The turbojet-powered Roadrunner can function as a drone interceptor or ISR platform.
US defence technology firm Anduril Industries is looking to expand flight testing of its distinctive Roadrunner uncrewed jet.
The California-based company has requested permission from the Federal Aviation Administration to conduct developmental test flights with the vertical take-off and landing jet on a private test range in Texas.
In a petition submitted to the FAA in September, Anduril says that a dedicated private range is needed to supplement existing flight testing taking place on US government-owned facilities.
“Developmental progress depends on flying many sorties in close succession — a tempo that only a dedicated private range can support,” the company says. “Anduril requires the ability to conduct equivalent developmental testing as a civil operator, on its own range and on its own schedule, so that development is not gated by the availability of federal test infrastructure and so that Anduril can support both current and prospective government customers.”
Anduril revealed the Roadrunner in 2023, at the time describing the concept as a “reusable missile” falling somewhere between a munition and a UAV. The explosively armed Roadrunner-M was designed as a low-cost drone interceptor, while the baseline Roadrunner is positioned as a platform for intelligence, surveillance, reconaissance and airborne sensing.
Both versions of the delta-wing UAS launch from a ground container under their own power and have the option of landing vertically using retractable landing struts. Two thrust vectoring turbojet engines, designed internally by Anduril, power each vehicle.
It is the ISR Roadrunner variant that Anduril is seeking to fly at an “access-controlled private test range in a rural area of west Texas, on land leased by Anduril”, the company’s FAA filing states. The exact location is withheld from public documents.
The Roadrunner’s payload is listed as “installed sensing, computing, and communications” equipment, with “no releasable stores and no hazardous material” other than the fuel required for flight. The company is requesting a renewable three-year approval for flight operations.
Although Anduril’s website lists the Roadrunner as an autonomous air vehicle, the FAA filing indicates the flight testing will be overseen by a certified remote pilot-in-command using a local ground control station. A qualified safety pilot will also be in the loop for developmental flights, able to assume “direct manual control at any time” via an independent controller on a separate radio link.
The current commercial status of Anduril’s Roadrunner remains somewhat nebulous.
In 2024, the company received a $250 million contract from the Pentagon to deliver at least 500 Roadrunner-Ms. The precise user was not specified, although the funding was linked to the US Army’s research, development, test and evaluation account.
Kuwait has also requested permission from the US government to purchase Roadrunner-Ms, along with Anduril’s smaller Anvil drone interceptor, Lattice software and other products. The total package is valued at nearly $2 billion by the US State Department, which approved the possible sale in June.
Specific quantities were not revealed and a contract has not been finalised.
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