The U.S. Air Force Armaments Directorate and the Defense Innovation Unit have selected Anduril’s Barracuda-500 autonomous aerial vehicle for the next phase of the Enterprise Test Vehicle (ETV).

ETV program is aimed at creating a high-performance, modular and affordable aircraft that will serve as the basic platform for an ultra-cheap cruise missile, according to the company’s press release.

According to the company, during the seven months of participation in the ETV project, the Barracuda-500 has undergone design optimization and successful flight tests.

In September 2024, the missile completed a test flight, launching vertically, autonomously navigating for over 30 minutes, and locking onto a target using GPS coordinates.

Further tests this year will assess its other abilities: to launch multiple Barracuda-500s simultaneously, communicate between missiles in flight, and coordinate them.

The Barracuda-500 is a small cruise missileб has a range exceeding 926 km, a payload capacity of 45 kg, and a flight duration of over 120 minutes.

Enterprise Test Vehicle

The Pentagon launched a competition to develop an easy-to-manufacture cruise missile in June 2024.

The program requirements are designed so that in case of urgent need, the United States can quickly deploy missile production using commercially available non-military-grade components available on the market. This should diversify and secure logistics, as well as simplify the scaling of production.

“Developers will integrate off-the-shelf commercial components wherever possible to mitigate supply chain bottlenecks and keep production costs low. They will minimize the use of expensive materials and ensure rapid production, which is not possible with more complex analogues,” the message states.

The War Zone reported that prototypes of aircraft cruise missiles will likely have a range of up to 1,000 km, and their cost in mass production will not exceed $150,000.

It was also determined that the new weapons should be integrated into the combat system of American fighters without the need for their modernization. Four companies were selected to participate in the program: Anduril Industries, Integrated Solutions for Systems, Leidos Dynetics and Zone 5 Technologies. However, according to Breaking Defense, among the four initial competitors only Anduril and Zone 5 have advanced to the next phase.