Cluj‑based Oves Enterprise is launching a joint drone production effort with Ukrainian manufacturer eDrone, assembling and testing AI‑driven surveillance and interceptor drones in a roughly 150 m² office space. The operation will start with a team of about ten people. The collaboration follows the March Romanian–Ukrainian agreement; the partners expect prototypes by autumn and plan range demonstrations and further tests by the end of the year or in early 2027.
What the partnership brings together
Oves Enterprise supplies Nemesis, a machine‑learning platform that can be trained to carry out missions on drones. The company says Nemesis already supports over thirty, possibly thirty‑six, distinct tasks: from environment understanding and object identification for surveillance drones to guidance functions for attacker or interceptor drones. Because of current legal frameworks, final engagement decisions follow a “human in the loop” model, meaning the system identifies and checks targets but requests operator approval before lethal action.
eDrone contributes manufacturing and battlefield experience. Oves plans to combine its AI capabilities with eDrone’s production know‑how and modern small‑scale manufacturing techniques — carbon components, 3D printing and similar methods — rather than classical heavy workshop tooling. The partners aim to learn how to organize production to achieve large volumes cost‑effectively in a compact footprint.
Capacity, product mix and costs
Oves estimates that the 150 m² site can produce about 1,170 drones per month as a baseline capacity; the organization and layout could allow much higher output if scaled. The Ukrainian partners say that, with the right production system, several thousand units per month could be made even in relatively small spaces. The immediate product focus will include surveillance and interceptor drones; production of offensive drones has not been finally decided.
Cost examples given by the company: if the package includes radar and command systems the price rises sharply (radars can cost between €1 million and €7 million). If the interceptor drones can use an existing national radar network, the interceptor alone may cost roughly €15–25k, while smaller devices can be available from around €7k. Final prices also depend on the target: intercepting a large or jet‑powered Shahid‑type threat is more complex and costly.
Workforce and technical background
The Cluj assembly unit will begin with about ten employees and will hire additional specialists; many collaborators are academic staff or engineers linked to technical universities. Across the Oves group there are roughly 47 people working on related projects — including aerospace and rocket engineers, mathematicians and physicists. The group has offices and subsidiaries in seven countries and previously reported aggregate global revenues of €25 million.
Customers and market prospects
Mihai Filip, founder‑CEO of Oves Enterprise, sees the Romanian armed forces as a key potential customer, but no concrete defence contract exists yet. Prototypes, tests and live demonstrations are planned before procurement discussions begin. NATO allies have also shown interest, and the company reports more foreign than domestic demand so far, although it notices growing openness in Romania for domestically produced equipment. Oves stresses the need for predictable and continuous orders rather than one‑off big purchases for sustainable local manufacturing.
Regulatory and procurement challenges
Earlier Ukrainian export restrictions had blocked technology transfer; a loosening of those rules a few months ago made the project feasible. Bringing the products to market requires multiple security certifications and special import/export permits, some of which are hard to obtain — particularly for newly established companies. Demonstrations and range trials are expensive, and budgetary constraints or procurement preferences sometimes lead potential domestic customers to buy established foreign systems instead of testing local solutions.
Strategic considerations: building a domestic ecosystem
Filip argues that creating a Romanian defence industry ecosystem requires sustained investment: funding several promising startups with targeted support and orders over a multi‑year period would nurture a viable industrial base. He points to examples in Ukraine and the United States where such public‑private cooperation has helped scale defence‑related technologies. Oves supports closer public‑private engagement — joint demo days, collaborative development with end users — to align products with military needs.
Summary
The Cluj Oves Enterprise and Ukrainian eDrone project combines Oves’s Nemesis AI with eDrone’s manufacturing experience to produce NATO‑compatible drones locally. Initial production will be small scale — roughly 1,170 units per month in a 150 m² space — with emphasis on rapid scalability, surveillance and interceptor roles, and prototypes expected by autumn. Wider procurement and operational deployment will depend on successful tests, certifications and defence procurement decisions in Romania and among allied countries.
