By Mike Stone
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Anduril Industries released new, autonomous drones on Thursday for intelligence gathering and lethal missions, to take advantage of surging demand spurred by the success of similar products in Ukraine that are much cheaper than fighter jets.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine has highlighted the importance of loitering munitions - lightweight aerial weapons that can hover over, survey an area and make quick and precise strikes - instead of much more expensive, and vulnerable, fighter jets.
The vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) Autonomous Air Vehicles (AAVs) are designed to provide flexible capabilities for a range of missions, from intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) to search and rescue operations as well as a loitering munitions version for targeting enemy forces.
The systems have a flight time of over 40 minutes and a range of 20 km (12 miles), the company said.
Privately-owned Anduril said it is on contract to deliver lethal Bolts to the U.S. Marine Corps. Typical Bolt configurations cost in the low tens of thousands of dollars, the company said.