https://x.com/anduriltech/status/2067391436526682155
https://www.twz.com/air/usaf-orders-both-general-atomics-fq-42-and-andurils-fq-44-into-productionThey are buying both >General Atomics’ FQ-42>Anduril’s FQ-44
>>65248291According to the Air Force both General Atomics and Anduril won the selection contracts.
Roadrunner where?
>>65248291Cool. But how does a company like Anduril just pop into existence out of nowhere and start competing on a field like this with well-established giants? Where do they get their expertise? Disgruntled aerospace experts leaving old companies?
>>65248304I think that was always the foregone conclusion, or at least the most common speculation, wasn’t it?
>>65248319https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anduril_IndustriesThe founder made the Oculus Rift which kicked off the VR craze in the 2010s, then sold to Meta for a fuckload and then he started making moves fast.
>>65248319They bought the company that was making these f-16 lite target drone
>>65248291Per the US Airforce:https://www.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/4520575/air-force-advances-future-of-air-superiority-with-cca-contracts/>The Air Force awarded engineering and manufacturing development and production contracts to General Atomics, FQ-42, and Anduril, FQ-44, for CCA Increment 1.>Awarded four months ahead of schedule, these contracts signify that the FQ-42 and FQ-44 meet rigorous mission requirements and are ready for full-scale manufacturing.>"These contracts reaffirm our confidence in the strategic path forward for the program to procure over 150 combat capable CCA by the end of the decade.”>Equally critical to the CCA ecosystem is the mission autonomy software. The Air Force awarded mission autonomy production contracts to a pool of six vendors, establishing a competitive marketplace for the program.>The baseline, six-year contract vehicle provides the framework for continuous competition and rapid software development. The following vendors have been selected for this baseline contract pool:• Anduril• General Atomics• Lockheed Martin• Northrop Grumman• RTX Collins Aerospace• Shield AI>Additionally, the Air Force has competitively awarded production options to Anduril, RTX Collins Aerospace, and Shield AI, to accelerate the delivery of critical mission autonomy software. This targeted award, based on the vendors’ ability to meet aggressive schedule and affordability requirements, will fund the first of two six-month competitive phases designed to speed the fielding of operational software to the warfighter.>This performance-based competition will culminate in the selection of a primary mission autonomy provider for CCA Increment 1, with award planned for selection by summer 2027.>The Air Force intends to field approximately 1,000 combat-capable CCA, employing an acquisition strategy built on continuous competition to drive down cost over time while scaling fighter capacity.
>>65248319>how does a company like Anduril just pop into existence out of nowhere and start competing on a field like this with well-established giantsAnduril bought a lot of already established companies working on the things that Anduril wanted to do
>>65248319sugar daddies essentially, notice how general atomics also got selected but gets no mention in the OP
>>65248319There is actually a fuck ton of R1 universities in the US, so there is a wellspring of great talent to hire. Also, a lot of industrial know how and such in the US is taught at specialized departments at these schools.Thank you Morrill Act of 1862.
>>652483351000? That’s it? The USAF has more than that in manned fighters. Why not 10,000?
>>65248772Because the USAF still isn’t entirely certain what they want a CCA to be, and it hasn’t been established just how autonomous they can be, so it doesn’t want to buy a bunch of shit that it might decide it doesn’t want anymore in 10 years, or is otherwise outclassed quickly. Drones will eventually take over most roles, but it’s going to be a long transition and the tech just got to the point where it’s feasible. Underinvestment is bad, but the flip side of that coin is that overinvestment leaves you either footing a much larger than necessary maintenance bill or outright disposing of billions of dollars of hardware before you ever really used it.
>>65248772F-47 needs the money, sorry.
>>65248772Initial batch to downselect from
>>65248772Why would you buy 10,000 of what is essentially a Beta batch?
>>65251817>Why would you buy 10,000 of what is essentially a Beta batch?Lol
>>65248319You not paying attention =/= Anduril just popping into existance.
>>65248319>how does a company like Anduril just pop into existence out of nowhere and start competing on a field like thiseasily corruptable government and administration.
>>65253914You are brown
>>65248291I remember like 3-4 years ago everyone and their mothers were calling them a vaporware company
>>65253947Nope, I'm not american.
>>65253954>butthurt gripenfagkekaroo
>>65253964I accept your concession.
>>65248328>then he started making moves fast.Jesus yeah they did>that wiki article wow
>>65253954Yep that's what he said.
>>65253954The excess pigment already told us that
>>65248291I want to see it dive bomb and drop 2 Mark 83's on a structure with pinpoint accuracy with a dumb bomb. That will truly change close air support, fuck all this air to air bullshit leave that for manned fighters. Cost effective too as you only need the bomb and fuse now
>>65254718What a fucking retarded post.>risk a more valuable asset to cheapen the munition cost from almost nothing to basically nothingJDAM kits cost so little as to not be worth mentioning compared to a high performance drone
>>65254955You can drop 5 mk83 for every 1 GBU-32. With advanced vision and radar mapping these new drones can probably lob inside a small CEP. Dive bombing is just cool but with significantly advanced ballistics it could probably dive from 40,000 to 30,000 feet pull up and disengage after dropping. 300,000 JDAMs have been made but 15 billion in bombs isn't insignificant also a bottleneck if a large war ever broke out. Why wouldnt you look for more economic ways to fight wars
>>65254955No no you see, he's from a country where one JDAM is like 1% of the GDP, please understand saar
>>65254005>>65254056lets see them hands Gomez
>>65252360>=/=!=
>>65255069>I-I'm not brown, you are!
>>65248319it's been 9 years and they have incredibly talented and realistic people who don't have the boomer mindset of the primesyou can just do things you know
>>65248291Anyone worked for Anduril? Thinking about applying with my plead of relevant skills, but heard it's an absolute IT crunch culture there
>>65253914The real answer is that they're starting with billions of dollars. You can also get a defense contract if you're a billionaire
>>65248319>How does some tech startup fuck with fat stupid giants?Are you for real?>>65253914>>how does a company like Anduril just pop into existence out of nowhere and start competing on a field like this>easily corruptable government and administration.It's LITERALLY THE FUCKING OPPOSITE, you absolute fucking mong retard. The corruption is "big established players" who are fucking fat, lazy, and overpriced raking in contract after contract because they develop the skillset of "win government contracts" and "consolidate to establish monopolies" vs "deliver value". Hungry new players disrupting them is what we needed more of decades ago.
>>65248319>But how does a company like Anduril just pop into existence out of nowhere and start competing on a field like this with well-established giants? Where do they get their expertise?lmao this is the kind of dogshit "opp's" you get these dayswhen it was skunk-works or phantom-works or whatever...you never heard or saw from any of the fucking staff. the wunderwaffe spoke for itselfnow, its about "the personality" and the "vibe" and dream-selling. the wunderwaffe however, will simply never materialize at all
>>65248384That's because it's Anduril's press release, not GA's.
