Counter-UAS: Aaronia expands manufacturing with new production site in Bitburg

More manufacturing capacity for counter-unmanned aircraft systems (counter-UAS): the German specialist Aaronia is establishing a new production site in Bitburg, Rhineland-Palatinate. Around 10,500 square metres of floor space are already available there and can be extensively expanded. According to the company, it intends to invest a double-digit million sum in the purchase, expansion and equipment. Production in Bitburg is due to start in 2027.

The reason for the expansion is that Aaronia’s systems have been in high demand for years. Most recently, an unnamed customer placed an order worth 72 million euros with the company for its Aartos Hawk TDOA and X9 platforms. For the Aartos Hawk system presented at Eurosatory 2026, this is also the first order.

Counter-UAS with TDOA location

Aartos Hawk locates and tracks signal sources in the electromagnetic spectrum across large areas of operations in real time, using so-called time difference of arrival (TDOA) technology (-> Aaronia Aartos Hawk T1 detects drones from the air). The precise transmitter positions determined by the system yield usable coordinates – for example for counter-UAS (C-UAS), electronic warfare, SIGINT, force protection and the protection of critical infrastructure.

Users of Aartos or other Aaronia systems include the armed forces of Austria, Germany, Portugal, Finland, Estonia and Australia. The company’s customer list also includes numerous other defence organisations, such as the Swedish Armed Forces and the defence ministries of Ukraine, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Canada, Indonesia, Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda. For some of these customers, however, it is not publicly known which systems were procured and in what quantities.