Orqa and the Industrialization of Europe’s Drone War
Perhaps reflecting the broader shift underway in Europe, where manufacturing facilities are being expanded or repurposed to meet surging defense demand, Croatian FPV and unmanned aerial systems specialist Orqa, founded in 2018 as a hobby electronics company, has launched its Global Manufacturing Program aimed at scaling annual production beyond one million units. At present, Orqa produces approximately 280,000 NDAA compliant drones per year at its facilities in Croatia, with plans to significantly expand output through a distributed network of international manufacturing partners.
“Our Global Manufacturing Partnership Program allows partner markets to build the same high performance systems using Orqa’s standardized components,” said CEO Srdjan Kovacevic. “With agreements already in place, we are on track to meet our one million drone annual target, a significant milestone as global security needs evolve at an unprecedented pace.”
Orqa has already established manufacturing agreements across North America, Europe, the Middle East, and the Indo Pacific, while negotiations with additional partners are ongoing. The company’s approach relies on standardized parts, tightly controlled designs, and repeatable production processes to ensure that every facility delivers identical systems. Orqa retains full control from design through production oversight and in 2024 alone delivered more than 100,000 products to customers in over 50 countries.
A central objective of the program is to reduce dependence on Chinese components and commoditized hardware, strengthening supply chain resilience in the process. “We’ve demonstrated that large scale, high performance drone production is achievable outside China,” Kovacevic said. “This helps create reliable global supply chains capable of delivering safely and at scale as demand increases.”
Kovacevic also underscored the strategic value of redundancy. By distributing manufacturing geographically, Orqa ensures that multiple partners can independently produce complete systems and components to the same standards, while reducing lead times, logistical bottlenecks, and regulatory friction. In addition to its domestic growth, Orqa is establishing a decentralized manufacturing network through collaborations with reputable partners in key international markets. According to the company, these established agreements facilitate localized production overseas, while ensuring consistent security and performance standards are upheld.
Taken together, Orqa’s manufacturing model highlights a wider transformation in the defense technology sector. Production capacity is no longer concentrated in single geographies but increasingly distributed, standardized, and resilient by design. As demand for attritable, rapidly deployable systems accelerates, companies that can scale output while maintaining quality, security, and supply chain sovereignty are likely to shape the next phase of the global defense industrial base.