US radar maker Echodyne mulls European production as drone warfare fuels demand

KIELCE, Poland — U.S. radar maker Echodyne has announced that Norway’s Kongsberg has selected its MESA radar platform for a broad range of air and surface applications.

Echodyne opened a manufacturing facility in Washington state last July, and is considering establishing a manufacturing presence in Europe to benefit from the booming counter-drone market there.

Eben Frankenberg, the company’s CEO, told Defense News at the MSPO defense show here that Echodyne has longstanding cooperation with Kongsberg. The integration of its radars into the company’s Protector RS4 and Protector RS6 remote weapon stations will further increase Echodyne’s visibility in European markets, he said.

Echodyne’s solutions will make “those remote weapon stations, which weren’t originally designed to counter drone threats, effective at countering drone threats,” Frankenberg said. “And this is something we do with a lot of companies.”

With a surging demand for miniaturized radars that ensure detection and fire-control support for various counter-drone systems in Europe, Echodyne is also considering investing in establishing a manufacturing presence in Europe.

“There’s obviously a big European demand and there’s rightfully some interest from European countries in having more local content,” the CEO said. “We’re thinking about where it would make the most sense.”

In July 2026, Echodyne said it opened an 86,350-square-foot facility under a $40 million investment. The U.S. plant will eventually be able to produce more than 30,000 radar systems per year, according to data from Echodyne.

“Part of the plan with the new facility was that it gives us a template or blueprint to be able to open other new facilities in the future. Because now we know exactly all the machines we need to have, all the workstations, the number of people to equip them,” Frankenberg said. “So it does set us up for that in the future.”

Jaroslaw Adamowski is the Poland correspondent for Defense News.

波兰凯尔采——美国雷达制造商Echodyne宣布，挪威Kongsberg公司已选择其MESA雷达平台用于广泛的空中和水面应用。

Echodyne 于去年 7 月在华盛顿州开设了一家制造工厂，并正在考虑在欧洲建立制造基地，以从当地蓬勃发展的反无人机市场中获益。

公司首席执行官埃本·弗兰肯贝格在MSPO防务展上告诉《防务新闻》，Echodyne与Kongsberg有着长期的合作关系。他表示，将Echodyne的雷达集成到Kongsberg的Protector RS4和Protector RS6遥控武器站中，将进一步提升Echodyne在欧洲市场的知名度。

弗兰肯伯格说：“Echodyne的解决方案将使那些最初并非为应对无人机威胁而设计的远程武器站，能够有效地应对无人机威胁。我们与很多公司都有合作。”

由于欧洲对小型化雷达的需求激增，这些雷达能够确保为各种反无人机系统提供探测和火控支持，Echodyne 也正在考虑投资在欧洲建立制造工厂。

“显然，欧洲市场需求旺盛，欧洲各国也理所当然地希望获得更多本地化内容，”首席执行官表示。“我们正在考虑在哪里这样做最合适。”

2026年7月，Echodyne公司宣布投资4000万美元，在美国开设了一座占地86350平方英尺的工厂。根据Echodyne公司的数据，该工厂最终将能够每年生产超过3万套雷达系统。

弗兰肯伯格说：“新建工厂的部分计划是为我们未来开设其他新工厂提供一个模板或蓝图。因为现在我们确切地知道需要哪些机器、哪些工作站，以及需要多少人来配备这些设备。所以，这确实为我们未来的发展奠定了基础。”

Jaroslaw Adamowski 是《防务新闻》驻波兰记者。