Palmer Luckey

The former gamer has his sights set on US defence bucks, Fred Harter writes

- Fred Harter writes

The “military industrial complex” conjures up images of besuited lobbyists who talk blandly about developing “integrated solutions” and “strike products” when what they mean is weapons that blow stuff up and kill people.

Palmer Luckey is different. The iconoclastic 33-year-old sports a mullet and favours Hawaiian shirts, shorts and flip-flops. His defence business, Anduril, is named after a legendary sword in The Lord of the Rings, and he believes that societies require a “warrior class that is enthused and excited about enacting violence on others in pursuit of good aims”.

"You need people like me who are sick in that way and who don't lose any sleep making tools of violence," he said in 2024.

Anduril is one of several sharp-elbowed startups that see the US defence industry, which has long been dominated by a handful of “primes”, as ripe for disruption. They tout a vision of low-cost, high-tech warfare waged by cheap, Al-fused autonomous robots with minimal risk to American lives.

Two years ago, Luckey said that “Anduril will save western civilisation and save taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars a year, as we make tens and tens of billions of dollars a year”.

It is a message that appeals to Donald Trump, who wants to ramp up US defence spending to $1.5tn (£1.1tn) and is enthusiastic about projecting US military might overseas. This month Anduril took over a $22bn contract from Microsoft to make the US military's integrated visual augmentation system, a mixed-reality headset equipped with sensors that will, in theory, allow soldiers to see around corners, view 3D maps and fight alongside autonomous drones.

It is a huge sum, even within the context of the US's prodigious military budget. In 2025, Anduril had a plan to surpass $6bn in government contracts worldwide. Luckey said that “everything I've done in my career” led up to the deal.