Drones & Autonomous Weapons RSS

Anduril Industries, founded in 2017 by Palmer Luckey (Oculus VR creator), has become the most consequential new defense company in a generation. Their approach is software-first: build the AI operating system, then attach weapons to it.

Key platforms:

• Lattice OS — an AI-powered operating system that fuses data from every sensor and weapon on the battlefield into a unified command layer. Think of it as the Android of autonomous warfare — one OS controlling everything.
• Roadrunner / Roadrunner-M — a 6-foot twin-turbojet autonomous aircraft that’s part drone, part missile. Roadrunner-M is a reusable interceptor for counter-UAS missions at $125K–$500K per unit — far cheaper than traditional missile interceptors.
• Altius — tube-launched fixed-wing drones for ISR and strike. Launched from ground vehicles, aircraft, or ships. Multiple variants from small tactical to medium-range.
• Fury (YFQ-44A) — Anduril’s Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) for the Air Force. An autonomous fighter jet wingman designed to fly alongside manned aircraft.
• Ghost — small VTOL reconnaissance drones for special operations
• Anvil — autonomous counter-UAS interceptor that physically rams enemy drones

Arsenal-1: The 5-million-square-foot manufacturing facility in Ohio is designed to produce autonomous systems at scale — tens of thousands of units annually. First production begins July 2026. This is the factory that turns Anduril from a technology demo into a mass producer of autonomous weapons.

Major contracts:

• $1B SOCOM counter-drone IDIQ (10-year)
• $642M Marine Corps counter-UAS
• $86M SOCOM autonomy software integration
• CCA program (classified value)

Anduril is explicitly pro-military. Unlike some Silicon Valley companies that have struggled with defense work (Google’s Project Maven controversy), Anduril was founded specifically to build weapons. Palmer Luckey has been vocal that the company exists to give the U.S. military a technological edge through autonomous systems.

With $6.3B in total capital raised and a $28B valuation, Anduril is the highest-valued private defense company in history.

The Drone Dominance Program is the Pentagon’s most ambitious drone procurement effort to date. Rather than the traditional years-long acquisition process, the DoD designed a competitive “Gauntlet” where 25 selected vendors bring their hardware and military operators fly and evaluate them directly.

How the Gauntlet works:

• Phase I (Feb 18, 2026, Fort Benning) — $150M in prototype delivery orders awarded based on live operator evaluations
• Phases II–IV — escalating complexity and funding, with the total program reaching $1.1 billion
• Military operators — not program managers — fly and score every vendor’s system

What they’re buying: Low-cost, one-way attack (OWA) drones — essentially kamikaze UAVs that can be produced at scale and deployed by small infantry units. The goal is hundreds of thousands fielded by 2027.

Why it matters: This is the Pentagon adapting to what Ukraine proved: cheap, mass-produced attack drones win wars. The traditional defense acquisition model (decade-long contracts, cost-plus, single-vendor) can’t produce the volume needed. The Gauntlet model lets the best hardware win through competitive demonstration, not paperwork.

Secretary Hegseth has made drone dominance a top priority, calling it “the most important military technology race of the decade.”

The YFQ-44A is Anduril’s entry in the Air Force’s Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) program — autonomous fighter-class drones designed to fly alongside manned jets as AI wingmen. This flight test demonstrated something unprecedented: the ability to swap entire autonomy software stacks midflight.

How it works: The swap was enabled by the Air Force’s new Autonomy Government Reference Architecture (A-GRA), a standardized software framework that creates a common interface between the aircraft’s flight systems and its autonomy layer. Think of it as a universal plug — any compliant AI system can slot in.

The two AI systems:

• Shield AI Hivemind — edge-based autonomous decision-making, optimized for GPS-denied environments and swarm coordination
• Anduril Lattice — full-stack autonomous mission management, sensor fusion, and kill-chain integration

Why interchangeable AI matters:

• No vendor lock-in — the Air Force can switch AI providers without buying new aircraft
• Mission-specific AI — load Hivemind for swarm operations, Lattice for sensor fusion missions
• Competitive pressure — multiple AI vendors competing on the same airframe drives faster innovation
• Resilience — if one AI system is compromised or has a vulnerability, swap to the other

This is a foundational step toward the Air Force’s vision of 1,000+ autonomous combat aircraft, each running the best available AI for the mission at hand.

Ukraine now produces over 5 million drones annually. But until Mission Control, coordination across drone units was fragmented — different units used different reporting methods, and commanders lacked real-time visibility into what was happening across the front.

What Mission Control does:

• Real-time operational status — commanders see every drone unit’s current activity, location, and readiness
• Hit and miss tracking — for the first time, the system tracks not just confirmed kills but also misses, enabling data-driven analysis of tactics and equipment effectiveness
• Gamification — top-performing units earn priority access to new equipment, creating competitive incentive structures
• Planning and reporting — standardized mission planning, execution logging, and after-action review all in one platform

Built inside DELTA: DELTA is Ukraine’s homegrown battlefield management ecosystem — essentially their version of a digital common operating picture. Mission Control adds a dedicated drone operations layer on top of it, transforming what was ad hoc coordination into a structured, data-driven command system.

Why it matters: The difference between Ukraine’s drone program in 2024 and 2026 isn’t just more drones — it’s better command and control. Having 5 million drones means nothing if you can’t coordinate them effectively. Mission Control closes that gap, turning quantity into organized capability. Every military planning its own drone force is watching this system closely.

The Marine Corps is making the most aggressive U.S. military commitment to FPV drones yet. Ukraine proved that $500–$4,000 first-person-view drones can destroy tanks, armored vehicles, and fortified positions that would otherwise require $100K+ guided munitions.

The training pipeline:

• 6 pilot courses covering basic operations through advanced attack profiles
• 8 certifications — basic operator, attack drone operator, payload specialist, instructor, and more
• Covering infantry, reconnaissance, and littoral combat teams across the entire fleet

The math: 10,000 drones at $4,000 each = $40 million total. For comparison, a single Javelin missile costs $175,000. A single Hellfire costs $150,000. FPV drones deliver precision strikes at 2–3% of the cost of traditional guided munitions.

What FPV drones do: A pilot wearing goggles flies the drone in first-person view at speeds up to 100+ mph, guiding it directly into the target. They carry small explosive payloads (typically modified RPG warheads or custom charges) sufficient to destroy vehicles, disable equipment, or breach fortifications.

Why this matters: This is the U.S. military officially adopting the Ukraine model. Every Marine infantry squad getting FPV capability by May 2026 means the Corps expects to fight with these weapons, not just experiment with them. It’s a doctrinal shift — FPV drones are now standard infantry equipment, not a novelty.

LEAP represents Europe’s most coordinated response to the drone threat. The five largest European defense spenders are pooling resources to fast-track development of affordable counter-drone systems, with Ukraine’s combat-proven experience informing the designs.

Two parallel initiatives:

• LEAP production — joint development and mass production of low-cost effectors (interceptor drones, electronic warfare systems, directed energy weapons) and autonomous platforms
• Drone Wall — an integrated network of sensors and interceptors along NATO’s eastern border, designed to detect, track, and neutralize airspace violations from the Baltic to the Black Sea

The Ukrainian factor: Rather than designing from scratch, LEAP explicitly leverages Ukrainian battlefield know-how. Ukraine has been fighting the world’s most intensive drone war for two years and has real-world data on what works, what doesn’t, and what’s needed at scale.

First contracts expected 2027. The nations are committing funding now for R&D and prototyping, with production-scale deployment following.

Why it matters: This is the first time Europe’s major powers have jointly committed to a purpose-built counter-drone defense layer. It acknowledges that traditional air defense (designed for manned aircraft and cruise missiles) is inadequate against swarms of cheap drones. The “wall” concept is new — persistent, layered drone detection and defense across an entire continental frontier.

JIATF-401 (Joint Interagency Task Force for Counter-UAS) has been the Pentagon’s central coordination body for drone defense since 2023. The Marketplace is their answer to the military’s #1 complaint: “We know what we need, but procurement takes too long.”

How it works:

• Online catalog — military personnel browse 1,600+ anti-drone products from vetted vendors
• Rapid ordering — bypasses the traditional FAR-based procurement process for approved items
• Categories — jammers, radars, nets, directed energy, kinetic interceptors, acoustic sensors, electronic warfare, C2 systems, and more

The market: The global counter-UAV market is projected to expand by over $30 billion between 2025–2035. This marketplace positions the DoD to rapidly evaluate and deploy the best available technology as it emerges.

Why it matters: The drone threat is evolving faster than traditional procurement can respond. By the time a counter-drone system goes through a normal 3–5 year acquisition cycle, the drones it was designed to defeat have already been replaced by newer models. The Marketplace model — continuous vendor onboarding, operator-driven selection, rapid delivery — matches the speed of the threat.

The RCWS320C-UAS is purpose-built for one job: killing small drones at short range with overwhelming volume of fire. It pairs the Dillon Aero M134D — the iconic rotary minigun firing 3,000 rounds per minute — with Rheinmetall’s SEOSS-320 sensor fusion suite.

Specifications:

• Weapon: M134D minigun, 3,000 RPM, 7.62mm NATO
• Sensors: SEOSS-320 fused radar/electro-optical suite
• Coverage: 230° horizontal, 90° elevation
• Engagement range: up to 600 meters
• Targeting: automated detection, tracking, and engagement

Platform flexibility: The system is modular — it can mount on vehicles (including Germany’s Boxer NNbs short-range air defense vehicle), unmanned platforms, or fixed installations. This makes it adaptable for base defense, convoy protection, or mobile air defense.

Why a minigun? Small drones are hard targets — fast, agile, and small radar cross-sections. Guided missiles are too expensive per shot. Lasers need time on target and struggle in bad weather. A minigun puts 50 rounds per second into a cone of fire, giving you the highest probability of kill against a fast-moving small target at short range. The cost per engagement is measured in dollars of ammunition, not thousands in missiles.

Rheinmetall’s approach is pragmatic: when a $500 drone is diving at your position, you don’t need precision — you need volume.

LongShot is one of DARPA’s most ambitious drone concepts: an unmanned combat aircraft that is air-launched from a fighter jet, flies ahead of the formation, and engages enemy targets with its own onboard air-to-air missiles. It’s a drone that launches missiles — launched from a plane.

The concept:

• An F-15 (or potentially a bomber or cargo plane) carries and launches the X-68A from an underwing pylon
• The X-68A flies ahead of the manned formation using its Williams WJ38-15 turbojet
• It detects enemy aircraft using onboard sensors
• It fires its own air-to-air missiles at the target
• The manned fighter stays at safe distance

Funding and timeline:

• $76.9 million allocated for FY2026
• General Atomics is the prime contractor
• First flight tests targeted for late 2026
• Live-fire missile tests to follow

Why it changes air combat: Today, a fighter pilot must fly within missile range of an enemy to engage. LongShot extends that reach by hundreds of miles — the drone flies into danger while the pilot stays safe. It also multiplies the number of weapons a formation can carry: an F-15 carrying two LongShots, each carrying two missiles, quadruples the flight’s air-to-air loadout.

The “X-68A” designation (the X-plane series includes iconic aircraft like the X-1, X-15, and X-47B) signals that DARPA considers this a serious, test-ready platform — not just a concept study.