Anduril has just signed a contract with the U.S. Army to provide it with 3,000 containerized, ground-launched cruise missiles, giving the branch a massive boost in long-range strike capabilities.
The contract states that Anduril will provide the incredible number of 1,000 Barracuda 500M cruise missiles per year to the Army for the next three years, starting in 2027, along with an undisclosed total number of containerized launchers.
Barracuda 500Ms have a maximum range of 500 nautical miles, or 575 miles and carry a 100-pound high-explosive warhead, roughly five times the size of the warhead in a Hellfire missile.
In Army service, these turbojet-powered subsonic cruise missiles will be launched from standard-looking 20-foot ISO containers similar to the ones used to transport military equipment all over the world.
These containers are self-contained launch systems designed to require no additional infrastructure to function, making them uniquely suited for austere deployments in isolated areas.
Each container will carry 16 Barracudas, giving Army commanders an unprecedented ability to conduct high-volume, long-range strikes from widely dispersed assets, making counter-fire that much more difficult.
The weapon is also part of the Air Force’s Family of Affordable Mass Munitions program and its Dragon Cart palletized munition system.
The Barracudas can use Anduril’s LATTICE AI-enabled autonomy system, or – thanks to their open-system software architecture – any other sufficient fire-control software, to identify and distribute targets amongst themselves and use different types of swarming tactics.
Anduril internally funded this surface-launched effort for its Barracuda 500 line, with a focus on keeping the weapon as standardized as possible across both surface- and air-launched variants.
Related: Anduril’s mini-cruise missile is like a Hellfire on steroids
The company had previously told Sandboxx News that the Barracuda 500M is capable of performing 5G+ maneuvers in flight to avoid intercept, and depending on range, can even loiter for up to 120 minutes before engaging a target.
The weapon is modular so it can accommodate different onboard sensors; in fact, there’s even an unarmed variant that can be used as an ISR or electronic warfare drone.
Most importantly, however, the Barracuda was designed to be easy to mass produce.
Anduril itself is producing the rocket boosters needed for the ground-launched Barracuda 500s. Further, roughly 70% of the weapon is built using commercially available, off-the-shelf components, and the other 30% is de-risked by accepting multiple open architecture designs from multiple vendors.
According to Anduril, actually building each Barracuda 500M could be done with just 10 common hand tools, making it easy to expand production when surges are necessary.
And despite the substantial Army order, the company will still be able to compete for the Air Force’s cruise missile programs too.
Anduril already has the facilities and infrastructure in place to produce “high single-digit thousands of Barracuda-500s” by the end of 2026, the company told Sandboxx News. So, those 1,000 missiles being delivered to the Army per year could be just the beginning.
Feature Image: The Barracuda 500M missile. (Anduril)
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