Affordable anti-UAV solution. Roadrunner contributes to the drone war

The drone war rages on as new players continuously emerge. On this occasion, American company Anduril introduced a versatile anti-aircraft drone. They take a playful jab at their competitors by naming the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) after a cartoon character.

The team at California-based Anduril Industries has a clear penchant for pop culture references, which is apparent right from their name, a nod to Lord of The Rings. They've recently launched an anti-aircraft drone designed to capture and destroy opposing enemy UAVs. A related venture, which evolved more into an anti-aircraft missile than a drone, was launched by their competitor Raytheon, who named their drone Coyote. In a clever response, Anduril revealed their device called Roadrunner, named after the crafty bird that consistently outsmarts the Coyote in the cartoons.

The solution offered by Anduril is to design a reusable device. This is the strategy behind Roadrunner-M, and the company claims they plan to roll out other versions of this UAV for different applications. But how is a drone, which takes down another drone, reusable?

The key is to minimize the number of drones that will be destroyed without completing their mission. To disable its target, the Roadrunner deploys a fragmentation warhead. If it doesn't manage to hit a maneuvering drone, it can execute a safe landing like a SpaceX rocket and be ready for reuse after refueling. This approach prevents the waste associated with drones that are outmaneuvered by enemy UAVs. However, it also indicates that if the objective is to ensure an enemy aircraft doesn't reach its target, multiple drones should be employed.

Anduril representatives are optimistic about Roadrunner's capabilities, boasting of superior maneuverability compared to competitors, a quicker launch time, and a more powerful warhead. They assert that the UAV can take out drones in every weight class, including the most formidable ones. The online publication Breaking Defence also reported that the US Special Operations Command plans to invest around 19 million dollars in Roadrunners by 2024.

Despite the promising orders allowing Anduril to engage in mass production, the cost for one drone still falls within several hundred thousand dollars. This pricing is astonishing when considering that organizations like Hamas can construct a Shehab drone using materials worth merely a few hundred dollars.