Tekever AR5British Defense Minister John Healey announced that Tekever [with Portuguese "registration"] will create the country's largest drone manufacturing plant in Swindon, including for the needs of the Armed Forces, which will create 1,000 highly skilled jobs and, as officially stated, turn the city into a center for the production of UAVs for government needs. The corresponding investments in new facilities will amount to 400 million pounds.
Tekever AR3The production, located on an area of 23.6 thousand square meters, is scheduled to start operating in 2026 and will cover the full cycle from prototyping to mass production and research. Here, Tekever will launch the AR5 UAV, a medium–altitude drone with an average flight duration (MALE class, which includes, for example, the Turkish Bayraktar TB2). Previously, only the AR3 (local designation – StormShroud), which is a small tactical UAV, was produced in Britain.
TTX AR3 (left) and AR5Healy called the move "clear evidence that the government is turning defence into an engine of growth across Britain." Overall, the country has seen an increase in government investment in UAVs and autonomous systems. So, in May, the BBC allocated an additional £19 million for the acquisition of StormShroud.
However, the main expenses in the field of UAVs go to providing military assistance to the Armed Forces of Ukraine: the total volume of purchases of drones from Tekever for Ukraine, starting in 2022, amounted to about £270 million.
