Another day, another huge piece of news for European defense tech. This morning, Anduril announced a strategic partnership with German defense prime Rheinmetall to co-produce a suite of autonomous air systems and propulsion capabilities for militaries on the continent.
As we said yesterday: Zeitenwende, indeed.
Anduril and Rheinmetall’s partnership will center around three capabilities:
- Barracuda: Anduril’s low-cost autonomous cruise missile
- Fury: The company’s unmanned combat vehicle (a variant of which is being developed for the CCA program)
- Solid rocket motor production using Anduril’s new-age production processes
The two companies will co-develop European variants of the Barracuda and Fury and integrate the systems into Rheinmetall’s digital platform, Battlefield. Anduril says European suppliers and producers will be involved in the manufacturing process, with capabilities tailored to individual countries’ needs.
“This is a different model of defense collaboration, one built on shared production, operational relevance, and mutual respect for sovereignty,” said Anduril CEO Brian Schimpf said in a statement.
Build-up: It’s been quite a few years for European defense. To make a long story very short, first, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine back in 2022 brought war to the doorstep of the long-peaceful continent. Then, President Trump’s return to office this January (and subsequent break-up with longtime allies) revealed a harsh reality: Europe could no longer rely on the United States for its defense.
- Countries from the UK to Germany have announced massive increases in defense spending, including on more novel and new-age capabilities.
- The European Union has launched a €150B ($169.5B) loans-for-arms fund focused on cutting-edge tech—but that tech must be produced in Europe.
- Europe has adopted something akin to a wartime posture—the goal is to increase capabilities as quickly as possible to deter adversaries like Russia.
- Rheinmetall itself has seen a surge as a result—it’s stock is up about 56% percent this year.
American defense tech companies have taken notice. Applied Intuition, Saronic, and Anduril—just to name a few—have all expanded operations across the pond, presumably hoping to secure a piece of this ever-growing pie.
BFFs: Anduril and Rheinmetall say this is just the beginning—the goal here seems to be to build on the German defense giant’s existing network to bring Anduril capabilities to more European customers.
“By integrating Anduril’s solutions into Rheinmetall’s European production set up and digital sovereignty framework, we’re building on that foundation to bring new kinds of autonomous capabilities into service,” Rheinmetall CEO Armin Papperger said in a statement.
Plus, they already know the partnership works: the two companies have been collaborating on c-UAS since last summer.