Anduril unveils Steelfin interceptor as cheaper option to PAC-3 missiles

WASHINGTON — Anduril today unveiled its new Steelfin interceptor, which company executives are aiming to cost a third of the price of the Patriot’s current PAC-3 missile segment enhancement (MSE). 

“One-way attack drones, ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, hypersonic weapons… our military and our allies’ militaries are struggling with a set of legacy interceptors that are not scalable, and are not able to match the volume of the threat that they’re facing,” Chris Brose, Anduril’s president and chief strategy officer, told reporters in a preview call ahead of the announcement.

Brose said the company has “been working on Steefin for a couple of years,” driven by a belief that the market would soon have a desire for cheaper interceptors.

The new interceptor is “modular,” Brose said, meaning it can fly with different rocket motors, different seekers and be launched from different platforms ranging from PAC-3, CAML and Typhoon systems to containerized munitions canisters. Brose said the system can be “reconfigured” to be tailored from defeating low-cost systems like the Iranian Shaheds to more exquisite systems like ballistic cruise missiles and hypersonic weapons. 

Steve Milano, the company’s senior director of missiles, said the company is vying for the Army’’s low cost interceptor program with the Steelfin. Anduril was one of many vendors chosen to move forward with testing and demonstrations following the service’s recent xTech Apex Intercept competition — the event the Army held to try to find as many effective yet affordable interceptors as it could. 

However, there may be a different competition that Anduril is also running Steelfin in. On Friday, Breaking Defense first reported that Lockheed Martin and one other undisclosed company were selected for the Army’s Future Interceptor program, a previously unknown effort which seeks to find a next-gen version of the current PAC-3 MSE. 

Anduril executives declined to comment on if the Steelfin was selected for the Future Interceptor program, however, Steve Milano, the company’s senior director of missiles, said the Steelfin is a “natural fit in that domain space.” Under that competition, Milano said, the Army is looking for a seven to 10 inch terminal storage interceptor with a 10 to 13 inch booster to fit into the existing Patriot launcher and Common Autonomous Multi Domain Launcher (CAML), and Steelfin “fits very well” with those requirements. 

Regarding production, Milano said he expects Anduril to reach full rate production for the Steelfin at the end of 2028 or the beginning of 2029. He said he suspects “on the low end” the company will target producing “multiple thousands” of Steelfins per year, with a “higher end” of “closer to hundreds of thousands” per year, depending on the demand signal from the US and customers abroad.

Milano said Anduril’s “intent” is to build most of the sub assemblies for Steelfin at the company’s Arsenal-1 facility in Ohio, and then do the “final integration” of the interceptor with a “handful of our partners.” As to the solid rocket motors for Steelfin, Milano added that some will come from Anduril and some from other companies. 

“We’ve intentionally designed the Steelfin configuration with a modular mounting, so we can take in new providers as well as utilize our integrated and internal rocket motor systems,” Milano explained.