Hidden Level opens $3 million drone-testing chamber in DeWitt

Hidden Level has opened a $3 million drone-testing chamber in DeWitt, giving the Syracuse-area company a place to check how its antennas pick up drone radio signals without weather, wind or outside interference getting in the way.

The new anechoic chamber opened Friday at 6757 Kinne Street in East Syracuse. At 26 feet by 32 feet and 26 feet high, the chamber is built to create a radio-wave quiet room where engineers can test drone-detection antennas faster and more precisely than they can outdoors. For a company that sells technology designed to spot and track dangerous drones, that kind of controlled testing is a manufacturing advantage as much as a technical one.

Hidden Level described the chamber as its fourth Syracuse-area facility, another sign of how quickly the company has outgrown its original footprint. Founded in 2018, the company moved from a 2,500-square-foot office to a 10,000-square-foot Syracuse space in 2021, then later added a second 10,000-square-foot DeWitt manufacturing site when demand for lab and production space kept rising.

The expansion also comes after a major funding boost. Hidden Level announced $65 million in Series C financing in February 2025, bringing its total funding over the prior 12 months to $100 million. The company says its systems are used by federal, state and local agencies, along with U.S. military commands, to detect and track drones and other aerial threats.

That matters in Central New York, where drone work has become part of the regional economy. Hidden Level is tied into the NUAIR drone corridor ecosystem, and Cicero-based SRC/SRCTec won a U.S. Air Force contract worth up to $90 million over eight years in 2020 to supply and maintain counter-drone systems. Amazon has also said it intends to seek approval for drone delivery operations at its Clay distribution center, adding another layer to the area’s growing drone footprint.

Hidden Level’s plans reach beyond the chamber now open in DeWitt. The company has said it wants to build a three-story, 73,000-square-foot facility with offices, manufacturing, engineering and labs, warehousing and specially designed testing chambers. If that project moves forward, it would deepen the supplier, construction and technical work flowing through Syracuse and Onondaga County, while strengthening the region’s pitch as a serious high-tech manufacturing hub.