California-based Anduril Industries and Germany’s largest arms manufacturer Rheinmetall announced on Wednesday that they would jointly develop drones and rocket motors under a new strategic partnership to serve European customers.
The goal is to extend the available range of autonomous mission systems.
Anduril's autonomous drones will be integrated into Rheinmetall's Battlesuite digital platform that links weapons systems
As part of the collaboration, the two companies will come up with a European variant of Anduril’s Barracuda, a low-cost, mass-producible drone, and Fury, a high-performance, multi-mission drone, both able to propel missiles.
Rheinmetall and Anduril also confirmed they were working on rocket motors “to help ensure European access to a reliable line of propulsion systems offering industrial redundancy and delivery at scale”.
“These systems will be jointly developed and produced by the two companies, incorporating sovereign suppliers and industrial partners throughout Europe,” said their statement.
Rheinmetall’s share price increased on Wednesday after the announcement, trading nearly 1% higher around midday in Europe.
The defence giant has seen its share price nearly triple this year amid a boom in European military spending.
Investor enthusiasm also earned the firm a place in the Euro Stoxx 50 benchmark index, in which it is going to start trading on 20 June, replacing Kering.
Anduril has been on the lookout for partnerships as EU governments prepare to spend hundreds of billions of euros on defence in the next few years.
In an attempt to reduce reliance on the US, the bloc is looking to favour homegrown players, prompting Anduril to emphasise Rheinmetall’s active role in the partnership.
Meanwhile, the US firm’s British branch has recently cut a deal with the UK government to provide drones to Ukraine.
