Veteran opens Swindon factory making drone and defence parts

A former Army officer who led Amazon’s operations in Swindon has opened a precision engineering factory in the town and is now recruiting three machinists and programmers.

Jonathon Griffiths set up the factory on Paddington Drive in just 87 days. It makes precision parts for aerospace, defence, and robotics companies and is already shipping orders.

Jonathon and manufacturing firm Isembard found the 5,050sqft site with the help of Swindon North MP Will Stone, who chairs the Cross-Party Group to Strengthen the UK Defence Supply Chain. 

After visiting Isembard’s HQ in London earlier this year, Mr Stone supported the company’s search for a site in Swindon and introduced Jonathon to the estate agent marketing the property.

Jonathon said: "In the Army, my job was to make sure that when soldiers needed their vehicles and equipment, it worked. 

"An army is only as good as the kit behind it, and that kit has to come from somewhere. I’ve spent the last few years working alongside people in this town, and with Isembard’s technology behind us, a small team here can make parts for the companies building the drones and systems that will keep this country safe. 

"I want this to be a factory where people in Swindon can learn a trade and stay for the long term."

Will Stone said: "Swindon’s drone and defence cluster is bringing new investment and jobs to our town, and it's great to see a local business owner at the heart of it. 

"As a former soldier myself, I know how much service leavers have to offer, and this factory gives them and other local workers a route into highly skilled manufacturing. 

"Backing businesses like this is how we grow the local economy and give Swindon’s engineering heritage a strong future."

Swindon South MP Heidi Alexander said: "Swindon has always been a town that makes things, from Great Western Railway locomotives to Spitfires and cars. 

"When Honda left in 2021, people worried those skills would leave with it. This factory shows they are still here and still in demand. 

"It means skilled local jobs, a locally owned business, and one more reason for defence and drone companies to grow in Swindon."

The Swindon factory is the latest in a growing network run by Isembard, a London-based manufacturer founded in 2024. 

Jonathon owns and runs the factory as a franchise, while Isembard supplies the orders, software, training, and quality accreditation. Its computer-controlled cutting machines can make parts accurate to within a tenth of the thickness of a sheet of paper, with production managed through Isembard’s own software.

Jonathon trained at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and was commissioned in 2015 into the Corps of Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME), the corps responsible for keeping the Army’s vehicles and equipment working. 

He led a platoon responsible for 20 vehicles and later trained recruits, before leaving the Army in 2018.

He then spent more than seven years at Amazon, where he launched and ran delivery operations in London and across the south of England. 

In 2024, he moved to Swindon as a senior manager, working in one of Amazon's largest operations in Europe.

Isembard chose Swindon for its long manufacturing history and its rapid emergence as a centre for defence technology, noting that the town built locomotives for the Great Western Railway, Spitfires during the Second World War, and cars for Honda until the plant closed in 2021, leaving a workforce with deep engineering and production skills.

Swindon is also now home to a growing cluster of drone manufacturers and the Uncrewed Systems Centre, a Ministry of Defence testing facility, with a new defence excellence college in development to train the next generation of workers.
Swindon's is the latest of 17 Isembard factories across the UK, Europe, and the US, up from four at the start of 2026. 

Last month the company opened the largest factory in central London since the Second World War, and aims to reach 100 company-owned and franchisee factories across the UK by the end of 2028, creating 2,200 high-skilled jobs.

Alexander Fitzgerald, Founder and CEO of Isembard, said: "With generations of engineering skill and a growing defence and drone industry on its doorstep, Swindon was the obvious choice for our next factory. 

"Jonathon has spent his career making sure critical equipment is ready for the people who depend on it, and he already knows the local workforce from leading teams here at Amazon. That’s exactly who we want running our factories. 

"Our franchise model opens factory ownership to a new generation of operators, and we want to find more of them in every town and city."