The company is positioning the additional capacity as part of a wider effort to strengthen drone production within Europe and allied countries. Orqa said the expansion will support its objective of providing sovereign drone capability backed by local manufacturing and controlled supply chains.
The investment comes as the European Union moves from purchasing individual drone systems towards a broader industrial framework with Ukraine. Orqa is one of 18 founding members of the EU-Ukraine Drone Alliance, which is intended to support cross-border production of drone and counter-drone systems.
The alliance is designed to build an international sovereign industrial base around those capabilities. Orqa plans to contribute a vertically integrated production model intended to connect technology development with manufacturing and operational requirements.
“Increasing our manufacturing capability and expanding our strategic license partnerships are key to bringing sovereign defense transformation to Allied nations,” said Srdjan Kovacevic, co-founder and CEO of Orqa. “A drone by itself is not a defence capability; it’s a tactical commodity.”
“Drone capability comes from having the right industrial system behind it, characterized by a sovereign supply chain, local manufacturing, and the ability to train, deploy, and replace drones at the speed required by modern combat operations, where the rate of attrition demands full-scale transformation.” Orqa’s production strategy centres on maintaining greater control over the components and manufacturing processes behind its systems.
The company said its vertically integrated approach reduces dependence on politically sensitive, insecure or unreliable supply chains, including those linked to China. Orqa also said the model allows production and technology to be adjusted more quickly as operational requirements change.
Its industrial expansion also builds on cooperation with Ukrainian drone company General Cherry. The companies agreed earlier this year to establish sovereign manufacturing capacity for interceptor drones.
Orqa said the partnership combines its manufacturing capabilities with General Cherry’s battlefield knowledge and experience. The arrangement also extends Orqa’s existing industrial relationship with Ukraine.
“Ukraine has demonstrated that successful drone capability depends upon a continuous connection between operational experience, engineering and production,” Kovacevic said. “This isn’t a conventional procurement cycle in which a product is designed, purchased and then expected to remain unchanged for years.”
“Today, technology is evolving in just weeks or months. Industrial systems must therefore learn, adapt and manufacture continuously.”
“I am hugely encouraged by the EU-Ukraine Drone Alliance which can help Europe build exactly such systems,” Kovacevic said. “Our role will be to contribute a scalable, vertically integrated manufacturing model that turns innovation into deployable capability.”
The planned increase to 500,000 products a year would expand Orqa’s headquarters capacity by 210,000 units from its current level. The company is linking that growth to stronger allied demand, international licensing partnerships and the development of a European sovereign drone production base.
