Palmer Luckey's defense company Anduril Industries unveiled Thunder, an autonomous aircraft designed to deliver missiles, drones, electronic-warfare systems and cargo into heavily contested airspace.
"In this new era of maneuver warfare, we need eyes for what's ahead and a shield for what we can't afford to lose," Anduril wrote in a tweet.
Thunder is a Group 5 autonomous attack rotorcraft, meaning it weighs more than 1,320 pounds, as shown in the UAS classification chart below, courtesy of Piper Sandler.
Anduril noted, "A first of its kind for attack aviation. A thunderous step forward for maneuver dominance."
Thunder's modular payload bays can carry configurations including 10 air-to-ground missiles, 16 Altius-600 launched effects, or 76 70mm rockets, plus 12 counter-drone interceptors.
Pairing three Thunders with a single Apache helicopter could triple the formation's available munitions without putting additional human pilots at risk.
Anduril added, "Mass is only achievable if the platform delivering it is producible and affordable. The common dual-use baseline behind Thunder drives the economies of scale, expanded demand, and broad supply chains critical to drive down costs and de-risk the pathway to large-s
