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Bloomberg Businessweek October 7, 2019J
ason Levin stoodona craggyhillona SouthernCalifornia
ranch in late Julyandpreparedtodestroya drone.First
he grabbed the controlsforanUpAirOne,a remotecontrol
hobbyist model thatretailsforabout$300,andsteeredit
until it was hoveringabout 100 feetabovetheground.Next
he used a laptop toactivatea systemhe’dspentthepastsev-
eral months building.
A second droneroughlythesizeoftheUpAirquad-
copter spun into action,buzzinglikea mechanicalwasp
as it ascended to about 20 feetbelowitstarget.Asit hov-
ered, a crowd of Levin’scolleaguesgatheredaround.A
prompt appeared on-screenaskingforpermissiontoattack.
Levin tapped a button,andtheseconddrone,dubbedthe
Interceptor, shot upward,strikingtheUpAirOneat 100 mph.
The two aircraft somersaultedskywardbriefly,thenthey
plummeted back toearthandlandedwithtwosatisfying
thuds. Levin grinnedandexplainedthathehadn’tbeencon-
trolling the Interceptoraftertellingit toattack—itfindstar-
gets and steers towardthemonitsown.If thefirstcollision
doesn’t take its quarrydown,thedronecancirclebackand
strike a second andthirdtime,allbyitself.“It’sa goodfeel-
ing as an engineer,”hesaid.“You’veputinthework,andit
knows what to do. It’slikesendingyourkidofftocollege.”
The Pentagon hasspentyearssearchingforreliableways
to combat consumerdronesthathavebeenrepurposedas
reconnaissance craftorbombers.AndurilIndustriesInc.,the
2-year-old startup inIrvine,Calif.,whereLevinis oneofabout
130 employees, beganshippingInterceptorstomilitaryclients
in the U.S. and theU.K.earlierthisyear;it’ssentdozensso
far and has hundredsmoreinproduction.Thecompanysays
its most recent contractis todeployInterceptorsoverseas
to conflict zones, thoughit declinestoprovidedetails.This
summer it raised $120million from Founders Fund, GeneralCatalyst, Andreessen Horowitz (in which Bloomberg LP, which
ownsBloombergBusinessweek, is aninvestor), andotherven-
turecapitalfirms.Investorsvaluedthecompanyatabout
$1billion, four times its last funding round in 2018.
Anduril already had contracts to build surveillance systems
on military bases and along the Mexican border, using tow-
ers and drones packed with cameras and other sensors. Its
software then processes the field data, alerting officers and
soldiers to possible disturbances. But the company wants to
movebeyondsimplyidentifyingthreatsusingcomputers.The
Interceptor,whichAndurilhasn’tpreviouslydiscussedpub-
licly,is itsfirstcomputer-operated weapon.
Silicon Valley has a long history of supplying the Pentagon,
but the two have drifted apart over the past 50 years. Today
the Department of Defense relies mostly on a few traditional
supplierssuchasBoeing,LockheedMartin,andNorthrop
Grumman.It’shadlittleuseforstartups.Commercialtech
companieshaven’tbeenparticularly enthusiastic about gov-
ernmentwork,either,andtheantipathyhasincreasedsince
theelectionofDonaldTrump.
Lastyeara groupofGoogleemployeesresignedinprotest
ofthecompany’sworkonProjectMaven,a programtouse
artificialintelligencesoftwaretoanalyzedroneimagery.
Google’s parent, Alphabet Inc., then announced it would
stop working on the project, embarrassing and angering U.S.
officials in the process. Workers at Amazon.com, Microsoft,
Palantir, and other companies have also demanded that their
employers cancel contracts with military, law enforcement,
and federal agencies that are enacting Trump’s border and
immigration policies.
Theprotestershavearguedthattechnologistsshouldn’t
buildproductswithoutregardforthewaythey’reused.In
mid-September, Seth Vargo, a former employee of Chef
Software Inc., a Seattle company, deleted
publicly available code he’d written for its
systems after finding out Chef worked with
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
“When I learned that my code was being
used for purposes that I perceive as evil, I
had to act,” he says. A week later, Chef said
it would stop working with the agency.
Anduril presents itself as immune to such
angst. Its founder, Palmer Luckey, is one of
Silicon Valley’s most famous Trump parti-
sans. The 27-year-old has gleefully trolled
the Valley’s liberals since he left Facebook
Inc. in 2017 under controversial circum-
stances. Founders Fund, one of Anduril’s
first big investors, was started by another
Trump stalwart, Peter Thiel. Trae Stephens,
Anduril’s chairman, is also a Founders Fund
partner and took part in Trump’s transition
team. The company recently began working
on Maven, the project Google dropped.
Executives at the company say they’re
The Interceptorless interested in serving any particular