Kirkland-based radar maker opens an 86,350-square-foot plant capable of producing more than 30,000 MESA radars a year to meet counter-UAS demand.
Echodyne has opened a new advanced radar manufacturing facility in Washington State, the company announced July 9, 2026. The Kirkland-based firm says the site significantly expands capacity for its patented MESA radar to meet demand from U.S. and allied counter-UAS customers.
Inside the new Echodyne MESA radar manufacturing plant
The 86,350-square-foot facility includes about 74,350 square feet of production space and 12,000 square feet of warehousing, according to Echodyne. End-to-end manufacturing has begun and will eventually produce more than 30,000 radars a year, or roughly 2,500 units a month. The company plans to transition all manufacturing from its headquarters to the new site over the coming months.
Echodyne is investing $40 million in the plant and expects to add more than 100 jobs, scaling to as many as 200 as production ramps up. The modular layout is designed to flex across product lines and accommodate future radar introductions.
Why demand for MESA radar is growing
Echodyne’s Metamaterials Electronically Scanned Array, or MESA, architecture steers beams electronically without the thousands of phase shifters used in conventional ESA radars. The company says the simpler design uses standard materials and commercial processes, reducing size, weight, power and cost while remaining commercially exportable.
Demand is being driven by counter-UAS, force protection, border security, ISR, critical infrastructure protection and BVLOS operations. Millions of drones deployed in the war in Ukraine have accelerated procurement, the company said.
“Our global customer base is demanding more radar to be delivered as fast as possible,” said Eben Frankenberg, chief executive of Echodyne. “The only way to defend against mass is with mass,” he added, calling scalable manufacturing a requirement for any global supplier.
Echodyne radar is integrated into hundreds of defense systems worldwide and supports platforms from Anduril, Axon, Moog and Northrop Grumman. The company was recently named primary radar provider for Trust Automation’s Small UAS Detection System, delivered to the U.S. Air Force under a $490 million IDIQ contract.
More information is available at Echodyne.
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