Anduril UK will work with GKN Aerospace on a proposal for Undertaking NYX, the event of a brand new UAV designed to work in tandem with AH-64E Apache helicopters.
Undertaking NYX, which units out the method for the supply of a demonstrator for the Land Autonomous Collaborative Platform (ACP) program, is anticipated to have a contract awarded to a profitable bid by Q3 of 2026. The complete tender discover is because of be launched on Dec. 19, 2025, and the contract is presently valued at £100 million. The ensuing ACP plane might be extremely autonomous – with the pipeline discover utilizing the phrase ‘commanded not managed’ – and provide intelligence, reconnaissance, goal acquisition, and reconnaissance (ISTAR) capabilities along with launched results. The first buyer is the British Military, who search to make use of the ACP in a ‘loyal wingman’ kind position alongside its fleet of AH-64E Apache assault helicopters.
Anduril, principally identified for its developments for U.S. forces just like the YFQ-44A, has constructed an more and more massive presence within the UK. In March 2025, the corporate’s UK subsidiary agreed a £30 million cope with the Ministry of Defence (MoD) to provide Altius loitering munitions by means of the UK to Ukraine. Over the earlier two years, Anduril UK’s workforce has elevated tenfold from simply 4 as much as 40 employees, and the corporate plans to open a manufacturing unit and analysis facility within the UK over the approaching years.
Their new companion, GKN Aerospace, is a subsidiary of the broader GKN model which has been working within the UK since 1759. Opening as an ironworks, then evolving to work with metal, the corporate underwent a serious restructuring within the Nineties which noticed focus shift to army automobiles, together with plane. GKN acquired famed UK producer Westland in 1994 earlier than divesting their share to Finnmeccanica in 2004. Right now the corporate’s 3,600 UK-based staff are unfold throughout six areas, supplying merchandise to Airbus, Boeing, BAE Methods, Lockheed Martin, and lots of extra main producers. The Anduril partnership’s focus is on the 1,000 personnel working at GKN’s Cowes, Isle of Wight website.
The Managing Director of Anduril UK, Wealthy Drake, celebrated the information: “This partnership with GKN Aerospace is an thrilling subsequent step in our journey to supply and ship revolutionary, sovereign options to the UK MOD. As we work collectively to create novel options to constantly evolving threats, we’re dedicated to utilising the total depth and breadth of British engineering expertise to supply sovereign options to British service personnel.”
GKN Aerospace’s Dave Bond, Senior Vice President of Defence Know-how, added: “That is a particularly thrilling partnership, combining innovative applied sciences and world-class industrial capabilities. Collectively, GKN Aerospace and Anduril will deliver all-new defence options to the sphere in speedy time. That is the beginning of a deep and strategic partnership and I look ahead to collaborating with Anduril UK for a few years to return.”
📢 Huge information from #Cowes: @GKNAero & @anduriltech have signed a teaming settlement to advance the UK’s next-gen UAV & rotorcraft functionality, in collaboration with @flyarcher.
The partnership may create 100+ expert jobs.
Full launch 👉 pic.twitter.com/za1k9KjUDi
— GKN Aerospace (@GKNAero) December 9, 2025
The precise type of the UAV requirement for Undertaking NYX just isn’t utterly specified at current, although the mockup plane tail part proven off by Anduril’s press launch in addition to the involvement of Archer Aviation suggests the Anduril/GKN bid will favor a tiltrotor plane strategy. Curiously, this may nearly definitely trigger a mismatch in pace functionality in comparison with the AH-64E it’s meant to function alongside – nonetheless, it could possibly be envisioned that the ACP platform might be tasked with flying forward of the manned Apache to supply prolonged sensor and engagement ranges with out risking the lives of personnel.
Subsequent Steps
Undertaking NYX is envisioned as solely step one in a long-running partnership between GKN Aerospace and Anduril UK. Andrew Kinniburgh, Director-Basic of Make UK Defence – a not-for-profit commerce affiliation for the UK defence trade – steered the 2 firm’s particular person strengths will present worth on each ends of the partnership: “Right now’s announcement of Anduril and GKN Aerospace’s partnership is a vote of confidence in our rising sector; bringing collectively a legendary engineering enterprise like GKN and a know-how led enterprise like Anduril lays the foundations for extra extremely expert and nicely paid jobs within the Isle of Wight and throughout the UK.”
It moreover implies that Anduril UK has secured a big foothold into a big scale UK-based manufacturing functionality, even forward of the opening of its personal deliberate manufacturing facility. Lower than ten years outdated, Anduril now has absolutely owned subsidiaries within the UK and Australia, and it’s within the means of increase Anduril Japan – an workplace having been established in Tokyo on Dec. 3 – and Anduril South Korea.
Anduril is now in Japan.
Right now we set up our Tokyo workplace and appoint Patrick Hollen to guide Anduril Japan.
This goes past geographic enlargement. It’s crucial we construct a technological benefit with our allies within the Indo-Pacific.
“By combining Japan’s technological… pic.twitter.com/No9k31jJHe
— Anduril Industries (@anduriltech) December 3, 2025
No different producers have but publicly staked out their bid for Undertaking NYX, although the competitors is more likely to pique the curiosity of a minimum of a number of extra bidders. On the identical day as Anduril and GKN Aerospace’s announcement of a (probably) tilrotor design, UK-based electrical VTOL (eVTOL) tiltrotor plane producer Vertical Aerospace introduced their intent to introduce a industrial eVTOL airtaxi service from Canary Wharf, London beginning in 2029.
Vertical Aerospace is partnering with Bristow Group for this proposal, although the corporate has additionally beforehand labored with GKN Aerospace.
