Drone company XMX Defense, which recently emerged from stealth mode, broke ground Saturday at Mineral Wells Regional Airport on a facility buildout to house its operations. Mineral Wells is roughly 50 miles west of Fort Worth.

XMX, which is based at the Mineral Wells airport, develops advanced drones for customers in defense, government and other sectors. The airport facilities house drone assembly, engineering, maintenance, training and flight operations.

In addition to the new hub, XMX said it plans to establish the Texas Unmanned Systems Defense Center of Excellence in Mineral Wells. The initiative aims to foster collaboration among defense and drone companies in North Texas.

“Most of us in the company are veterans of some kind,” Marine Corps veteran Clay Kroschel, co-founder and CEO of XMX, said in a statement. “We have decades of experience across the military, aviation and unmanned systems, and we’ve built XMX around a mission to provide the technology and capabilities that help bring our men and women home safe.”

Out of stealth mode

XMX Defense emerged from stealth late last month, the company said in a LinkedIn post.

The startup said it’s developing three drone systems: Rogue 450, an unmanned long-range vertical-takeoff-and-landing aircraft; Rogue Strike 10, a compact, readily deployable autonomous drone; and Rogue Strike 50, a long-range, multi-mission autonomous drone.

“We built XMX around a straightforward idea: The United States and its allies need the ability to develop, manufacture, test, train and field autonomous systems at the speed the modern fight demands,” the company said on LinkedIn.

Clay Kroschel’s background

Kroschel founded XMX after holding a series of jobs in the drone industry.

He most recently was CEO of McKinney-based Delta Black Aerospace, which he founded in 2024. The company makes military drones. Earlier, he founded Spring-based Unmanned Ad-Hoc Enterprises in 2014. Plano-based Martin UAV later bought that company, and Kroschel worked at Martin UAV before San Diego-based Shield AI acquired it in 2021.

As a Marine, Kroschel logged more than 3,000 drone flight hours, and he spent over 5.5 years in Middle East and African combat zones.

Defense industry growth in North Texas

XMX joins a rapidly growing aerospace and defense sector in North Texas.

A recent report from The Perryman Group for the North Texas Commission found the defense industry drives a $35.3 billion annual economic impact in the region and supports more than 264,000 jobs.

Chris Strayer, executive director of the Parker County Economic Development Council, said Mineral Wells “sits in a unique position” for companies like XMX.

Mineral Wells is “connected to the aerospace and defense strength of North Texas, but it also has the space and infrastructure to grow something of its own,” Strayer said in a statement.

“We’ve seen in other parts of the country how one unmanned-aircraft company can become the nucleus for a broader cluster of suppliers, manufacturers, engineers, and technology companies,” he said. “As that kind of momentum builds here, the benefits could extend across western North Texas — from Possum Kingdom to Fort Worth.”