“The Flame of the West.” Anduril Industries builds weapons for the war of the future

He gained fame as a bright teenager who outsmarted giants of the electronics industry. Money – as an efficient businessman knows when to sell his multi-billion dollar business. But in the pages of history, Palmer Loki has a chance to be remembered as the inventor of a weapon of the future that will change the face of armed conflict. For this purpose, he founded Anduril. What does he do there?

It’s 2010. 18-year-old Palmer Luckey hasn’t been to school (his mom taught him at home), but in his family’s garage he can work miracles with a soldering iron in his hand. Despite his young age, he repairs smartphones and home electronics and spends the money he earns on them Virtual reality equipment.

She buys commercial eyewear, but also military equipment. He checks everything that is on the market and comes to the conclusion that if he wants to get it Decent VR glasses -He has to build it himself.

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Some time passes. Palmer is no longer a teenager. From the darling of the technological world, he becomes an outcast – his political views are to blame, because during the election campaign he supports profiles that mock Hillary Clinton on the Internet.

In 2017, he committed another “crime” – together with several investors he founded Anduril Industries and established cooperation with the US Department of Defense.

This is just one of the innovative machines Palmer Luckey has recently developed. The creator of Oculus has managed to achieve the perfect timing, because increasing international tension, Russian aggression against Ukraine and the arms race in Southeast Asia have solved the money problem. Armies around the world are searching for weapons for the war of the future, and Anduril Industries is the company that provides such equipment Ready for delivery.

Anduril is a weapon well known to fans of JRR Tolkien’s works. The weapon made from the Royal Sword Narsil, which had been destroyed in the battle between good and evil, was not only a weapon, but also an affirmation of its owner’s royal origin.

This is not the only reference for the fantastic legends of the technological world. Companies and investment funds such as Palantir Technologies, Mithril Capital Management, Valar Ventures, Rivendell One and Lembass Capital point directly to Tolkien’s world.

In the case of Anduril Industries, the popular culture connotations seem to have a deeper meaning, because in the world Tolkien created, Anduril also had a second name: Flame of the West.

Palmer Luckey recently turned 31 and he’s not slowing down. And, as Forbes noted, Anduril Industries “is building the weapons of the future before the Pentagon even knows it needs them.” What exactly does he have in his account?

In 2018, the world heard about Anduril Industries thanks to Lattice – Data analysis toolsand facilitate detection of border violations (at that time it was the southern border of the USA). Lattice is currently a universal piece of software that helps analyze data, issue commands, and support the so-called kill chain.

This name describes the process of detecting, identifying and neutralizing targets, which – thanks to the support of humans or their replacement by algorithms (Exaggerated called artificial intelligence) can be significantly accelerated.

The Lattice platform is also a solution for autonomous machines – including those that, due to the specificity of their tasks, must operate for a long time without establishing a connection or accessing external data, as in the case of autonomously operating unmanned submarines. Machines of this type called XL-AUV were ordered by Australia.

Anduril also offers an innovative anti-drone system that can operate – which is standard in the case of this company’s systems – in a completely autonomous manner. Robotic outposts work in a similar way – autonomous towers filled with technology built by Anduril Industries, designed to protect borders, but also to oversee various facilities, such as airports or military bases.

Also in this case, thanks to the Lattice platform, the information received from the various sensors is automatically processed in order to detect and classify potential intruders and provide the data necessary for further action.

The offer also includes underwater drones – the Dive-LD, the Ghost silent flying reconnaissance aircraft, ALTIUS loitering ammunition, and the latest equipment previously mentioned in the company’s catalog, the Fury combat unmanned aerial vehicle.

It seems a sign of the times that among Anduril Industries’ products, the one that has attracted the most media attention – by far – is not a weapon of the future, but Palmer Luckey’s provocative concept of a killer game. They are hers Virtual reality glasses that will kill the userWhen he dies in the virtual world.

Anduril Industries is on a roll today The surge, which appears to take the form of a tsunami. The tremendous development witnessed by this company is demonstrated by its value, which rose from $1 billion in 2019 to $8.5 billion in 2023.

Anduril Industries’ ambitions are also reflected in the list of vacancies. Flame of the West is recruiting all over the world, looking for artificial intelligence and software specialists, but also engineers, mechanics, and airframe and rocket engine specialists.

By looking at the long list of in-demand employees, it’s easy to see who Anduril doesn’t need: PR and sales professionals are redundant. This is not surprising – in 2023, there will be no need to announce which equipment will dominate the battlefield of the future. It sells itself.