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US defence tech group Anduril will team up with Germany’s Rheinmetall to develop drones for Europe, as American companies seek to use their technological expertise to secure a share of rising defence spending in the region.
The two companies said on Wednesday they will jointly develop European variants of Anduril’s Barracuda and Fury aerial drones, as well as exploring opportunities to build solid rocket motors, used to propel missiles and rockets.
“This is a different model of defence collaboration, one built on shared production, operational relevance and mutual respect for sovereignty,” said Brian Schimpf, chief executive of Anduril.
The US technology start-up has several partnerships with European companies, including Rheinmetall, but Anduril on Wednesday emphasised that the new venture was focused on creating a sovereign capability in Germany and Europe.
There is concern among some of the traditional US defence groups that they could lose out on lucrative defence contracts as European governments seek to build up their domestic capabilities. Donald Trump’s administration has made clear that the US is no longer prepared to help pay for Europe’s security.
Anduril is the most prominent of a group of technology-led defence start-ups aiming to break the dominance of traditional manufacturers by promising faster innovation.
The war in Ukraine has underlined the importance of drones in modern warfare. Anduril’s Barracuda is designed to be cheap, quick to build and also easy to launch in large numbers. Fury is a more expensive, longer-range drone.
Anduril said the partnership with Rheinmetall reflects a “built with, not built for” philosophy, “one that prioritises local control, transparency and adaptability over dependency or lock-in”.
Armin Papperger, Rheinmetall chief executive, said the partnership would integrate Anduril’s technology into the Germany company’s European production “to bring new kinds of autonomous capabilities into service, ones that are quick to produce, modular and aligned with NATO’s evolving requirements”.
The venture will also try to target Europe’s lack of rocket motor production. The shortage of rocket motors has been a key bottleneck for increasing the numbers of missiles for air defence as European governments have sent existing stockpiles to help Ukraine in its fight against Russia.
