Military-tech upstart Anduril pushes further into NATO with German arms maker deal

Silicon Valley-backed weapons maker Anduril and German armaments biz Rheinmetall have signed a deal to see US-designed drones and missiles integrated into European military platforms.

Anduril, co-founded by Oculus VR founder Palmer Luckey, expanded from Lattice border-surveillance towers into autonomous drones and AI-driven command and control (C2) systems. It has agreed to supply hardware for German arms maker Rheinmetall's Battlesuite digital sovereignty framework, which is meant to coordinate C2 across both manned and unmanned weapons systems.

"This is a different model of defense collaboration, one built on shared production, operational relevance, and mutual respect for sovereignty," said Brian Schimpf, CEO of Anduril Industries, in a canned statement. "Together with Rheinmetall, we’re building systems that can be produced quickly, deployed widely, and adapted as NATO missions evolve."

The deal comes as NATO's European members eye higher defense budgets amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine and President Trump's ...