From the Orange County Business Journal, May 26:
Palmer Luckey’s ambitious dream of helping America become the world’s biggest gun store via his company, Anduril Industries, is coming to fruition.
And he’s got the money to prove it.
The 32-year-old billionaire told “60 Minutes” in a show that aired May 18 that his Costa Mesa-based autonomous weapons startup will surpass $6 billion in worldwide government contracts by the end of 2025. He revealed that the company’s fighter jet called Fury is scheduled for testing this summer.
“The idea is that you’re building a robotic fighter jet that is flying with manned fighters and is doing what you ask it to do, recommending things that be done, taking risks that you don’t want human pilots to take,” he said during the Sunday broadcast.
Anduril has received national attention in recent months, including seeking a new fund raise that would double last year’s $14 billion valuation to $28 billion. It’s unveiled a plan to build a 5-million-square-foot manufacturing facility outside Columbus, Ohio. Its Roadrunner drone was highlighted in the White House’s Oval Office where President Donald Trump declared, “Whoa—that’s a nasty looking thing.”
The World’s Gun Store
In the interview broadcast nationally, Luckey sported a goatee and mullet while wearing his traditional Hawaiian shirt, cargo shorts and flip-flops. He reaffirmed previous statements about his mission to change how people perceive America.
“I’ve always said that we need to transition from being the world police to being the world gun store,” he said.
“My position has been that the United States needs to arm our allies and partners around the world so that they can be prickly porcupines that nobody wants to step on, nobody wants to bite them.”
Palmer, who drove CBS journalist Sharyn Alfonsi around Orange County in his 1985 Humvee, also expressed urgency for the U.S. to be ready with a full arsenal of smart weapons.
“The war games say we’re gonna run out of munitions in eight days in a fight with China. If we have to fight Iran and China and Russia all at the same time, we are screwed,” he said.
Luckey took Alfonsi on a boat ride 15 miles off the coast of Dana Point to showcase’s Anduril submarine drone called Dive XL, which is about the size of a school bus and can travel 1,000 miles fully submerged.Proving the Naysayers Wrong
Luckey, whose Business Journal-estimated worth as of last July was $5 billion, made his fortune by selling his virtual reality company Oculus VR to Facebook for $2.3 billion in 2014 when he was 21 (see his OC50 Rising Entrepreneur bio)....
....MUCH MORE, they go deep.
Also: https://www.ocbj.com/special-report/oc50-2025-palmer-luckey/
Our estimate of how dire the ammunition situation vis-à-vis China is a bit more optimistic. From April's "You Understand The United States Is Not Capable Of Defending Taiwan In The Event Of A Chinese Invasion, Right?":
A week's worth of high-intensity bombing by the Americans uses up half their munitions in the Pacific theater.
