North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein announced that drone maker Skyeton, Inc. plans to establish a $3.1 million facility in Fayetteville. The company expects the project to serve as its first flagship manufacturing operation in the U.S. and create 162 jobs.
A global manufacturer of unmanned aerial systems (UAS) for the defense and commercial sectors, Skyeton's lineup features more than 350,000 combat-proven flight hours of its long-endurance Raybird platform for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions. The company plans to use the 28,500-square-foot location to design, engineer, manufacture, test, distribute and support its composite UAS.
“Expanding our manufacturing footprint in North Carolina is about more than opening a new facility,” Skyeton CEO Rigoberto Sáez said. “It’s about strengthening America’s defense industrial base, creating high-quality American jobs and delivering combat-proven capabilities closer to the warfighters we exist to serve.”
Skyeton will receive a performance-based grant of $500,000 from the One North Carolina Fund to support its expansion into North Carolina. The OneNC Fund provides financial assistance to local governments to help attract economic investment and to create jobs. Companies receive no money upfront and must meet job creation and capital investment targets to qualify for payment. All OneNC grants require matching participation from local governments, and any award is contingent upon that condition being met.
In addition to the North Carolina Department of Commerce and the Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina, other key partners in this project include the North Carolina General Assembly, the Rural Infrastructure Authority, North Carolina Community College System, Fayetteville Technical Community College, Cumberland County, the Fayetteville Cumberland County Economic Development Corporation and the City of Fayetteville.
