Anduril Industries unveiled Steelfin, a new family of configurable, mass-producible surface-to-air interceptor missiles designed to address a broad range of modern air and missile defense threats.
The company said Steelfin is being developed to counter threats ranging from low-cost drones to cruise missiles, ballistic missiles, and maneuvering hypersonic weapons.
Anduril designed the system around a common two-stage architecture intended to support multiple interceptor variants while reusing many of the same components, production processes, and underlying systems.
The first stage consists of a booster that can accommodate different solid rocket motors based on mission requirements such as range, performance, launch configuration, and packing density.
The second stage uses a common terminal interceptor architecture across the Steelfin family.
That baseline includes a shared airframe, avionics, software, flight control system, and interfaces.
Open modular interfaces are designed to allow different seekers, mission systems, and other components to be incorporated without requiring a complete redesign of the missile.
Anduril said the approach is intended to allow individual Steelfin variants to be configured for specific missions while maintaining a common underlying architecture.
The company is targeting missions spanning point defense, lower-tier integrated air and missile defense, and upper-tier ballistic missile defense.
Anduril said Steelfin is also being designed to deliver those capabilities at a fraction of the cost of current benchmark interceptors in each mission class.
Manufacturability is another major focus of the program.
Because different Steelfin variants share components and architecture, Anduril said they can be produced using common tooling, production lines, technicians, and facilities.
The company is currently planning production of several thousand Steelfin variants annually in the near term, with manufacturing capacity designed to adjust with demand.
Anduril also plans to use standard open-architecture interfaces to incorporate commercial off-the-shelf components and allow multiple suppliers to compete for subsystem designs.
The company said that approach could broaden its supplier base and reduce supply-chain risks associated with scaling interceptor production.
Steelfin is also being designed for compatibility with existing U.S. and allied launch and fire-control infrastructure.
Anduril said Steelfin variants are compatible with systems including the M903A2, Mk 41 Vertical Launch System, Typhon, and emerging containerized launch systems.
The interceptor family is also designed to integrate with fielded fire-control software systems including AEGIS and IBCS.
Anduril said this compatibility is intended to reduce the amount of new infrastructure required to field Steelfin and accelerate deployment.
The company has been developing and refining the interceptor family for several years alongside multiple customers.
Anduril has already completed ballistic testing using representative air vehicles and plans to begin flight testing Steelfin variants next year.
The company said the program is intended to provide U.S. and allied forces with a wider range of defensive options while improving the ability to match interceptor capability and cost with specific threats.
