Anduril Industries says it has accomplished the primary profitable check of its prototype surface-launched Barracuda-500 missile.
“To be blunt, current options are too costly, too beautiful, and too onerous to supply,” the corporate said in its announcement. “To deter our adversaries, the U.S. and our allies want an inexpensive, mass-producible option to mission energy over lengthy distances, they usually want it now.”
The check, carried out earlier this yr at one in all Anduril’s ranges, demonstrated the viability of the Barracuda-500 missile, launcher, and booster for surface-launch operations. According to the corporate, this effort is a part of an internally funded program to mature the aptitude earlier than providing it to the U.S. navy companies.
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Anduril has positioned the Barracuda household of autonomous air autos and cruise missiles as a response to what it describes as a scarcity of inexpensive and scalable strike weapons.
The Barracuda sequence has already been examined in pallet-launches for the U.S. Air Force’s Enterprise Test Vehicle program and lug launches of the Barracuda-100M for the U.S. Army’s High-Speed Maneuverable Missile mission. The surface-launched Barracuda-500 is the most recent variant to maneuver ahead.
Anduril highlighted the modular design of the Barracuda-500, noting that adapting it for floor launch required solely minimal adjustments. The missile makes use of a stable rocket motor booster hooked up to its tail, a configuration that the corporate says can work with motors produced both within the U.S. or by allied protection industries. This design method, Anduril added, is supposed to keep away from provide chain constraints and allow speedy scaling.
The firm emphasised that every one Barracuda-500 variants share greater than 90 % of their parts.
“They can all be produced on the identical manufacturing traces, by the identical technicians, and in the identical amenities as each other,” the corporate defined. By the top of subsequent yr, Anduril says it is going to be positioned to supply “excessive single-digit hundreds” of Barracuda-500 missiles yearly, no matter launch configuration.
Compatibility with current launch programs can also be central to Anduril’s design. In an announcement, the corporate famous that the surface-launched Barracuda-500 is being developed for integration with platforms already fielded by U.S. and allied forces, together with HIMARS, Harpoon, and Patriot launchers. The missile may also be deployed from stacked delivery containers, providing extra flexibility.
“By constructing surface-launched Barracuda-500 to assist multi-launcher integration, we’re unlocking multi-domain massed results with out introducing a large replace to doctrine, coaching, and logistics for the warfighter,” Anduril stated.
The firm careworn that this check represents one stage in a broader effort.
“There is way more to come back on surface-launched Barracuda-500. This most up-to-date check is only a second in its growth course of,” the announcement stated. “The finish functionality will in the end present the U.S. and our allies all over the world with a brand new possibility for lengthy vary precision fires that’s not solely succesful, however can also be extra producible, inexpensive, and versatile than current options in the marketplace at the moment.”
Anduril concluded by underscoring its willingness to proceed investing its personal sources into this system. “We’ll get there the identical means we all the time have: by persevering with to speculate our personal {dollars}, in danger, to construct one thing that we all know American and allied warfighters want at the moment.”
