Anduril inks five-year deal with DIU for counter-drone tech

Anduril Industries announced today it has entered into a five-year agreement with the Pentagon's Defense Innovation Unit to provide autonomous systems to counter unmanned drones.

The deal, a "production other transaction agreement" worth up to just under $100 million, "enables government customers, including existing Anduril partners like the United States Marine Corps, to purchase Anduril's family of Counter Unmanned Aircraft System (C-UAS) solutions at scale for force protection," the company said.

The company said the deal is also significant because it allows DOD to purchase Anduril's C-UAS capabilities "as a service."

"This unique Production Other Transaction (P-OT) Agreement provides flexibility to the DOD to address dynamically changing C-UAS requirements in response to real-world events and conditions," the company said. "This agreement is proof that tech and defense can work together to accelerate adoption of advanced technology and scale innovations to modernize defense capabilities."

The C-UAS systems will use the Silicon Valley-based company's "Lattice artificial intelligence operating system and a network of sensors to autonomously detect, classify, and track targets, alerting operators to threats and allowing options for mitigation or engagement," according to Anduril.

Anduril said it worked with DIU for 18 months, "which included rigorous testing and assessment," to move the systems from prototype to production.

Brian Schimpf, co-Founder and CEO of the company, said the contract is a "milestone" for Anduril and DIU.

"Given the near continuous evolution of this particular threat and the urgency to field solutions that can also be routinely modernized to address it, we worked closely with DIU over the last year and a half to transition from prototype to production and quickly scale proven and fieldable solutions," he said.