• Terra Industries plans a major drone manufacturing plant in Accra with capacity of 50,000 units annually by 2028.

• The facility targets growing demand for defense systems amid rising security threats across Africa.

• The project follows $34 million in funding and supports a broader push for sovereign defense capabilities.

Terra Industries, a Nigerian manufacturer of drones and autonomous defense systems, announced on Sunday, April 19 that it will build a new production facility in Ghana to increase capacity and meet rising regional demand.

The company is constructing the facility, named “Pax-2,” on a 3,150-square-meter site in Accra. The plant will serve as its main regional production base for drones and counter-drone systems designed to protect critical infrastructure across Africa.

Terra Industries operates an existing production unit, “Pax-1,” in Abuja, Nigeria. The company presents the new site as the largest drone factory in Africa. It expects annual production capacity to reach 50,000 units by 2028.

The company plans to commission the facility by the end of June 2026. The site should create about 120 engineering jobs and operate continuously to meet regional demand for aerial defense systems. The product range includes the Archer VTOL long-range surveillance and strike drone, the Iroko drone designed for rapid tactical deployment, and Kama, a high-speed interceptor drone built for counter-drone defense.

This announcement follows two funding rounds completed in January and February 2026, which raised a total of $34 million. The company aims to use the funds to support industrial expansion and strengthen its technical teams in Africa.

Responding to Armed Group Threats

The company’s expansion into Ghana aligns with its mission to build a sovereign defense industrial base in Africa. The move also reflects shifting conflict dynamics in the Sahel and across sub-Saharan Africa, where armed groups increasingly deploy modified commercial drones and fiber-optic drones as attack systems.

These tactics, observed in recent conflicts in the Middle East and Eastern Europe, are accelerating demand for integrated defense systems that combine surveillance, electronic warfare, and kinetic response capabilities.

“The only way for Africa to achieve lasting peace is to unite to build a sovereign defense, rather than rely on a foreign security architecture. We must take our destiny into our own hands by building the tools and systems needed to protect ourselves. This is how the continent will defeat terrorism,” said Nathan Nwachuku, co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Terra Industries.

Nathan Nwachuku and Maxwell Maduka founded Terra Industries in 2024. The company develops a range of solutions including drones, autonomous surveillance towers, unmanned ground vehicles, and maritime monitoring systems.

The company integrates these solutions through ArtemisOS, a proprietary software platform that enables real-time threat detection and management, autonomous mission planning, and coordinated operations in complex environments where traditional security models face limitations.

Terra Industries states that it has already deployed its solutions across multiple sites in Africa, where they help secure infrastructure valued at approximately $11 billion. The company also reports contracts worth tens of millions of dollars and a project pipeline spanning both public and private sectors, including power plants in Nigeria and mining sites in Nigeria and Ghana. It is also expanding into cross-border security and counter-terrorism operations.

This article was initially published in French by Walid Kéfi

Adapted in English by Ange J.A de Berry Quenum