Anduril Industries now sits on both halves of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's $1.5 billion counter-drone framework after DHS quietly added the Costa Mesa defense-tech company to the products-and-hardware "Track 1" of its five-year Counter-Unmanned Aircraft Systems (C-UAS) IDIQ, capping a bid-protest saga that began just weeks after the initial August awards.
From Services-Only To Full-Stack Overnight
DHS confirmed the change on September 16, adding Anduril to Track 1 alongside Dedrone Defense, D-Fend Solutions, Leidos, Fortem Technologies, CACI Federal, BAE Systems Technology Solutions & Services and EMS Defense Technologies. The company had initially been awarded only a Track 2 (managed services and integration) slot on August 6, alongside Booz Allen Hamilton, General Dynamics IT, Parsons, Astrion, Leidos and BAE Systems. Anduril protested that decision, arguing its Sentry Tower, Lattice command-and-control software and Roadrunner reusable interceptor were being locked out of the hardware track. The re-evaluation ultimately handed the company access to the $1 billion Track 1 ceiling as well.
Only Three Vendors Cover Both Tracks
The move leaves only Anduril, BAE Systems and Leidos with positions on both tracks — a rare "full-stack" status that lets those three primes bid on individual C-UAS purchase orders across the Secret Service, Customs and Border Protection, the Coast Guard, ICE, TSA and FEMA. The IDIQ opened for ordering on August 1, runs through July 31, 2031, and requires detection at a minimum 2 km range with defeat at 500 m. Fortem was the only self-identified small business among the original seven Track 1 winners; 47 vendors bid on the vehicle in total.
DHS Follows Pentagon Into Layered Drone Defense
The award mirrors the Pentagon's July $500 million counter-drone contract to AeroVironment for layered defense and comes as U.S. authorities scramble to standardise C-UAS across civilian agencies after a summer of nuisance drone incursions over airports and border sectors. It also arrives days after the U.S. Army wound down its dedicated drone battalion in favor of squad-level UAVs and Amazon filed a Portland drone hub, underscoring how quickly both offensive and defensive drone doctrine is shifting.
What The Track 1 Slot Unlocks
For Anduril, Track 1 access matters for revenue mix as well as strategic optics: hardware orders through the IDIQ are procured on a per-buy basis and can be significantly larger than integration services. Analysts expect early task orders to fold in Roadrunner, Sentry Tower and Lattice, and to build on Anduril's existing C-UAS deployments at U.S. bases in the Middle East. The company was most recently valued above $30 billion in its 2025 Series G and continues to push toward an IPO window.
Reporting based on coverage from Washington Technology, Inside Unmanned Systems and DefenseScoop.