Swiss company Destinus is to work with Dutch industrial group VDL on the production of jet-engine-powered drones, the Financieele Dagblad reported on Tuesday.

The Swiss group says it is in talks with the Dutch ministry of defence about supplying drones to the armed forces and has taken over the inventory of bankrupt Dutch drone maker Aerialtronics, the FD said.

VDL and the ministry of defence have not commented on the reports. However, there have been rumours since last year that the former Nedcar factory in Born, Limburg, would become a drone production site.

“We expect to be able to say more in a month,” Juriaan Groenewege, who heads the company’s location in Hengelo, told the paper.

The Dutch ministry of defence has said it plans to invest billions in drones, following the impact of their use in Ukraine.

Destinus was founded by Mikail Kokorich, who was born in Siberia and is a self-declared opponent of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. According to Groenewege, he no longer holds a Russian passport. The company has had operations in the Netherlands since 2023.