Anduril Observer

Former USMC EOD Tech. Analysis on Anduril, autonomy, AI warfare, unmanned systems & the defense industrial base. Independent; not affiliated with Anduril.

[Anduril Observer @AndurilObserver]

The Army wants air defense that slides off the back of a truck.

It's called M-SHORAD (Maneuver Short-Range Air Defense) Increment 4: a pallet of sensors, jammers, missiles or a gun that can ride on a Joint Light Tactical Vehicle, an Infantry Squad Vehicle or a robotic vehicle, or get set down at a forward site. It has to fit in a C-130, survive an airdrop or a sling load under a helicopter, and run on its own for 72 hours.

That's built for paratroopers and light infantry, the units with the least protection from drones right now. The timeline slid a bit. The Army first talked about fielding in fiscal 2027 to 2029, and new industry-day slides now put the first battalion in late 2029.

The plug-and-play idea is the interesting part. Then-Col. Marc Pelini, now the Army's top air defense officer, described pulling a Coyote interceptor pod off and putting a Stinger pod on, or swapping one radar for another, depending on the threat. https://t.co/unstupSMts

[TWZ @thewarzonewire]

Army Wants New Palletized Short-Range Air Defenses In Service By The End Of 2029

Army sees new short-range air defense 'sleds' providing critical new flexibility and capacity, especially against drone swarms.
https://t.co/EFPSw6c85l

[Anduril Observer @AndurilObserver]

AeroVironment just booked a $405 million order for its LOCUST X3 laser weapons from an unnamed customer in the Middle East.

For scale, the Army's first-ever production contract for laser weapons, the Enduring High Energy Laser program (E-HEL), went to the same system in September, valued at about $465 million. One foreign buyer is now spending nearly as much.

AV isn't saying who the buyer is, how many lasers are in the order, or when they deliver. It's a direct commercial sale, meaning the customer bought straight from AV instead of through the Pentagon, and AV plans to set up a repair depot in that country.

The appeal is the math. Shahed-type drones are cheap, and knocking them down with interceptors that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars apiece adds up fast. A laser's "magazine" is mostly limited by power and cooling, and the Army has had earlier LOCUST versions deployed overseas since 2022, so this isn't a science project anymore. https://t.co/7TBF28h7Q4

[Anduril Observer @AndurilObserver]

It's giving CH-46 Phrog, as the kids say.

[T.Pieper @Tri_Stanisaurus]

Aerobody team is cooking @RatioDrones

[Anduril Observer @AndurilObserver]

Steam was a surprising detail to me. Dow could use these reactors for both electricity and the heat that keeps chemical production running.

I’m curious how many other manufacturers could follow that model – and whether access to nuclear heat eventually helps decide where new factories get built.

[Atoms Not Bits @AtomsNotBits]

BREAKING: Reindustrialization goes nuclear. America approves its first advanced nuclear facility at an industrial site, a major Dow chemical manufacturing plant in Texas.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission just approved a construction permit for four X-energy Xe-100 reactors, designed to supply both electricity and high-temperature steam to Dow’s chemical manufacturing operations. Chemical production is traditionally a very energy-intensive process, requiring large amounts of electricity and heat.

This marks the first U.S. construction permit for high-temperature gas-cooled reactors in nearly 60 years.

[Anduril Observer @AndurilObserver]

@YehudaZahler Yeah, late 2027 is still a ways out for Halo/Thunder.

In the meantime, I’m curious when we’ll see Omen fly with Archer’s batteries and motors.

[Anduril Observer @AndurilObserver]

Archer just gave us two updates on its work with Anduril. It’s started testing the hybrid propulsion system for Halo/Thunder, with the first full-scale flight planned for late 2027. Separately, it’s delivered the first battery packs and electric motors for Omen, the aircraft Anduril is building with EDGE Group.

The Omen delivery caught my eye. On Halo/Thunder, Archer is helping build the aircraft. On Omen, it’s a supplier. I’m curious how many other aircraft Archer’s hardware might end up flying on.

[Archer @flyarcher]

We continue to advance our strategic partnership with Anduril.

In July, we unveiled the Halo/Thunder aircraft we're building together, a Group 5 hybrid-electric autonomous VTOL aircraft. This quarter, we began testing the hybrid turboshaft propulsion system for that aircraft platform and the program remains on track with first full-scale flight planned for late 2027.

We’ve also now delivered the initial battery packs and electric engines to Anduril for Omen, the autonomous air vehicle they're building with the EDGE Group in the UAE.

We're confident that deploying our technology early in defense will deliver value across the whole business, and we are beginning to see that play out.

[Anduril Observer @AndurilObserver]

Yep, the interface's name is the Autonomy Government Reference Architecture (A-GRA). Because the Air Force owns the standard, it can swap autonomy software without redesigning the jet or getting stuck with one vendor.

The American soil part is already underway. The first Ohio-built Fury rolled out of Anduril's Arsenal-1 near Columbus on July 27, and Anduril says that line can turn out up to 150 a year. Getting to hundreds now comes down to how many the Air Force actually orders.

[Anduril Observer @AndurilObserver]

Update:

Two Anduril Furies flew as a team in the Air Force’s October 26 flight test. Anduril built the jets, and Shield’s Hivemind software coordinated them in the air.

That’s the idea behind buying the aircraft and the autonomy software separately. We’re now seeing what it looks like when those two pieces come together in flight.

https://t.co/X1gpUIKwnt

[Anduril Observer @AndurilObserver]

Fitting news for the Marine Corps birthday. Kratos says its Valkyrie drone jet now runs about $6M to $8M each.

That's a "white tail" price, meaning the bare jet before the sensors and jammers go in. CEO Eric DeMarco said a missionized one costs more and didn't say how much, so it's not apples to apples with other Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) numbers yet.

The Marines are buying the combat version, the MQ-58B, with Northrop Grumman as prime, and TWZ has reported they'll fly as electronic warfare wingmen for F-35s. That's a job where you want a jet cheap enough that losing one isn't a career-ender.

Kratos once pitched $2M a copy, so the price has crept up. Even so, it's still down at the cheap end of this field. https://t.co/ACGIum0lVz

[TWZ @thewarzonewire]

MQ-58 Valkyrie Drones Now Cost $6M-$8M Each

Kratos still sees Valkyrie's relative affordability as key to staying ahead of a growing field of competing Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) drone designs.
https://t.co/vaTUFskhLt

[Anduril Observer @AndurilObserver]

Anduril paid for the satellite mission behind its Moon photo before it had a customer. It put three things it built – an infrared sensor, an onboard computer and a power module – on a spacecraft from Apex.

Spending its own money bought Anduril time in orbit. Now it can try software updates, learn how the hardware behaves in space and bring those lessons to the next customer conversation.

I’m curious what Anduril ends up selling as a result: a sensor or computer that flies on someone else’s satellite, or an entire mission built around those same pieces. One self-funded flight gives them a way to explore both.
https://t.co/9TsKNfwyh7

[Anduril Observer @AndurilObserver]

Happy Birthday to all my fellow Marines out there. Semper Fi.

Here's a few historical quotes about Marines that I find to be very accurate:

“The Marines I have seen around the world have the cleanest bodies, the filthiest minds, the highest morale, and the lowest morals of any group of animals I have ever seen. Thank God for the United States Marine Corps! ” - Eleanor Roosevelt

“Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they made a difference in the world. But, the Marines don’t have that problem.” - Ronald Reagan

"I have just returned from visiting the Marines at the front, and there is not a finer fighting organization in the world." - General Douglas MacArthur

[Anduril Observer @AndurilObserver]

@Johnny_Joey I remember that guy!

Back when we all had a few less wrinkles and could recover from hangovers faster.

[Anduril Observer @AndurilObserver]

Anduril just pulled back the curtain on its first satellite. ANDURIL-216 went up on SpaceX's Transporter-17 in July, and the company is now detailing three payloads it designed and built itself.

The big one is a long-wave infrared (LWIR) sensor. Optical space-tracking sensors depend on sunlight reflecting off a target, so when a satellite slides into Earth's shadow it can drop out of view. Infrared reads heat instead, so you can keep watching. That's a real gap when Russian satellites are regularly maneuvering close to American ones.

The other two are a Mission Compute Module, which Anduril calls "Lattice on orbit," so the satellite can process what it sees instead of waiting on the ground, and a power module meant to let these payloads ride on other companies' satellite bodies. This one flew on an Apex Aries bus.

Anduril paid for the mission itself with no customer lined up, so this proves the hardware works in orbit rather than locking in a program. The company has already been tying Space Force ground tracking sites into Lattice, and this puts the same idea on the satellite itself. https://t.co/H4HQAXu0MD

[Anduril Industries @anduriltech]

If you can’t see in space, you can’t win in space.

We started with the goal of proving advanced space domain awareness on-orbit. To do it, we developed a fully integrated satellite. ANDURIL-216 carries three modular mission payloads designed, built, and integrated by Anduril.

The payloads work together to deliver on the essential mission of never losing sight of an object as it circles the Earth, even in its shadow.

ANDURIL-216 is the foundation for space warfare supremacy.

[Anduril Observer @AndurilObserver]

Anduril shared a long-wave infrared image of Earth and the Moon from its ANDURIL-216 satellite. The Moon was about 230,000 miles away when the sensor took this shot.

I’m curious what Anduril will point it at next. With the infrared sensor and a computer on the same satellite, what could it pick out in orbit before sending anything back to Earth?

[Anduril Industries @anduriltech]

The Earth and the Moon. Captured by Anduril’s LWIR Space Sensor. 230,000 miles away from the Moon's surface.

Here's how we're setting the foundation to demonstrate Space Domain Awareness.

[Anduril Observer @AndurilObserver]

@kevneuburger I’m rooting for both Rocket Lab and SpaceX.

If both can fly regularly, customers get more choices, neither company gets to coast, and it's more likely the US will meet space goals before rivals. That’s a good outcome.

[Anduril Observer @AndurilObserver]

@wlee666 That’d be a heck of a follow-up.

For now, they’re hiring someone to train the people who’ll use the gear. I’ll start numbering arsenals when we see a factory site.

[Anduril Observer @AndurilObserver]

Anduril is hiring a bilingual training and advisory lead in Tokyo.

The brief includes training Japanese military instructors and helping users integrate the systems. That’s a concrete look at the local support Anduril is building alongside its sales effort.
https://t.co/scmFD4pDOO

[Anduril Observer @AndurilObserver]

@BalaSelvam Glad to hear it!

I always appreciate seeing the people involved the replies!

[Anduril Observer @AndurilObserver]

Shield says its Hivemind software coordinated multiple Air Force Collaborative Combat Aircraft in an October 26 flight test. That’s the new milestone in today’s announcement.

The Fury flight was a separate test. On October 8, an F-22 pilot gave high-level commands to a single Anduril Fury, and Hivemind carried them out. The Air Force had already disclosed that flight. Shield didn’t identify which aircraft flew in the October 26.

We'll see how quickly the Air Force can take what it learns on one flight, update the software, and get it back in the air. Shield says it’s getting close to an overnight turnaround. That’s a promising target, and it’ll be worth seeing when the test team can do it routinely.

[Shield @shieldaitech]

For the first time, Hivemind flew multiple @usairforce Collaborative Combat Aircraft as a coordinated team.

On October 26, Hivemind enabled multiple CCAs to execute a multi-ship formation and beyond-visual-range air combat tactics. Three weeks earlier, an F-22 pilot in flight sent commands to an FQ-44A Fury, and Hivemind executed the maneuvers the pilot called for. The pilot sets the plan, and Hivemind carries it out across the team.

"The combined Hivemind and aircraft software release process is nearing the point where the Air Force can fly a sortie, update the software overnight and fly again the next day," said Todd Wesley, our VP of Hivemind engineering.

Full article: https://t.co/fdaMyOjsdK

Autonomy for the world. The greatest victory requires no war.

[Anduril Observer @AndurilObserver]

Rocket Lab says it booked eight Neutron launches worth more than $515M last quarter, including three for ICEYE and two for Muon Space.

That puts 16 missions on the schedule before the rocket’s first flight. The next test is turning those bookings into a reliable launch cadence.
https://t.co/qycKAa2Irn