Echodyne has opened a new advanced radar manufacturing facility in Washington State, significantly expanding its production capacity to meet rapidly growing demand from U.S. and allied customers.
The 86,350-square-foot facility represents a $40 million investment and will eventually be capable of producing more than 30,000 radars annually, equivalent to more than 2,500 radars each month. Over the coming months, Echodyne will transition all manufacturing operations from its headquarters to the new dedicated hub.
The investment is complemented by more than 100 new jobs, with employment expected to rise to as many as 200 positions as the facility reaches full production capacity. The site provides approximately 74,350 square feet of manufacturing space and 12,000 square feet of warehousing, enabling production to flex across multiple radar product lines while supporting future product introductions.
This expansion is driven by escalating global investments in Counter-Unmanned Aircraft Systems (C-UAS) and short-range air defense. The widespread deployment of low-cost drones in modern conflicts, alongside the growth of the commercial low-altitude economy, has heightened the need for reliable airspace security sensors.
Echodyne addresses this demand using its patented Metamaterials Electronically Scanned Array (MESA®) architecture. By avoiding the thousands of phase shifters required by conventional electronically scanned array radars, the architecture achieves electronic beam steering through a simpler construction using standard materials and scalable commercial manufacturing processes, reducing size, weight, power, complexity, and cost.
Eben Frankenberg, CEO of Echodyne, commented, “Our global customer base is demanding more radar to be delivered as fast as possible. Drones are driving significant change in both enabling a drone economy and in defending against nefarious drone use. While radar performance will always be the dominant consideration, product availability both now and in a predictable and consistent manner over time is quickly becoming a requirement for any global supplier. The only way to defend against mass is with mass. That requires not just high-performance economical radars, but the ability to manufacture them at scale.”
Rather than relying on traditional low-volume defense production, Echodyne’s modular manufacturing approach allows production to scale efficiently using commercial methods while maintaining consistent quality. This enables capacity to flex across product lines, supports the rapid introduction of new capabilities, and allows Echodyne to respond quickly to changing customer demand. Echodyne’s radar technology is currently integrated into hundreds of defense and security systems globally, supporting platforms developed by companies including Anduril, Axon, Moog, and Northrop Grumman Corporation.
Most recently, the company was selected as the primary radar provider for Trust Automation’s Small UAS Detection System (SUADS) platform, which is being delivered to the U.S. Air Force under a $490 million indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract.
