Close Menu
Technology Mag

    Subscribe to Updates

    Get the latest creative news from FooBar about art, design and business.

    What's Hot

    Gmail now uses AI to help you find meeting times

    October 14, 2025

    The latest Moto Razr Ultra foldable is an even better value at $999

    October 14, 2025

    Instagram is making all teen accounts ‘PG-13’

    October 14, 2025
    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram
    Subscribe
    Technology Mag
    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram YouTube
    • Home
    • News
    • Business
    • Games
    • Gear
    • Reviews
    • Science
    • Security
    • Trending
    • Press Release
    Technology Mag
    Home » Anduril Is Building Out the Pentagon’s Dream of Deadly Drone Swarms
    Business

    Anduril Is Building Out the Pentagon’s Dream of Deadly Drone Swarms

    News RoomBy News RoomMay 30, 20243 Mins Read
    Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Reddit WhatsApp Email

    When Palmer Luckey cofounded the defense startup Anduril in 2017, three years after selling his virtual reality startup Oculus to Facebook, the idea of a twentysomething from the tech industry challenging the giant contractors that build fighter jets, tanks, and warships for the US military seemed somewhat far-fetched. Seven years on, Luckey is showing that Anduril can not only compete with those contractors—it can win.

    Last month, Anduril was one of two companies, along with the established defense contractor General Atomics, chosen to prototype a new kind of autonomous fighter jet called the Collaborative Combat Aircraft, or CCA, for the US Air Force and Navy. Anduril was chosen ahead of a pack of what Beltway lingo dubs “defense primes”—Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and Northrop Grumman.

    “Anduril is proving that with the right team and business model, a seven-year-old company can go toe-to-toe with players that have been around for 70+,” Luckey wrote on social media platform X shortly after the contract was announced. The company declined to make anyone available for this article.

    That business model has seen Anduril focus on showing that it can rapidly deliver drones, submarines, and other hardware infused with advanced software at relatively low cost. It also reflects a shift in America’s war-fighting outlook toward quicker development of less expensive systems that feature more software and autonomy.

    Investors seem to think it’s working. Anduril has raised a total of $2.3 billion in funding, according to Pitchbook which tracks startup investment and, according to The Information, is seeking $1.5 billion more.

    Courtesy of U.S. Department of Defense

    Anduril’s prototype CCA aircraft, named Fury, is still at an early stage of development. Another test aircraft will be developed by General Atomics, a 68-year-old defense firm with a history of making remotely operated systems that include the MQ-9 Reaper, which played a key role in the US expansion of drone warfare in the 2000s.

    The US Air Force wants the new CCA drones to be more capable and more independent than existing uncrewed craft, which still depend heavily on ground staff. They are envisioned performing a wide range of missions, including reconnaissance, air strikes, and electronic warfare—either alone or in collaboration with aircraft piloted by a human or autonomously. A core part of the program is developing new artificial intelligence software to control the aircraft that can operate autonomously in a wider range of situations than existing military systems, which are typically autonomous only in narrow circumstances.

    “This is a big shift,” says Stacie Pettyjohn, a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security , a Washington, DC, think tank. She says that the US military has so far mostly used AI for target recognition and planning rather than for controlling systems. The CCA project is “a huge step forward for uncrewed systems and for the Air Force and Navy,” she says.

    Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn WhatsApp Reddit Email
    Previous ArticleThe Spacetop G1 Arrives This Fall. We Try the AR Laptop With No Screen
    Next Article Elon Musk finally agrees to testify in the SEC’s Twitter investigation

    Related Posts

    Google Search Could Change Forever in the UK

    October 13, 2025

    Meta Tells Its Metaverse Workers to Use AI to ‘Go 5X Faster’

    October 13, 2025

    How China Is Hoping to Attract Tech Talent

    October 10, 2025

    The City That Made the World Fall for a Monster

    October 10, 2025

    OpenAI Sneezes, and Software Firms Catch a Cold

    October 9, 2025

    Patreon CEO Jack Conte Wants You to Get Off of Your Phone

    October 9, 2025
    Our Picks

    The latest Moto Razr Ultra foldable is an even better value at $999

    October 14, 2025

    Instagram is making all teen accounts ‘PG-13’

    October 14, 2025

    Apple Announces $2 Million Bug Bounty Reward for the Most Dangerous Exploits

    October 14, 2025

    TiVo no longer makes DVRs

    October 14, 2025
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Pinterest
    • Instagram
    • YouTube
    • Vimeo
    Don't Miss
    Security

    Apple Took Down These ICE-Tracking Apps. The Developers Aren’t Giving Up

    By News RoomOctober 13, 2025

    Legal experts WIRED spoke with say that the ICE monitoring and documentation apps that Apple…

    Nvidia’s ‘personal AI supercomputer’ goes on sale October 15th

    October 13, 2025

    Facebook is adding job listings, again

    October 13, 2025

    Microsoft AI announces first image generator created in-house

    October 13, 2025
    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram Pinterest
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms of use
    • Advertise
    • Contact
    © 2025 Technology Mag. All Rights Reserved.

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.