Dzyne Technologies, a military drone maker with its main manufacturing site in Irvine, says the incoming administration of Donald Trump is a strong tailwind for the company.
“I think it will be very positive for us.” said Joe Francescon, Dzyne’s chief of government affairs when asked about Trump’s win. “There’s a focus on how do we use the Defense Department budget as efficiently as possible?”
Drones and drone defense “are a great way to do that,” Francescon told the Business Journal on Nov. 7, two days after the presidential election. He pointed to relatively cheap drones as a good and safer way to “replace a lot of manned missions” especially for surveillance and reconnaissance.
Francescon gave as an example a fully staffed military airplane flying expensive surveillance missions over the Pacific for hours on end. He said they could be replaced by the company’s Ultra, an autonomous, long-range drone that can fly for more than three days without stopping.
With automation and pilotless flight “that’s a significant cost savings and frees up those soldiers to actually be in missions that maybe they’re better suited for,” according to Francescon.
Dzyne is in an industry that is emerging at the center of a large-scale debate on whether the U.S. should continue spending hundreds of billions on manned aircraft such as Lockheed Martin’s controversial F-35 fighter, a program that has widespread support in Congress. Dzyne is one of dozens of drone companies popping up as the U.S. military seeks cheaper and more nimble ways to wage war.
No less a critic than Elon Musk said in a recent post on his X platform that “some idiots are still building manned fighters like the F-35.”
Musk is spearheading Trump’s effort to cut government waste through a so-called Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE.
“Manned fighter jets are obsolete in the age of drones anyway. Will just get pilots killed,” Musk said on the X platform in late November.
Secretive Program, with Air Force
Dzyne’s Ultra drone was developed in conjunction with the Air Force Research Laboratory.
The company has also developed a specially outfitted long-range surveillance and reconnaissance light airplane type, called Leap, with autonomous takeoff and landing.
In addition to the airborne systems, the company provides “ground based autonomous defense solutions” to counter incoming hostile drones. They include the fixed and mobile Shield system.
Dzyne’s clients include the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (often referred to as DARPA), the Air Force Research Laboratory and space agency NASA, according to the Dzyne website.
The best-known local rival is Costa Mesa-based Anduril Industries, which makes drones along with a whole array of other warfighter equipment.
“I don’t quite fall into the ‘ban development of new manned systems’ camp, but America must take advantage of our technological strengths,” Anduril co-founder Palmer Luckey wrote on the X platform last week. “Assume every new start is robotic unless and until the requirements force otherwise.”
Francescon says Dzyne competes with Anduril in some ways, but largely there is “a competition for staffing and things like that.”
And while Anduril has introduced the reusable drone Roadrunner, Dzyne is not offering an equivalent.
“We’ve taken a different approach. If you look at the Roadrunner, it’s $350,000 a shot or more,” Francescon said.
Dzyne, with “manufacturing headquarters” at 34 Parker in Irvine (see story this page), is looking instead at developing drones costing only $10,000 to $20,000 each according to Francescon.
“We’re looking at affordable mass that takes out the critical threat targets,” he said.
While the company’s corporate headquarters is in Fairfax in northern Virginia, Chief Executive Matthew McCue, who co-founded Dzyne in 2012, is based in Irvine.
A graduate of California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo with master’s in aeronautical engineering, McCue’s prior experiences include seven years at Swift Engineering, where he was chief engineer. Swift Engineering became known for building next generation aviation designs and components, including the “Killer Bee,” a drone that was eventually acquired by Northrup Grumman in 2009.
“Dzyne looks forward to collaborating with the incoming Trump Administration to ensure the safety and security of our nation, at home on our southern border and abroad,” McCue told the Business Journal on Nov. 26.
“Dzyne’s commitment is to provide innovative, cost-effective defense solutions that support the brave men and women protecting our borders, homeland and advancing national security objectives around the globe.” Dzyne has about 25 employees in Fairfax.
Bill Barr, Christopher Miller
Dzyne, which is majority-owned by Highlander Partners of Dallas, has recruited some Washington heavyweights to help further the business and cooperation with the Pentagon.
They include Bill Barr, the former attorney general in the Trump administration, in an advisory role, according to Francescon.
Another well-known name inside the Beltway is Christopher Miller, who served as acting U.S. secretary of defense and is now Dyzne’s chief strategy officer.
In August, Dzyne announced the addition of retired Vice Admiral Collin Green as head of strategic defense solutions. Marshall Billingslea, a former special presidential envoy for arms control, was made a special adviser, news outlet Axios reported in June.
The company, which doesn’t reveal its annual revenue figures, has more than 150 employees in Irvine.
Drones to Destroy a Target
The company is designing various types of drones, including ones that smash into and destroy a target.
“We are under development with a couple of programs there,” according to Francescon, the government affairs chief. “There are various stages of development.
“We do the Group 1 drones, which are the one-way drones that you’ll see popularized in the Ukraine war. Some of them are used for surveillance but a lot of those are attack capable or other mission capable.”
There is no official word on whether the Dzyne drones have been used in Ukraine’s defense against the invading Russian forces.
Dzyne does not build armed drones in Irvine, according to Francescon.
“If the customer wants to modify it, they certainly can,” he adds.
He said for example that “our smaller drones, the Groups 1 through 3, could be converted by the end user” into an armed drone.
“We are not dong that that conversion in Irvine. It’s up to the government,” he adds.
There are also drones that can be thrown out of the back of an airplane carrying up to 500 pounds of cargo and autonomously fly to its destination, useful for humanitarian missions as well as military uses.
“The Army and the Air Force are our main branches that we use for a lot of these efforts,” says Francescon, though “there are others” as well.
The company also reconfigures light sport aircraft into autonomous airborne surveillance and reconnaissance systems.
Irvine Manufacturing Hub for Drone Maker Dzyne
The 125,000 square foot site at 34 Parker in Irvine is Dzyne Technologies’ main manufacturing hub and may be expanded, said the company’s chief of government affairs, Joe Francescon.
The site holds more than 150 local employees and is growing.
“We’ve been surprised at how quickly we’ve filled up this facility,” and there may be growth of facilities locally depending on the military’s needs, he said.
The facility houses Dzyne’s growing team of engineers, researchers and manufacturing personnel and will provide the company with the space and resources it needs to continue developing cutting-edge autonomous defense solutions for U.S. and international customers.
“Depending on how things go, you could see some additional expansion, certainly additional employment of the maintainers, the machinists, everything that’s needed to make these,” he told the Business Journal on Nov. 7.
He says the company is looking forward to working with local members of the House of Representatives, “elevating the impact that Southern California has on Washington.”
Many of the company’s executive team members are based in Irvine, including CEO Matt McCcue and CRO David Levy, according to Francescon.
Why Drones vs. Fighter Jets
There’s the inevitable question as to why use a drone, especially an armed one, rather than supersonic fighter costing $100 million or more.
“It’s a really a different mission completely. These (drones) are designed to be operated in areas where the F-35 can’t go or we wouldn’t want to go,” says Joe Francescon, the government affairs chief for Dzyne Technologies.
Plus the drone can be lost without any major setback.
“We call them ‘attritable.’ It’s OK if you lose the asset. They might cost a few million dollars when you get to the upper scale drones, but that’s far cheaper than a large aircraft.”
The main advantage: there’s no loss of life among pilots and crew.
