When a foreign defense firm chooses to build a U.S. production facility, it rarely picks a random zip code. MyDefence, a Danish counter-unmanned aircraft systems company, opened its manufacturing and innovation hub in Oklahoma City on February 26, and the location was deliberate. The company settled into the Convergence development inside the city’s Innovation District, positioning itself at the center of one of the nation’s strongest aerospace and defense ecosystems.
For a region already home to Tinker Air Force Base and the first UAS design PhD program in the United States at Oklahoma State University, the arrival of another European defense player signals something bigger than a ribbon-cutting.
From Copenhagen to the Midwest
MyDefence has been building its reputation on actual combat performance, not trade show presentations. The company currently has approximately 2,000 Wingman units deployed in Ukraine, detecting hostile drones in active conflict zones. That kind of field validation tends to accelerate conversations with military procurement offices.
Before the Oklahoma City facility even opened, MyDefence had already secured a $26 million order from the U.S. Army. The new facility formalizes what was already becoming an embedded partnership. Customers looking to deploy a counter drone system now benefit from domestic production, which means faster delivery timelines, a secure supply chain, and full compliance with U.S. procurement standards.
What Oklahoma City Gets Out of It
The investment runs north of $1.2 million in initial capital, but the jobs figure carries more weight locally. The expansion is projected to create 48 positions across engineering, manufacturing, integration, and operations. MyDefence has also signaled plans to work with regional institutions to strengthen Oklahoma’s defense talent pipeline.
Why This Region, and Why Now
The timing is not coincidental. According to a 2025 report from the Center for a New American Security, the United States is facing a growing gap in counter-drone preparedness, with drone threats evolving faster than procurement systems have been able to respond. The demand for C-UAS technology has accelerated sharply, driven by lessons from Ukraine and a string of incidents involving drones near sensitive U.S. infrastructure.
Oklahoma has quietly built one of the country’s most defense-ready corridors. Tinker Air Force Base handles a significant share of aircraft maintenance for the U.S. Air Force. The state’s workforce already skews toward aerospace and defense. For a company like MyDefence, scaling production here is a practical choice, not a branding one.
Wearable Tech on the Front Line
MyDefence’s product focus centers on wearable and mobile solutions, designed around what frontline operators actually need in the field. Situational awareness, mobility, and rapid response to evolving threats are the core design principles. That philosophy has worked in Ukraine. The Oklahoma facility is now tasked with bringing those same capabilities to U.S. partners at scale.
The facility’s opening marks MyDefence’s second U.S. location, following its first American offices, and it reflects a broader trend of NATO-aligned defense companies moving production closer to their largest customer base. For Oklahoma City, it’s one more data point supporting a case the region has been building for years.
