Croatian Drone Maker Orqa Scales Up for Pentagon Demand

Orqa, a leading drone maker from Croatia, has opened a larger production facility in the city of Osijek, as Defence-Blog reports. The company says the upgraded plant can now build as many as 280,000 NDAA compliant drones every year, a major increase aimed at meeting the rapid rise in Western military demand.

The company explains that all core components are produced in house, including electronics and mechanical parts. This approach gives Orqa full control over security and performance, while avoiding the foreign sourcing issues that have slowed other manufacturers.

Orqa leadership says this is proof that Europe can build a secure and independent defense industrial base without relying on Chinese suppliers.

Growing Focus on Secure Drone Production

The expansion strengthens Orqa’s engineering and assembly capacity for both complete aircraft and specialty components used by selected partners. Orqa also notes that every system it makes, including the NDAA compliant MRM2 10, is designed to resist electronic warfare and includes no Chinese parts.

With the United States pushing to field hundreds of thousands of small unmanned aircraft through programs like the Drone Dominance initiative, the company believes it can compete for large multiyear defense contracts. Orqa’s executives say the new scale allows them to deliver reliable aircraft quickly and securely.

A New Global Manufacturing Network

While increasing production at home, Orqa is also building a decentralized manufacturing network overseas. The company has already signed agreements with trusted partners in several international markets.

These partners will assemble drones locally, following the same security and performance standards used in Croatia. Orqa says these long term plans will help allied nations develop their own sovereign drone production capabilities. The company has not yet shared the names or locations of its international partners.

DroneXL’s Take

Orqa is positioning itself as a serious supplier for the Pentagon at a time when the United States is urgently searching for secure and scalable drone manufacturing outside China, and this expansion gives the company a real shot at landing major contracts. The question now is how quickly Orqa can ramp production while keeping its systems reliable and rugged enough for front line use.

Photo credit: Orqa FPV