Overview
- Tobyhanna Army Depot officially began production on a brushless DC motor assembly line that officials say can make up to 1,500 motors per day and has an initial production goal of 200,000 motors.
- Depot leadership projects larger outputs over time, citing plans to produce more than 500,000 motors annually if demand and supply allow.
- A separate circuit card assembly line is under construction with a target capability of up to one million cards per day by the end of fiscal 2027, and the depot will manufacture four of the five circuit cards used on a typical first-person-view drone.
- The Army plans to host small, likely venture-backed vendors through public‑private partnerships and cooperative agreements so companies can rent depot equipment to scale quickly without building their own factories.
- Officials say the effort is part of a broader Organic Industrial Base shift and the Defense Department’s Drone Dominance push to build resilient U.S. supply chains and to let depot tooling be retooled for other military or commercial needs in a surge.