Tekever's military drone factory officially opens in Cahors, France

A military drone factory has officially opened in Cahors, a small city in the Lot department of southwestern France. The site belongs to Tekever, a Portuguese defence-tech company.

The inauguration took place on 13 November 2026. The message at the event was clear: "Europe has understood that it must control its own tools." In other words, the continent wants to produce key defence equipment itself rather than depend on others.

What came before?

Tekever announced the Cahors project in June 2025. The company had already become a unicorn (a start-up valued above $1 billion) in 2023, as demand for its unmanned systems grew.

Now the plan has turned into a working site. It is a sign of how European defence production is starting to spread beyond the usual industrial centres, including to mid-sized towns like Cahors.