Anduril pitches new Steelfin interceptor as a lower-cost option to PAC-3

Anduril on Monday unveiled Steelfin, a family of two-stage surface-to-air interceptors designed for cruise, ballistic and hypersonic missile threats.^1–2 Executives aim for it to cost a third of the price of the Patriot's PAC-3 Missile Segment Enhancement (MSE), Breaking Defense reported.² That benchmark is Lockheed Martin's missile, built under an undefinitized multiyear contract Lockheed puts at $58.62 billion. Lockheed says that funding lets it triple PAC-3 MSE capacity by the end of 2030.⁴

Anduril was one of many vendors chosen for testing and demonstrations after the Army's xTech Apex Intercept competition, Breaking Defense reported Monday. Steve Milano, Anduril's senior director of missiles, said the company is vying for the Army's low-cost interceptor program with Steelfin. He called it a "natural fit" for Future Interceptor, the Army's effort to find a next-generation PAC-3 MSE, though Anduril executives declined to say whether Steelfin was selected.² Lockheed's Tim Cahill said in a Breaking Defense report Friday that Lockheed is one of two companies selected, without naming the other.³

The company says Steelfin variants are compatible with launchers including the M903A2, the Mk 41 Vertical Launch System and Typhon. It plans to produce on the order of several thousand Steelfin variants a year in the short term.¹ Milano expects full-rate production at the end of 2028 or the beginning of 2029, Breaking Defense reported. Anduril intends to build most subassemblies at Arsenal-1 in Ohio and do final integration with a "handful of our partners," he said.² Anduril says it has spent years on Steelfin "investing alongside multiple customers," though neither its announcement nor the outlet's report names one or describes an order.^1–2