Anduril Unveils Cruise Missile Weapon, Voice-Controlled Drones

Anduril Industries has unveiled two groundbreaking technologies: the Barracuda weapon system and voice-controlled autonomous drones. These innovations aim to enhance America’s military readiness and deter potential peer competitors through advanced, scalable, and cost-effective solutions.

Anduril’s newly revealed Barracuda represents a significant leap in air-breathing, autonomous air vehicle technology. Designed to bridge the gap in current weapon systems, the Barracuda comes in three configurations: Barracuda-100, Barracuda-250, and Barracuda-500.

Each variant offers increasing size and payload capacity, with the largest configuration boasting a range greater than 500 nautical miles and a payload of over 100 pounds. All variants can achieve speeds of up to 500 knots. The smaller configurations provide a payload of 35 pounds with reduced range capabilities.

“America and our allies and partners do not have enough weapons, full stop. And we are not capable of producing the volume of weapons that we’re going to need to establish deterrence against a peer competitor.”

Chris Brose, Anduril’s Chief Strategy Officer, stating

To address this challenge, Anduril has focused on minimizing defense-specific materials, maximizing the use of commercially available components, and ensuring compatibility with various launch methods including aircraft, surface vessels, and ground-based systems.

The Barracuda system has already caught the attention of the US military, with Diem Salmon, Anduril’s Vice President for Air Dominance & Strike, revealing its selection for an early-stage joint Air Force and Defense Innovation Unit project aimed at developing a low-cost air vehicle.

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At the core of the Barracuda system is Anduril’s Lattice software platform, adapted for mission autonomy. This software enables autonomous collaboration between multiple units, offers potential to defeat adversary countermeasures, and allows for easy upgrades and adaptability.

The Lattice software’s versatility allows the Barracuda to serve various roles, including decoy operations, target detection, and strike missions, in both manned-unmanned and purely unmanned teaming scenarios.

In a groundbreaking demonstration at their west Texas test range, Anduril showcased the potential future of programs like the Air Force’s Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) initiative. The demonstration featured four mid-size, jet-powered “clay pigeon” drones, a voice command control system, and a simulated enemy engagement scenario.

The highlight of the demo was the use of voice commands to control the drone fleet, aiming to reduce cognitive load on pilots and operators. Andrew Burke, an Anduril mission software engineer, explained, “We want our pilots to be able to command uncrewed platforms… A voice command interface will allow them to work with these uncrewed platforms pretty easily.”

Key features of the voice-controlled system include AI-powered voice interaction, ability to request and grant engagement authorization, and potential for integration with large language models for more complex interactions.

While these technologies show immense promise, several challenges and considerations remain. These include overcoming adversary interference in guidance systems, debates around the permissible degree of autonomy for lethal weapon systems, and adherence to DoD policies governing autonomous weapon systems.

Kevin Chlan, senior director for Air Dominance & Strike at Anduril, addressed these concerns, noting that the company is striving to abide by relevant policies while maintaining flexibility for potential future changes.

As Anduril continues to push the boundaries of defense technology, these innovations in autonomous weapons and drone control systems could significantly impact the future of warfare and deterrence strategies. With a focus on rapid development and deployment, Anduril aims to provide the US and its allies with the tools needed to maintain technological superiority in an increasingly complex global security landscape.

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