Anduril Industries, a "non-traditional defense contractor" founded by Palmer Luckey, unveiled a reusable, vertical take-off and landing Autonomous Air Vehicle (AAV) which can launch in seconds and destroy "a wide variety of aerial threats."
As TechCrunch reports, this new drone is called Roadrunner and comes in two variants. The first supports multiple configurations, carries a payload, and can perform a variety of mission types. The second variant is a "high-explosive interceptor" called Roadrunner-M. It's configured to follow, intercept, and engage with aerial threats in a bid to destroy them as the video below demonstrates.
Roadrunner is deployed in a networked, automated hangar known as a Nest, which is only slightly larger than the drone and therefore very easy to transport and maintain. Once launched, Roadrunner uses twin turbojet engines to achieve high subsonic speed and enjoys high G-force maneuverability.
If a mission doesn't end in the drone's destruction, it can be reused by performing a vertical landing ready to be refueled. As Anduril’s chief strategy officer Chris Brose explained, "We’ve basically built a fighter jet weapon that lands like a Falcon 9."
The drone relies on Anduril's Lattice advanced AI command and control software to allow a single operator to supervise missions, and has been developed with an unnamed US government partner for the past two years.
As to why Roadrunner was developed, Anduril points to high volume production of low cost autonomous aerial weapons that are being used on battlefields today. Roadrunner is a response to that threat, with Brose referring to the drone as what he believes is, "the first recoverable weapon that has ever been fielded."
