Senior Software Engineer - Strategic Defense

Anduril awarded contract to expand US Army's next-gen battlefield command system. Oct 13, 2026, 02:15 PM The Army awarded Anduril Industries a contract on Sept. 30 worth up to $1.8 billion over five years to help the service transition its new battlefield software from the experimentation phase to the fielding phase. Anduril previously helped develop the prototype for the service's Next Generation Command and Control, or NGC2, for the 4th Infantry Division, using its proprietary AI-powered operating system Lattice. "A common data layer allows the Army to integrate new systems without rebuilding the underlying architecture for every sensor, application, or weapon, so new capabilities can be fielded on the same foundation as those already in use," Anduril said. The Army awarded $162.8 million to Anduril to continue working on NGC2's common data baseline, or software foundation, as it begins to implement it across the service's I Corps, which commands service members across the Indo-Pacific. The contract contains options that can grow its value up to $1.8 billion. Anduril, along with Palantir, Raft and Striveworks, have helped build out the baseline. The NGC2 system will allow technologies, weapons, sensors, devices and applications from across the force to operate on the same network and increase decision-making speed on the battlefield. By expanding the NGC2 system to the I Corps, technologies will have to figure out ways to connect to the same network despite being separated by thousands of miles and experiencing interrupted or degraded connectivity. This will provide the Army and Anduril an opportunity to test how well information flows between the systems as they access the NGC2 framework in a myriad of environments. During a July 2026 ten-day event at Fort Irwin, California, entitled Project Convergence-Capstone 6, the Army asked 10,000 participants from U.S. and allied forces, as well as industry partners using 90 technologies to test software for the NGC2. Afterward, the Army awarded a contract to Anduril to develop the software prototype for NGC2 for the 4th Infantry Division. Over the past year, Anduril has conducted several operational exercises in collaboration with the Army to test the NGC2's common data layer baseline. In May, Anduril deployed its NGC2 system at Fort Carson and Pinon Canyon, using over 160 tactical edge computers, over 2,500 devices and 40 applications while navigating simulated cyber and electromagnetic attacks. Two months later, after a joint force exercise at Fort Irwin, the service said the battlefield command system was ready to be scaled. The NGC2 is set to replace the Army's first-gen command-and-control system, which helps control fire, logistics and airspace on the battlefield. The Army has made it clear that it wants to implement the NGC2 as soon as possible. "We know the biggest risk to our national security and our national defense is not moving too fast. It's not moving fast enough," said former Army Secretary Dan Driscoll. "The side that can sense a target, process the data, and deliver a kinetic effect the fastest, wins. That is the decisive advantage this capability provides." Riley Ceder is a Navy reporter at Military Times, where he covers issues directly affecting service members and their families, as well as breaking news.

Lockheed Martin announces new air defense interceptor missile designed for hypersonics. Published October 13, 2026 4:59pm ET | Updated October 13, 2026 4:59pm ET The war in Iran has demonstrated the need for a significant increase in the production of missile interceptors, as well as the continued development of newer and cheaper alternatives. One of the military's most-used air defense interceptors is Lockheed Martin's PAC-3 MSE, each of which costs between $3 million and $4 million. Lockheed Martin unveiled its new PAC-3 Edge missile on Monday, which Paula Hartley, a company executive, told reporters at the Association of the United States Army annual convention in Washington, D.C., "is our solution to the future interceptor competition right now." One notable difference in the PAC-3 Edge is the missile contains a third-pulse motor, so it can intercept hypersonic and highly maneuverable threats. "You shoot the missile with one motor, it detects a swarm or a threat," she said. "It can fire that next motor. That threat moves again because they will. Right, these threats are remote. They cannot be predicted. They're very advanced. We have a third motor. There is no system like this in the world right now. It'll be the singular, most significant and advanced hit-to-kill missile in the world." Lockheed will likely reach the flight testing stage next year, Hartley added, noting that it would not be operational between "30 months from now" and "in the 2030 time frame." She declined to specify the cost of an individual PAC-3 Edge missile, though she acknowledged "it'll be a little bit of a premium" compared to the PAC-3 MSE. A couple of months ago, Lockheed also unveiled another PAC-3 variant, still in its early stages, called the PAC-3 ACE, which is designed to be "half the price" of the PAC-3 MSE and "about two-thirds of the capability." Lockheed expects to begin flight tests for the ACE next year as well. Between the three PAC-3 variants, Lockheed does not believe one will completely replace the others. Rather, senior leaders believe each can play a role in a diversified arsenal. The company also intends for all three variants to be capable of being fired from the same launchers. "There could be customers that will now take a look at ACE, MSE, and Edge, and they'll make smart decisions based on their own operational analysis of what combination of those would be about that a little bit today," Hartley said. In previous years, companies had to contend with a solid-rocket motor bottleneck, though Lockheed has worked with General Dynamics to manage the problem. With that bottleneck largely resolved, the primary concern now is with the radar seeker that sits at the front of the PAC-3 missile. Elsewhere at the AUSA convention, Anduril revealed its Steelfin interceptor, the stiffest competition to Lockheed's PAC-3 MSE so far. Company executives are aiming for the missile to cost just one-third of the PAC-3 MSE and for production to scale even more easily. In a call to reporters ahead of the Monday reveal, Steve Milano, Anduril's senior director of missiles, said the company was aiming to produce "multiple thousands" on the "low end," with a "higher end" of "closer to hundreds of thousands" per year. The U.S. produced 620 PAC-3 MSE interceptors in 2025. Anduril expects the Steelfin to enter production at the end of 2028 or beginning of 2029. Tag:

Anduril Industries, the defence startup founded by Oculus inventor Palmer Luckey, has won a $2.9 billion US Navy contract to build components for Virginia-class nuclear attack submarines. The company will invest $3.7 billion in a 2 million-square-foot shipyard at Sparrows Point, outside Baltimore. Called "Arsenal 2," the site will make Anduril a supplier to the two prime contractors for the submarines, Huntington Ingalls and General Dynamics. Operations are not expected to begin before 2030. Anduril already builds autonomous undersea vehicles. In 2024, it won an $18.6 million Navy contract to make Dive-LD vehicles in Rhode Island, aiming for 200 a year. The company has a private valuation of $61 billion, second only to General Dynamics among US military shipbuilders.