Anduril Industries on Tuesday evening said it is partnering with three Japanese companies to aid its push into that country’s defense market.
Anduril signed memorandums of understanding with Sumitomo Aero-Systems Corp., Itochu and with a third company described as a “prominent Japanese trading company.” Trading companies in Japan are multi-industrial and typically include multiple companies.
Sumitomo and Itochu are also trading companies.
“We are immediately pursuing opportunities to serve the Japanese Ministry of Defense with Anduril products that transform defense capability with advanced technology,” David Goodrich, executive chairman and CEO of Anduril Asia Pacific, said in a statement. “Anduril’s specialty is building cutting-edge defense technology quickly, and Japan is internationally renowned for innovation, quality and attention to detail.”
Goodrich said the partnerships range across Anduril’s product portfolio, which includes autonomous surveillance towers, unmanned aircraft and underwater systems, counter-UAS, and its artificial intelligence-based Lattice open systems software platform that can integrate large numbers of autonomous systems.
Sumitomo said it plans to be a “strong, long-term partner” with Anduril in support of the Japan Self Defense Force. “In particular, command and control in joint operation is becoming extremely important, and we believe that Anduril’s Lattice OS core capabilities such as JADC2 (joint all domain command and control) and hardware agnostic will contribute to the Japan Self Defense Force’s future fighting capabilities.”
Sumitomo Aero-Systems Corp., which is part of Sumitomo, provides Japan’s defense forces with onboard equipment for vehicles and aircraft, small arms, naval guns, vessel components, avionics, manned and unmanned aircraft, space, cyber and electromagnetic systems. Itochu is involved in aircraft, space and security.
In 2022, California-based Anduril opened an office in Sydney, Australia, in an effort to design, develop and manufacture products in that country. The same year, the company partnered with Australia Defense Forces on autonomous undersea vehicles.