Bill Ackman Cheers Anduril's New Autonomous Combat Aircraft: 'Super Cool'
Archer Aviation ACHR | 0.00 |
Billionaire investor Bill Ackman gave a public vote of confidence to Anduril Industries after the defense technology company unveiled Thunder, an autonomous attack rotorcraft designed to operate alongside crewed military helicopters.
“This is super cool. Glad we have @anduriltech in the USA,” Ackman wrote on X, responding to the company’s announcement.
Anduril’s Thuder
Thunder is Anduril’s latest autonomous aircraft built for modern battlefields, where drones, loitering munitions and low-cost air defenses have made traditional attack helicopters increasingly vulnerable.
Developed with Archer Aviation Inc. (NYSE:ACHR), the hybrid-electric tiltrotor aircraft is designed to fly alongside crewed platforms, carry a range of precision weapons and electronic warfare payloads, and execute missions using Anduril’s Lattice autonomy software.
The company said pairing multiple Thunder aircraft with a single AH-64 Apache helicopter could triple a combat aviation brigade’s available munitions without putting additional pilots at risk, while significantly lowering costs compared with an all-crewed fleet.
Anduril has already completed test flights using full-scale surrogate aircraft, with Thunder’s first flight targeted for 2027.
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