Anduril Builds a Tiny, Reusable Fighter Jet That Blows Up Drones

Military combat drones keep getting better, cheaper and more dangerous. Unmanned aircraft are now affordable enough for terrorist groups such as Islamic State to procure large quantities of them. Meanwhile, the best counter systems cost many millions of dollars to deploy and use. It’s an out-of-whack equation that military analysts say will likely become only more troubling over time, in terms of both costs and the threats to the safety of ground troops.

Anduril Industries Inc., a startup in Southern California fashioning itself as a new-age defense technology and weapons maker, has created a product dubbed Roadrunner that it bills as an answer to the US’s rising drone threat. Developed in secret over the past two years, a Roadrunner is akin to a mini, autonomous fighter jet. Powered by two turbines and equipped with a warhead, it takes off vertically like a rocket and then turns to fly at hundreds of miles per hour like a plane toward its target. And, in a first for this type of weapon, a Roadrunner can return home, land and be reused when it doesn’t engage a target in the air.