Drone manufacturer hails Swindon’s engineering talent as new factory opens
Stark officially opened its new factory in Swindon yesterday
The long and proud industrial heritage of Swindon, from building the railways in the 19th century, through to car manufacturing, has played a significant role in bringing cutting-edge new technology here, says the boss of a firm starting to make military drones here.
Stark officially opened its new factory in Swindon yesterday (20 November), managing director of the UK arm of the company, Mike Armstrong said the people of the town were just as much a factor as any other.
Mr Armstong said: “There is a history of industrial production here from the railways to the Spirtfire at Supermarine and then to the Honda plant, and we wanted to tap into that production and bring engineering here.
“There’s a supply chain here which has been really important.”
Mr Armstrong added: “It’s been a really pleasant surprise to find a lot of Formula One manufacturing around here, and we’ve made some very good hires already from a really high-performance engineering background.
“The location of Swindon, the affordability of premises are all very important, but the people and the skills and workforce are just as important.”
"We are moving fast"
Having announced the new plant last summer, Stark has been in its inner-Swindon building for four weeks and has already started production of the Virtus tactical air support drone, albeit in very small numbers.
Mr Armstrong said: “We’ve started low-rate production already, it’s very small numbers, but we’re still getting on with getting the place ready.
“By March or April, we will be at high-rate production, making hundreds of the Virtus.
“We are moving fast.”
When up to speed, the plant will be making other lines, but probably not the company’s “unmanned surface vehicle”, the official name for a remotely-piloted life-size boat.
Mr Armstrong said: “I can’t think of a much worse place than Swindon for a maritime product, we have a facility in Plymouth for these.”
“several million pounds into the local economy"
Living in Wiltshire, Mr Armstong is clear that Swindon, and the UK as a whole, needs to play its part in building a strong defence sector and military: “To have a democracy you need to be able to defend yourself.
“The best deterrent against aggressors, the best deterrent to being involved in a war, is for your enemies to make the correct risk calculation, that your military is not to be under-estimated.
“And you can’t ask someone else to do that for you, either as a country, or as Swindon - we can’t ask Reading, say, to do it for us.”
As the boss of one of four drone manufacturers, along with Tekever, Munin Dynamics and Flyby, to announce a presence in Swindon in the last year, Mr Armstong said he was proud to be part of making Swindon a centre for the technology.
He added: “The MP Will Stone has been brilliant, and we’ve not had anything but a welcome from anyone. It’s been very smooth, and we’ve not had a huge amount of contact with other bodies, but in a good way, it’s been very smooth.
“It’s not just because I live in Wiltshire, and can have an easy commute, that I’m very pleased that we’re opening here in Swindon.
“It’s been a good decision to come here.”
Initially, the Swindon factory will employ 100 people, and Mr Armstrong said the company has already injected “several million pounds into the local economy.
“That’s not a fancy accounting number – that’s money that has actually left our account and has gone to people and companies here in Swindon, from new hires, to contractors, to suppliers.”