The US Army has recently inked a decade-long contract with Anduril Industries, a defense technology firm, potentially valued at $20 billion. The announcement by the US Department of War on March 13 revealed that the agreement commences with a five-year base period and offers the option to extend for an additional five years. Anduril will deliver a variety of products and services, including hardware, software, infrastructure, and operational assistance under the contract terms.
In a statement, US Army public affairs highlighted the consolidation of over 120 separate procurement actions for Anduril’s commercial solutions into a single enterprise contract. This move eliminates pass-through charges on subcontracts, streamlining the process and ensuring swift access to state-of-the-art software platforms, integrated hardware, data and compute infrastructure, and support services for Soldiers.
Anduril, co-founded by entrepreneur Palmer Luckey, who previously established the virtual reality (VR) company Oculus VR before its acquisition by Meta in 2014. Following controversy over political donations, Luckey departed from Oculus VR.
The New York Times reported Anduril’s backing within the current administration, attributed in part to its development focus on autonomous military systems like drones, fighter aircraft, and underwater vehicles. The company recorded revenue of around $2 billion last year.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Anduril is currently in talks to secure a new round of private investment that could potentially value the company at approximately $60 billion. Thrive Capital and Andreessen Horowitz are leading the funding round.
Meanwhile, the US Department of Defense is entangled in a legal dispute with Anthropic, an AI company, which sued after being flagged as a supply chain risk post unsuccessful contract discussions. OpenAI also faced public backlash and an executive departure post a deal with the Pentagon.
