Anduril to double UK presence in two years

A DEFENCE company founded by US entrepreneur Palmer Luckey, who sold his virtual reality business to Facebook at the age of 21, will double its UK presence in the next two years as it expects a boom in defence technology.

Anduril develops anti-drone technology, detection equipment and maritime security technology, all centred around its Lattice Ai-powered software.

The company recently developed a vertically launched jet engine-powered drone named Roadrunner which is designed to intercept aircraft and other drones and gather intelligence. “We have a strong belief that the UK is rife with engineering in defence and aerospace talent. We plan to continue to hire and grow in that market for the foreseeable future,” says Gregory Kausner, head of global defence.

The company was founded in 2017 and entered the UK in 2019 as its first international market.

It plans to double its 40-strong UK workforce to 80 and “plans to design, engineer and to manufacture products in the UK for the UK”, Mr Kausner said, opening test ranges and offices. Mr Luckey sold Oculus, his virtual reality headset start-up, to Facebook in 2014 for more than $2bn (£1.6bn) and personally made an estimated $700m. He was let go in 2016, reportedly for making donations to an anti-hillary Clinton group. The following year he set up Anduril, named after a legendary sword in The Lord of the Rings.

The UK defence sector has seen a wave of investment and expansion since Russia’s attack on Ukraine.

Relatively new technologies to defence, like drones, have meant militaries are trying to adapt quickly to counter them. Qinetiq, the defence technology company spun out of the Ministry of Defence nearly two decades ago, is developing a disposable drone with British arms contractor BAE Systems.