The United States Army announced that Anduril’s Ghost-X UAS has been selected for the Company Level Small Unmanned Aircraft System (sUAS) Directed Requirement (DR).
The DR takes a novel approach to modernization, rapidly fielding commercial capability to Brigade Combat Teams to inform requirements, doctrine, tactics, training, and maintenance concepts for the Army’s Medium Range Reconnaissance (MRR) program. MRR will equip maneuver companies and other operational units with multi-mission organic capability to employ in large scale combat operations and contested environments. Ghost-X was selected after a competitive procurement process, including aircraft and payload flight testing. Anduril will deliver Ghost-X aircraft later this year to deployed units, leveraging rapid and responsive production to field the first aircraft delivered for the DR.
Ghost has over 2,000 flight hours providing surveillance, targeting, and communications relay capabilities across woodland, urban, and desert terrains in a range of deployed theaters. Anduril participated in extensive soldier touchpoints over the last several years to inform the development and maturation of the Ghost-X variant, to include the Army’s Expeditionary Warrior Experiment at Ft. Moore, Project Convergence, and operations at the Joint Readiness Training Center in support of robotic enabled maneuver experimentation and Human Machine integration (HMI) efforts.
Anduril is grateful to our government partners in PEO Aviation, Army Futures Command, and the Defense Innovation Unit for the opportunity to deliver capability to operational units and inform MRR, a critical capability for the U.S. Army in the modern era of robotic-enabled maneuver.
About Ghost-X
Ghost-X provides the Ground Force Commander with a responsive, expeditionary capability to support decision making close to the tactical edge. With 90 minutes of cruise endurance, up to 25 km operating range and 25 pounds of payload, and weatherization for a range of harsh environments, Ghost-X provides market-leading capabilities in a form factor that is designed to evolve after fielding, aligning to lessons learned from the hardware and software iteration required in contested environments like Ukraine and INDOPACOM.
Designed from the ground up with open modularity in mind, Ghost-X aligns to the Army’s modular mission payload approach. Its single-rotor design offers unique advantages over other form factors, providing significant mission time at heavier multi-payload loadouts. It is the only sUAS on the market that offers 30 inches of rail space for user configurable loadout. The central rail provides power, ethernet, and communications to internal and external payloads, enabling field integrations to adapt to changing mission needs.
Ghost-X operates on Lattice, Anduril’s intuitive command and control software, which enables a single operator with a single controller to command and control multiple Ghost-X aircraft, automating mission planning, airspace management, flight operations, and threat identification and engagement.
In concert with government and industry partners, Anduril continues to enhance Ghost-X’s payload options, contested environment capabilities, and open extensible software. In parallel, Anduril is investing in manufacturing and production capabilities to provide this solution to warfighters at scale in relevant timelines.
Source: Anduril news release