HARTFORD, CT—Aquiline Drones (AD) has opened a factory here to meet increasing demand for its line of “Made in America” products. Assemblers are producing Drone Volt's Altura Zenith and Hercules 2 drones, which have been rebranded by AD as the Spartacus line of drones: Spartacus Macks and Spartacus Hurricane.

"Growing data security concerns over foreign-manufactured technology, mainly from China, has created an immediate need for increased drone production capacity in the United States," says Barry Alexander, chairman and CEO of Aquiline Drones. "Our goal is to not only position our country as a leader in the multi-billion dollar global drone industry, but also to reestablish America's manufacturing dominance. This is in perfect harmony with our company’s powerful strategic vision of making Connecticut the drone capital of the nation.

"To quickly scale our commercial drone production capacity, our team decided to consolidate all manufacturing operations at our downtown Hartford headquarters to avoid the logistical challenges of managing a separate facility," explained Alexander. "Safety and performance are key areas of focus in the UAV industry and this process enables us to maintain stringent quality control throughout the production cycle."

AD occupies 15,000 square feet in the Stark Building, a historic architectural landmark located in Hartford's financial district. It includes a new 7,000-square-foot state-of-the-art drone manufacturing and assembly lab.

“To address growing demand for commercial drone technologies, [our] company-wide manufacturing expansion plans include adding a second shift of production workers; moving into a larger facility in Bridgeport, CT; and sourcing components from American suppliers,” says Alexander.