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Leave a reply. Anduril unveils Steelfin missile family to counter ballistic, hypersonic threats. October 12, 2026, 00:06 PDT Anduril unveiled Steelfin, a family of surface-to-air interceptor missiles built around a common two-stage design, on October 12, 2026. The company says the family is intended to counter ballistic, cruise, and hypersonic threats. According to Anduril's announcement, each Steelfin variant pairs a first-stage booster with a second-stage terminal interceptor. The first stage can use different solid rocket motors depending on the required range, performance, and launch configuration. The second stage is common across the family, sharing the same basic airframe, avionics, software and flight control system. Anduril says the modular design also allows different seekers and mission systems to be integrated without redesigning the entire missile. Anduril targets thousands of interceptors per year. Anduril presents the shared architecture as a way to simplify manufacturing and increase production. By building the different Steelfin variants around common components and production processes, the company says it can shift manufacturing capacity between variants as demand changes. Anduril aims to produce several thousand Steelfin interceptors annually in the near term, although it has not announced firm production quantities or customer orders. The company also says Steelfin is designed to work with existing air defense launchers and software, potentially allowing operators to introduce the interceptors without developing entirely new supporting systems. Anduril has completed ballistic testing with representative air vehicles and plans to begin flight testing Steelfin variants in 2027. The company has not announced a date for operational deployment. US Army seeks new generation of missile interceptors. Anduril already has a role in US Army air defense modernization through its solid rocket motor business. Its motor powers the Boeing midrange interceptor that advanced to Phase 2 of the US Army's Integrated Fires Protection Capability (IFPC) Increment 2 Second Interceptor competition in September 2026. The Steelfin announcement also comes just three days after Lockheed Martin unveiled PAC-3 Edge, a new interceptor developed for the US Army's Future Interceptor program. Announced on October 9, 2026, PAC-3 Edge builds on the existing PAC-3 MSE missile, incorporating a new seeker developed by Lockheed Martin, a multi-pulse solid rocket motor from Northrop Grumman, and upgraded flight controls. The company says the improvements will extend the interceptor's range and altitude performance against advanced missile and hypersonic threats. Lockheed Martin said the US Army had selected PAC-3 Edge to advance to the next stage of development, with testing scheduled to begin in 2027 and deployment targeted by 2031. Both developments come as the Pentagon seeks to expand its missile defense capabilities while increasing production of existing systems. On August 31, 2026, the Pentagon signed seven-year framework agreements with Lockheed Martin and General Dynamics aimed at tripling Patriot Advanced Capability-3 Missile Segment Enhancement (PAC-3 MSE) production capacity and quadrupling Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) interceptor capacity. On October 5, 2026, Boeing received a contract worth approximately $14.7 billion from Lockheed Martin to expand production of PAC-3 MSE seekers.

Anduril unveils interceptor missile family Steelfin to counter varied threats. Published on 10/12/2026 at 12:04 am EDT - Modified on 10/12/2026 at 12:08 am EDT Oct 12 (Reuters) - Defense tech firm Anduril unveiled on Monday its Steelfin family of configurable and scalable surface-to-air interceptor missiles designed to tackle diverse aerial threats, as the US looks to beef up military stockpiles amid the Middle East conflict. Steelfin's two-stage architecture features a first-stage booster for range, performance, and launch configurations and a second-stage terminal interceptor with airframe, avionics, and flight controls common across variants, Anduril said. Steelfin's common architecture allows the interceptors to move through the same production line, making it easier for Anduril to boost output of any variant, the company added in a statement. The defense contractor said it plans to produce on the order of several thousand Steelfin variants a year in the short term. This comes amid a broader push by US and its allies to expand arms production as growing demand for air and missile defense systems strains US weapons stockpiles. Lockheed Martin also unveiled a new missile interceptor on Friday, called the PAC-3 Edge, designed to defend against hypersonic and advanced missile threats. Anduril will begin flight testing Steelfin variants next year. It has already completed ballistic testing with representative air vehicles. (Reporting by Sumedha Mukherjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Clarence Fernandez) (C) Reuters - 2026

Anduril unveils Steelfin interceptor as cheaper option to PAC-3 missiles. Anduril executives said the system can be "reconfigured" to be tailored toward defeating both low cost and exquisite systems. By Carley Welch on October 12, 2026 12:01 am WASHINGTON - Anduril today unveiled its new Steelfin interceptor, which company executives are aiming to cost a third of the price of the Patriot's current PAC-3 missile segment enhancement (MSE). "One-way attack drones, ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, hypersonic weapons... our military and our allies' militaries are struggling with a set of legacy interceptors that are not scalable, and are not able to match the volume of the threat that they're facing," Chris Brose, Anduril's president and chief strategy officer, told reporters in a preview call ahead of the announcement. Brose said the company has "been working on Steefin for a couple of years," driven by a belief that the market would soon have a desire for cheaper interceptors. The new interceptor is "modular," Brose said, meaning it can fly with different rocket motors, different seekers and be launched from different platforms ranging from PAC-3, CAML and Typhoon systems to containerized munitions canisters. Brose said the system can be "reconfigured" to be tailored from defeating low-cost systems like the Iranian Shaheds to more exquisite systems like ballistic cruise missiles and hypersonic weapons. Steve Milano, the company's senior director of missiles, said the company is vying for the Army's low-cost interceptor program with the Steelfin. Anduril was one of many vendors chosen to move forward with testing and demonstrations following the service's recent xTech Apex Intercept competition - the event the Army held to try to find as many effective yet affordable interceptors as it could. However, there may be a different competition that Anduril is also running Steelfin in. On Friday, Breaking Defense first reported that Lockheed Martin and one other undisclosed company were selected for the Army's Future Interceptor program, a previously unknown effort which seeks to find a next-gen version of the current PAC-3 MSE. Anduril executives declined to comment on if the Steelfin was selected for the Future Interceptor program, however, Milano said the Steelfin is a "natural fit in that domain space." Under that competition, Milano said, the Army is looking for a seven to 10 inch terminal storage interceptor with a 10 to 13 inch booster to fit into the existing Patriot launcher and Common Autonomous Multi Domain Launcher (CAML), and Steelfin "fits very well" with those requirements. Regarding production, Milano said he expects Anduril to reach full rate production for the Steelfin at the end of 2028 or the beginning of 2029. He said he suspects "on the low end" the company will target producing "multiple thousands" of Steelfins per year, with a "higher end" of "closer to hundreds of thousands" per year, depending on the demand signal from the US and customers abroad. Milano said Anduril's "intent" is to build most of the sub assemblies for Steelfin at the company's Arsenal-1 facility in Ohio, and then do the "final integration" of the interceptor with a "handful of our partners." As to the solid rocket motors for Steelfin, Milano added that some will come from Anduril and some from other companies. "We've intentionally designed the Steelfin configuration with a modular mounting, so we can take in new providers as well as utilize our integrated and internal rocket motor systems," Milano explained.