PDW's new Huntsville drone factory builds for major impact
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
PDW CEO Ryan Gury said the company is quickly hiring to match its growth. Photo: Courtesy of PDW
Performance Drone Works officially cut the ribbon Wednesday on its 90,000-square-foot Drone Factory 01 in Huntsville.
Why it matters: The drone maker's goal of quickly making inexpensive, flexible and easy-to-use drones for every U.S. warfighter aims to impact how America fights future conflicts.
- As drone use becomes more prevalent in combat, PDW is also bullish on its ability to compete in the drone market with China.
What they're saying: "If you look at Ukraine as an example, they have access to all the U.S. and NATO military supplies, and today, [the majority of] strikes are being done with a dinner plate-sized drone," PDW CEO Ryan Gury told Axios Huntsville.
- "This is not a company of tech bros chasing sci-fi ideas," PDW chief strategy officer Trevor Smith said at the event. "We are building with combat insight and future doctrine in mind."
Zoom in: PDW's flagship products on display Wednesday were the C100 multi-mission unmanned aircraft system (UAS) and the AM-FPV attritable munition.
- "It is an assault rifle for drones: ergonomics, tactics, cost and scale, simplicity," Gury said of the C100. "It is the first drone made as a combat system."
Catch up quick: PDW plans to hire at least 500 employees in the next few years at the vastly larger location on Diamond Drive, where it's been producing drones for the past few months.
PDW co-founder Matt Higgins said that structurally, there's no impediment stopping American industry from rivaling China's dominance of the drone market.
- "It's not that we can't produce (drones), it's that we weren't focusing on making sure that we had an integrated domestic supply chain," he said. "But that's changing very, very rapidly."
Driving the news: Higgins, also co-founder of RSE Ventures alongside Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross, said the demand signal coming from the federal government "is intense."
- "This administration is speaking in demand signals in ways that will make more capital flood into the industry," he told Axios.
- Gury said those in venture capital and defense tech are "underwriting military doctrine."
Zoom out: "This is the future of warfare," said PDW investor, philanthropist and "Restaurant: Impossible" celebrity chef Robert Irvine. "The work ... will shape the future of our world that we live in for years to come."
Go deeper: These drones made the Pentagon's cut for Replicator