Anduril used the opening day of Farnborough Airshow 2026 to reveal Thunder, an autonomous Group 5 attack tiltrotor built with Archer Aviation to fly alongside crewed U.S. Army attack helicopters and eventually replace some of their most dangerous missions.
A Loyal Wingman For Apache And Cheyenne II
Thunder is a vertical takeoff and landing rotorcraft powered by a series hybrid-electric powertrain and optimum-speed tilt rotors that let it cruise with fixed-wing efficiency but hover and reposition like a helicopter. Anduril designed it to keep pace with the AH-64E Apache and the U.S. Army's future Cheyenne II assault aircraft, so a single crewed formation can push more mass forward without pushing more pilots into contested airspace.
Autonomy Built On Lattice
Every Thunder in a formation runs Anduril's Lattice for Mission Autonomy software, fusing sensor feeds into one shared tactical picture and handling collision avoidance, formation flying and mission tasking without a dedicated ground operator. That is the same autonomy stack Anduril just placed with NATO's NCIA and, more recently, embedded in the Air Force's Fury CCA loyal-wingman drone.
Modular Payloads, Container-Sized Logistics
Internal main and nose payload bays give commanders a range of loadouts: 10 air-to-ground missiles, 16 air-launched effects, or 76 70 mm rockets alongside a dozen counter-drone interceptors. The airframe packs into a standard shipping container for expeditionary deployment.
Timeline And Broader Context
Anduril has not disclosed a price and is targeting first flight in 2027. Thunder joins a broader shift in low-altitude airpower that has also drawn the Pentagon's FAMM cruise-missile programme and Farnborough debuts including Boeing's MQ-28 Ghost Bat.
Reporting based on coverage from Defense News, DefenseScoop and Breaking Defense.