Hollie Adams/REUTERS
Palmer Luckey’s Anduril just gave the world an inside glimpse of its new project for the US Air Force — an uncrewed fighter jet that teams up with piloted aircraft.
The military startup was featured on Sunday in a CBS 60 Minutes segment, during which a few clips showed Anduril’s Fury drone being assembled in a hangar or warehouse.
It’s not the first time the drone was shown to the public — the Air Force unveiled a test representative model on May 1. But the TV segment reveals a few more details about the drone’s make.
In one clip, two engineers are seen fixing a wing on the Fury, the defense startup’s offering for the Air Force’s collaborative combat aircraft program.
That speaks to the aircraft’s modular design. Anduril says the Fury, like many of its other products, is built so that its parts can be easily swapped out and customized.
Both engineers are also filmed using screwdrivers to secure the wing onto the aircraft. The company has said that it wants the Fury to be manufactured at scale and possibly in many different workshops in the US instead of relying on a few highly specialized facilities.
CBS also showed a conceptual clip of a scenario in which three Fury drones flew as a team in front of a crewed fighter jet and helped it strike an enemy aircraft.
“These fly out ahead of manned fighters, and they’re able to find the enemy first, able to engage the enemy well before a manned fighter has to be seen or is in range,” Brian Schimpf, Anduril’s CEO, told CBS.
Such a mission is part of the Air Force’s vision for its advanced fighter jets to fight alongside drones that act as “loyal wingmen,” or for the drones to be used in missions on their own.
It’s expected to be a key feature of the F-47, the sixth-generation stealth fighter developed by Boeing. But the Air Force has also said it hopes to integrate the program with F-35 Lightning IIs and F-22 Raptors.
Air Force leadership has said its priority is making the drones affordable and easy to manufacture, as it hopes to bring mass to the skies since its fleet has shrunk in favor of more advanced aircraft.
Anduril was chosen to compete for the program, but the Fury hasn’t clinched the contract yet. Dubbed YFQ-44A by the Air Force, the aircraft is competing for the bid with General Atomics, which is also offering a drone with a modular design.
The Pentagon is expected to make early decisions during the fiscal year of 2026, which starts in October.
Anduril didn’t respond to a comment request sent outside regular business hours by Business Insider.
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