drones. The opening of the drone-production facility is linked to the war in Ukraine.
The UK Defence Secretary John Healey said the new facility, will be run by the Portuguese Tekever company and be central to Tekever’s $540 million program aimed at enhancing the UK’s drone production.
The 23,600-square-meter site will cover the full development cycle – from research and prototyping to mass production. “The site will play a central role in the production of our new AR3 EVO system and in creating up to 1,000 highly skilled jobs over the next five years,” Karl Brew, Director of Tekever Defence said.
Last week, the UK Ministry of Defence announced its plan to start large-scale production of drones to help Ukraine against Russian aerial assaults. The announcement came as multiple Russian drones violated Poland’s airspace on Wednesday, which was the largest-scale incursion into NATO airspace since the start of full-fledged invasion of Ukraine three years ago. Days later, Romania also reported that a Russian drone breached its airspace.
