Ukrainian company Skyeton expanded the production of Raybird UAVs to Slovakia. $3,5 million was invested in the launch, Oleksandr Stepura, the company`s founder, said in an interview for Forbes Ukraine. According to Oleksandr, the production was expanded there in case a russian missile hit a Ukrainian factory. The company rents 1,000 m2 abroad.
Moreover, production in Slovakia helps to cope with another problem. Because of the martial law, Raybird cannot export their products, and the final price is limited in markup to 25%. Besides, including development costs in price is impossible.
The factory in Slovakia allows the company to avoid these restrictions. It gives more opportunities in the global market so that countries of the European Union and NATO can buy their UAVs.
The Slovakian factory can build 25 reconnaissance systems per year. Their output will be increased 4 times after closing the round. Skyeton is currently raising $15 million in investments for this expansion.
Skyeton has been producing ultralight planes and UAVs for over 17 years. Among the developments of Skyeton, there is the unmanned aircraft system Raybird-3 for long-term intelligence missions of civil and special forces.
The price of the one system is $1,2 million. It includes three planes, portable ground control stations, an antenna system, a launcher, video and photo cameras, and radars.
The drone can fly up to 28 hours and cover up to 2,500 kilometers at a height of up to 4,500 meters which makes the drone almost invisible for electronic warfare.