British Secretary of State for Defence, John Healey, announced the projected 2026 opening of a new drone manufacturing facility in Swindon on 15 September. Operated by Tekever the site – which will create up to 1,000 new jobs, will conduct large-scale production of the company’s drones, including the StormShroud air vehicle for the RAF.
The British government recently committed an additional £19 million to procurement of StormShroud – an Autonomous Collaborative Platform (ACP) that will support RAF combat aircraft by jamming hostile radar and communications emissions – and has provided some £270 million worth of the company’s drones to Ukraine as part of the nation’s support following the Russian invasion in February 2022.
Tekever’s fourth location in the UK – and the largest to date – the 254,000 square foot site will support drone production from rapid prototyping to R&D and manufacturing at scale, scaling up work on the AR3 platform that provides the air vehicle for StormShroud and brining core production of the AR5 UAS onshore for the first time. The initiative reflects Tekerver’s commitment to the UK and the ambitions of its £400 million OVERMATCH strategic investment programme that aims to transform Britain’s defence capabilities by accelerating innovation in AI and autonomy.
