ViDARR Inc. opened a new production facility in Virginia Beach earlier this month, and this week the defense manufacturer dedicated the building to the memory of Rear Adm. Thomas R. Richards, a decorated Navy SEAL who died in September 2025. The ceremony drew roughly 150 guests from the military, government and defense industry, and the building has been named ViDARR's Thomas R. Richards Warfare Development Center.
According to Markets Insider, Richards served 30 years in the Navy before retiring, commanding SEAL Team One from 1986 to 1988 and later leading Naval Special Warfare Command from 1996 to 1999. He was known to those who served alongside him as “Hulk.” His decorations included the Purple Heart and a Bronze Star with Combat V, and the Navy upgraded one of his valor awards to the Silver Star in 2023, the outlet reports.
The connection between Richards and ViDARR runs through the company's founder, Cliff Byrd, who was mentored by Richards while working at Juliet Marine Systems, per Markets Insider. Byrd, who served as a Special Warfare Combatant-craft Crewman and as an operator at Naval Special Warfare Development Group, said the new center's work will reflect Richards's standards. Ceremony remarks also credited Richards with helping establish professional recognition that gave SWCC crewmen a defined career path, according to the same report. Richards's wife, Jacky Richards, attended the dedication with members of her family.
A New Manufacturing Hub Takes Shape
The Virginia Beach facility now serves as ViDARR's production and manufacturing hub, while the company's Portsmouth, New Hampshire, site continues as its research and development center, Markets Insider reports. ViDARR describes itself as integrating research and development through production within the company. On its own website, ViDARR describes the Virginia Beach manufacturing site as 19,000 square feet, while the Virginia Economic Development Partnership describes the building at 2656 Lishelle Place as 16,410 square feet.
The Virginia Economic Development Partnership announcement states that ViDARR will invest $2.69 million over three years to open the facility, with the project expected to create 40 new jobs. The Virginia Jobs Investment Program will support that hiring through recruitment and training services and funding, according to the same source. ViDARR said the expansion will support its growing production and distribution capabilities while allowing it to collaborate with local businesses.
What ViDARR Actually Builds
Founded in 2019 by U.S. special operations veterans and defense professionals, ViDARR describes itself as a veteran-owned defense manufacturer, per Markets Insider. The Virginia Economic Development Partnership notes that the company manufactures and assembles night-vision goggles, thermal optics and autonomous systems, and also provides kitting, build-to-print, logistics and sustainment support to defense programs.
Among the products highlighted on the company's own site is the ISU90 vFORGE, which ViDARR describes as a deployable manufacturing facility — effectively a drone production lab built into a shipping container that is designed to manufacture, repair and reconfigure unmanned systems at the edge, according to Markets Insider. The company also makes the REAVERS unmanned aircraft system, which ViDARR describes as a modular, solderless small drone with an open payload architecture that can be assembled in under 30 minutes without special tools. ViDARR says the system is designed to be fielded, repaired and reconfigured by the people who carry it.
ViDARR says it emphasizes hiring veterans and reserve service members, and expects the new facility to add advanced manufacturing capacity and jobs to the region, Markets Insider reports. The dedication drew Rep. Jen Kiggans, who represents Virginia's Second District, Delegate Michael Feggans and a representative from Sen. Tim Kaine's office, according to the outlet. Kiggans said ViDARR's Virginia Beach hub brings veteran entrepreneurship together with a strong defense workforce, per the same report.
Part of a Broader Push for Autonomous Systems
ViDARR's arrival fits into a larger effort by Virginia Beach to court autonomous-systems companies, according to Autonomy Global. The city has leaned on Navy test infrastructure, including an open-ocean Autonomous Range and Targets facility that the Navy operates off Virginia Beach for unmanned surface vehicle technology, the site reports. Officials said the city's defense and autonomous-systems recruitment push began about a year and a half before the 2026 SOF Week event.
That recruitment strategy also leans heavily on the region's veteran workforce. Autonomy Global notes that approximately 14,000 service members transition out of the military each year across Hampton Roads, and the region retains roughly half of them locally. Separately, UK-based maritime technology firm SubSea Craft recently selected Virginia Beach as its U.S. expansion hub and has already identified Virginia-based Global Technical Systems as a local collaboration partner, according to the same report. Virginia Beach is described by Yes Virginia Beach as a leading hub for companies developing autonomous technologies across air, land, sea and space.
