Tekever France already has 40 employees. Swindon facility to open in 2026
Tekever now has an office in Toulouse. In addition to its factory in Cahors, it is looking for space to open a training and testing centre near the Atlantic coast. Factory in the UK to open this year.
Tekever already has around 40 employees in France and expects to have the first drones leaving the Cahors plant “before the summer”, with the plant’s industrial capacity to be reached by the end of 2026. In the United Kingdom, the manufacturer’s fourth plant in this market, in Swindon, is scheduled to open this year.
“The deadlines are in line with what was presented at Choose France 2025, in May last year in Paris, when we announced an investment of €100 million over five years and the hiring of 100 highly qualified staff”, said an official source at Tekever when asked by ECO/eRadar whether there had been an acceleration in the deadlines for investment in France at the Cahors plant.
“Tekever France currently has around 40 employees”, said the same source. “In January, we opened a new office in Toulouse and, in addition to the factory in Cahors, we are looking for a space to open a training and testing centre near the Atlantic coast, in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region”, he added.
Announced in May last year during the Choose France event promoted by French President Emmanuel Macron, the Cahors complex covers 4,500 square metres and is currently being prepared to host drone production. Initially, the facility will house end-of-production activities, including the assembly, integration and testing of unmanned aerial vehicles, with its capacity being “gradually expanded to include all production operations by the end of summer 2026”.
In this market, in the space sector, the national drone manufacturer is helping the French state to “strengthen its space autonomy”. The company is part of the consortium led by Loft Orbital, with the participation of Thales Alenia Space, to build the first SAR satellite (which allows high-resolution images to be obtained even in cloudy skies and at night), as part of the DESIR project. The programme “aims to strengthen France’s long-term space autonomy, particularly in intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance”.
Swindon factory to open in 2026
Later this year, the Portuguese drone manufacturer plans to open a new production facility in the United Kingdom. Located in Swindon, Tekever’s fourth factory is part of a €470 million package that the company plans to invest in this market over five years, creating more than a thousand jobs and announced after the company signed a new agreement with the RAF.
The space, located in the Spectrum building, designed by architect Norman Foster, was initially built to house Renault’s operations in the United Kingdom in the 1980s, with the French car brand leaving the space in 2021. Last year, the British Government announced that it would host Tekever’s drone factory. Recently, Tekever’s CEO, Ricardo Mendes, made a technical visit to the building.
“With regard to Swindon, we maintain our forecast for opening this year”, said an official source at Tekever when asked about an opening date.
Company is strengthening its presence in Ukraine
In Ukraine, where it has been present since 2022 and opened an office in April 2025, Tekever is also strengthening its presence and has a recruitment campaign underway.
“We are strengthening our presence in the country by expanding our local engineering and technical teams. This goes beyond recruitment — it’s about investing in people, building sustainable local capacity, and working alongside Ukrainian experts who bring invaluable experience, resilience, and knowledge”, the company said in a post on LinkedIn.
“We are hiring for the areas of integration, testing and evaluation, maintenance and repair, composite manufacturing and training. We pay special attention to applications from veterans and professionals who want to continue to have a meaningful impact”, it added.
By 2026, Kateryna Bezsudna, director of Tekever’s Ukrainian office, said the company has three main goals: to hire a core engineering team; to build technical and logistical infrastructure; and to develop partnerships with Ukrainian manufacturers to localise technological solutions, according to the Kyiv Post.
