Anduril wins US$1B SOCOM contract for anti-drone work

California-based Anduril Industries has beaten 11 other bidders to win a nearly US$1 billion contract to do counter-unmanned systems work for Special Operations Command (SOCOM), the US Department of Defense has announced. The award is one of the largest ever awarded to a startup company and grows Anduril’s work as one of the US defence industry’s tech-focused startups trying to bring Silicon Valley-style entrepreneurship and innovation to the US defence market.

Anduril will serve as “a counter-unmanned systems, systems integration partner (SIP)” for SOCOM, the notice for the indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract states.

This work will be done “in various locations within and outside the continental U.S.” over the next decade following an initial $1 million award, according to the contract notice.

Anduril has previously won significant DoD contracts, most notably a US$99 million contract from the Defense Innovation Unit for similar counter-drone technology.

In April 2021 Anduril announced it had acquired Area-1, a US drone manufacturer that had also done work with SOCOM. And in June 2021 Anduril closed a US$450 million Series D funding round that increased the company’s valuation to $4.6 billion.