The German defense contractor Rheinmetall and the US company Anduril Industries recently entered into a strategic partnership to jointly develop and manufacture various software-defined autonomous systems. “This is intended to increase the availability of autonomous mission systems,” it said in a press release.
As part of the partnership, European variants of Anduril’s Barracuda and Fury aircraft will be integrated into Rhenmetall’s digital platform for networked military systems, Battlesuite. Anduril is also exploring opportunities for solid rocket motors using new production approaches in the European market.
“This is a new model of defense collaboration based on joint production, operational relevance and mutual respect for each other’s sovereignty,” said Brian Schimpf, CEO of Anduril Industries. “Together with Rheinmetall, we are developing systems that can be produced quickly, deployed widely and adapted to the changing needs of NATO-missions.”
Niederlande als erster NATO-Staat mit Beitrag zum neuen US-Initiativpaket für die Ukraine
Made in Europe for Europe
The partnership is tailored to the needs of individual European markets and is intended to reflect the “built with, not for” philosophy. It enables European sovereignty, local control, transparency and adaptability and avoids dependencies.
The integration of Barracuda and Barracuda-M into Rheinmetall’s systems is intended to provide the European armed forces with a cost-effective autonomous aircraft for “hyperscale production”. The modular design of Barracuda supports a “variety of payloads and specifications for the requirements of European armed forces”, according to the press release.
By integrating Fury, each country can configure its own command and control systems and operational constraints. Fury can integrate a variety of sensors and payloads to support mission requirements, enabling flexible deployment for manned and unmanned aircraft teams.
With the development of solid rocket motors, Anduril aims to ensure
Europe’s access to a reliable range of propulsion systems that provide industrial redundancy and the ability to deliver on a large scale should domestic sources fall short.
Not the first partnership
The partnership builds on previous collaboration between the two companies, including the development of new integrated solutions for countering small unmanned aerial vehicles (drones) and the successful joint participation in the XM30 Mechanized Infantry Combat Vehicle program of the US Army.
Armin Papperger, CEO of Rheinmetall, said: “By integrating Anduril’s solutions into the European production structure and Rheinmetall’s digital sovereignty concept, we are building on a solid foundation. This makes it possible to bring new types of autonomous capabilities into service that can be produced quickly, have a modular structure and are tailored to NATO’s changing requirements.”
Here for further reports on Rheinmetall.
