Javelina Propeller Laboratory is an independent hardware lab and manufacturer in Fort Davis, Texas. We build flying machines and field hardware. We prototype new designs for the Arrow ecosystem and manufacture finished ones in volume, starting with the Quiver. We exist to prove a model: a small regional manufacturer taking open, DAO-developed designs and turning them into real, certified, supported products that solve real problems, and to show other builders they can do the same where they live.
Quiver is a 25 kg MTOW quadcopter with 5–8 kg payload capacity, three hot-swappable payload interfaces, and a distributed custom-PCB electronics architecture. The design is open hardware, developed collectively in the Arrow ecosystem; JPL manufactures, assembles, and flight-tests every aircraft here, and supports every one we ship.
Final assembly, integration, and flight testing of complete unmanned aircraft in the Davis Mountains of West Texas. Laser-cut aluminum, carbon fiber arms and landing gear, 3D-printed structures, and four custom PCB designs assembled and tested per aircraft. Every aircraft is flight-tested on-site before delivery. We have the airspace for it.
Quiver components, spare parts, electronics assemblies, and attachment hardware for the Quiver payload interface ecosystem. Small-batch by design: dev-kit runs and per-order builds keep every unit inspectable, serviceable, and traceable.
New Arrow designs get built and flown here first. We iterate airframes, custom PCBs, and payload attachments in-house, put flight hours on prototypes in real high-desert conditions, and feed what we learn back into the open designs. The lab also builds its own field hardware for the ranch around it, from power systems to controls.
Arrow designs collectively. JPL manufactures and supports. Aircraft designs are developed in the open by the Arrow DAO; JPL takes those designs and turns them into real, serialized, supported hardware. Orders route through Arrow's store, and JPL is the maker on the nameplate.
We think this pattern is worth copying: a small regional manufacturer bringing open designs to bear on regional problems. Brush country needed an agricultural UAS, so that's what we build first. Your region needs something else, and the same designs are yours to build too. We want other people to emulate us and manufacture Arrow's designs in their own regions. Different regions, same drawings: we'll share notes, compare build logs, and collaborate on the designs themselves. If you're thinking about starting a lab like this where you live, write to us.
Every aircraft carries a unique serial number, permanently marked on the airframe and recorded in our production log with its build history, test results, and configuration. If we built it, we can tell you exactly what's in it and how it flew before it shipped.
Small batches mean nothing leaves without being assembled, inspected, and flight-tested by the same people. Aircraft integrate standards-based Remote ID and run ArduPilot. If it has our serial on it, it flew here first.
Everything we build is open source: CAD, schematics, PCBs, firmware configuration, assembly docs. When you buy from JPL you own the machine completely. Inspect it, repair it, modify it however you please. No locked firmware, no subscriptions, no permission needed to work on your own equipment.
We answer our own mail.