Warhound launches with $200 million seed round to supply military working dogs

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

Gecko Robotics' technology will be deployed at Anduril's 160,000-square-foot protofactory in Orange County, Calif., where submarine components will be made.¹ Gecko will use its inspection technology and AI-powered software for nondestructive testing (NDT) of those components, Breaking Defense reported. Gecko President Troy Demmer told the outlet the robots inspect what is happening beneath the surface of a weld.² The partnership, announced Oct. 8, will also support Arsenal-2, the Baltimore County shipyard Anduril announced Oct. 6.^{1, 4}

"We are already embedding Gecko's NDT technology into real production workflows at our Orange County protofactory," said Bill Noderer, Anduril's vice president and general manager for shipbuilding. He said the aim is shorter inspection waits and quality processes Anduril can take to Arsenal-2 "from day one."¹ That puts Gecko inside Anduril's validation phase: Anduril's release, as quoted by Breaking Defense, calls the Orange County site a head start to develop and validate production workflows and quality systems before Arsenal-2 comes online.^{1, 3}

In March, the Navy awarded Gecko a five-year contract worth up to $71 million to use hull-scaling robots and AI to identify possible repairs on ships, including destroyers, Breaking Defense reported.^{2, 5} That work looks for repairs on ships in service.² At Anduril, Gecko will test new-build submarine components, and the outlet reported it will also establish a "digital thread" of data to assist maintenance planning.^1–2