Military drone-maker Tekever has promised to invest £400m in the UK after winning a major contract with the country’s Royal Air Force (RAF), as mounting geopolitical uncertainty draws governments and defence startups closer together.
Since returning to the White House in January, US president Donald Trump has pressured allies in Europe to boost their defence budgets or risk losing American security guarantees. A combination of Trump’s threats and fear of further Russian aggression in the region has contributed to billions of euros being invested into European defence tech startups.
On Friday, the RAF unveiled “StormShroud”, an electronic warfare programme for which Tekever will provide AR3 drones, which have previously been deployed on the battlefield in Ukraine.
In a statement, the government said the drones, which are manufactured in the UK, would make the RAF’s aircraft “more survivable and more lethal”. Tekever said it would invest £400m in the UK over the next five years to support production, creating up to 1,000 highly skilled jobs in the country.
“Investment in our defence is an investment in this country’s future,” prime minister Keir Starmer said in a statement issued Friday. “Putting money behind our Armed Forces and defence industry is safeguarding our economic and national security by putting money back in the pockets of hard-working British people and protecting them for generations to come.”
As part of the announcement, Starmer travelled to a manufacturing site in the south east of England, where he met engineers and apprentices involved in building the drones.
“This strategic commitment to the UK is more than an industrial expansion,” says Tekever CEO Ricardo Mendes. “It is a plan to position the UK to lead the transformation of Europe's defence landscape by delivering faster, more adaptive capabilities that stay ahead of evolving threats.”
