Special Report: Australia's Boresight scales target UAV production in US

The BQ-400 UAV operating at Fort Irwin, California, in a demonstration exercise in March 2024.  (Boresight)

Australian firm Boresight is expanding into the United States to increase manufacturing capacity and meet growing demand for target unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).

The company announced in July that it has leased a new manufacturing facility in Huntsville, Alabama, spanning 812 m² and approximately 15 times larger than its current US site.

Boresight CEO and managing director Justin Olde told Janes that the US has become central to the firm's growth. “The US is a rapidly growing market for us. We've exported well over 2,000 drones to the US market since we first started dealing there,” Olde said.

With a “long-term and consistent” customer base already established, the new facility gives Boresight the capacity to scale production closer to key US customers, he added.

Boresight said the new site would manufacture the company's BQ-400 and new BQ-750 Block 2 UAVs.

The BQ-400 is a small quadrotor target UAV with a range of 2.5 km, a speed of 17.5 m/s, and endurance of up to 25 minutes. It weighs 1.3 kg and measures 325×325×105 mm.

The BQ-750 is a medium quadrotor UAV with a payload capacity of up to 2 kg. It has the same range and speed as the BQ-400 but an endurance of up to 45 minutes. It weighs 3 kg and measures 800×800×160 mm.

According to Boresight, the facility will initially support the production of more than 5,000 BQ-400 UAVs annually. Olde said output could double or triple as demand grows.

“Last year we shipped somewhere between 1,200 and 1,500 drones to the US,” Olde said. “All the demand indicators are that that's going to be more than double this year.”