Anduril Acquires ExoAnalytic Solutions

On March 11, 2026, Anduril Industries — the defense technology company founded by Palmer Luckey — announced the acquisition of ExoAnalytic Solutions, a space surveillance firm that operates one of the largest commercial networks of ground-based optical telescopes for tracking objects in orbit. The acquisition positioned Anduril as a vertically integrated competitor for the $175 billion Golden Dome missile defense program, which required AI-driven space surveillance as a foundational capability for detecting and tracking ballistic missile launches.

ExoAnalytic’s network of over 300 telescopes across six continents provided real-time tracking of more than 40,000 objects in space, including satellites, debris, and missile launches during their boost phase. This capability was directly relevant to Golden Dome’s requirement for persistent space domain awareness — the ability to detect a ballistic missile launch anywhere on Earth within seconds of ignition. Anduril’s existing Lattice AI platform, which provided autonomous sensor fusion and threat assessment for military customers, would integrate ExoAnalytic’s data feeds to create an end-to-end missile detection and tracking pipeline.

The acquisition came amid the broader upheaval in military AI contracting created by the Anthropic crisis. The Pentagon’s leaked removal memo had revealed that Claude was integrated into missile defense networks and that “no currently qualified replacement” existed for certain analytical functions. Anduril’s move suggested the company was positioning to fill that gap — offering not just AI software but the integrated sensor-to-decision architecture that the Pentagon needed to replace its Anthropic dependencies.

Luckey framed the acquisition in characteristically blunt terms, stating that “the missile defense mission is too important to depend on AI companies that might refuse to do the work.” While he did not name Anthropic directly, the reference was unmistakable. Anduril had never published AI safety principles or use-case restrictions, and Luckey had publicly criticized what he called the “safety theater” of AI companies that took defense contracts while maintaining guardrails the military had not requested and did not want.