The production was expanded there in case a russian missile hit a Ukrainian factory. The company rents 1,000 m2 abroad.
Moreover, production in Slovakia helps to cope with another problem. Because of the martial law, Raybird cannot export their products, and the final price is limited in markup to 25%. Besides, including development costs in price is impossible.
The factory in Slovakia allows the company to avoid these restrictions. It gives more opportunities in the global market so that countries of the European Union and NATO can buy their UAVs.
The Slovakian factory can build 25 reconnaissance systems per year. Their output will be increased 4 times after closing the round. Skyeton is currently raising $15 million in investments for this expansion.
Apart from the drone factory, Stepura duplicated another of his businesses in Slovakia – the production of modular houses Homers.
Skyeton has been producing ultralight planes and UAVs for over 17 years. Among the developments of Skyeton, there is the unmanned aircraft system Raybird-3 for long-term intelligence missions of civil and special forces.
- The price of the one system is $1,2 million. It includes three planes, portable ground control stations, an antenna system, a launcher, video and photo cameras, and radars.
- The most expensive camera on the plane costs €300,000. Aside from expensive details, 60-70% of the prime price goes on the development and engineers’ salaries.
- The drone can fly up to 28 hours and cover up to 2,500 kilometers at a height of up to 4,500 meters which makes the drone almost invisible for electronic warfare.
- Only 5 global companies have similar ratios of weight and durability of stay in the air drones yet foreign samples are much more expensive.
- The Defence Forces of Ukraine had ordered over 75 intelligence systems in the period from February of 2022 to May of 2024.
