The facility is part of a GBP400 million investment into the UK by the company. 

Drone manufacturer Tekever will open a new UK factory in 2026, a 15 September announcement from the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) has revealed.   

Located in Swindon, this will be Tekever’s fourth location in the UK and the country’s largest, the MoD said, built to support the full production lifecycle of the company’s drones including rapid prototyping, manufacturing, and research and development.  

Specifically, the factory will support production of Tekever’s AR5 fixed-wing UAS for the first time in the UK while also facilitating scaled-up production of the AR3 platform, a small drone capable of vertical take-off and landing, a recently upgraded version of which was unveiled at DSEI UK 2025.     

Tekever was unable to comment on the volume of drones the facility will produce, though Karl Brew, Director of Tekever Defence, told DSEI Gateway that the firm aims to “meet and anticipate customer demand at scale”. 

The 254,000 sq ft site will also strengthen production of the Royal Air Force’s StormShroud drone-based electronic warfare capability, with the AR3 UAV acting as the base vehicle. 

The factory is part of Tekever’s ‘Overmatch’ programme, the MoD added, a series of planned investments into the UK worth GBP400 million, which saw Tekever acquire West Wales Airport in July for UAV testing.  

Describing the roadmap of the Overmatch programme, Brew said that a key priority will be scaling the production of Tekever’s UAS offerings, including the AR3 Evo and AR5, to deliver “advanced capabilities in close partnership with the UK defence ecosystem”. 

Beyond scaling up its production capacity, Brew noted that Overmatch is about strengthening a wider defence ecosystem in the UK. 

“We want to bring together businesses of all sizes – from SMEs [small and medium sized enterprises] to major primes – to test, integrate, and scale new technologies”, Brew said. 

Swindon’s location between London and Bristol will also allow Tekever to better reach suppliers and serve customers, the firm said in a separate announcement.  

The UK MoD added that the factory will “position Swindon as a centre for UK drone manufacturing”, creating 1,000 skilled jobs in the process. 

“This new factory is a clear demonstration that this government is making defence an engine for growth across the UK”, Healey commented. 

Unveiled in May, the ‘engine for growth’ package is the UK Government’s plan to increase the size and scale of the UK’s defence industrial base as a method of stimulating economic growth.