Anduril set to acquire Orange County space surveillance company

Southern California defence tech darling Anduril Industries has struck a woody to bargain Orange County abstraction surveillance steadfast ExoAnalytic Solutions.

The acquisition for an undisclosed sum is meant to boost Anduril’s capabilities successful abstraction domain awareness, conflict absorption and occurrence control.

With the deal, Anduril volition sorb ExoAnalytic’s web of 400 commercialized telescopes astir the world, rocket defence bundle and simulation and tracking algorithms.

It volition “significantly standard the interaction that we volition beryllium capable to supply for nationalist information missions,” the institution said successful a connection Tuesday announcing it had signed a “definitive agreement” to get ExoAnalytic.

“With Exo onboard, Anduril volition guarantee that our warfighters person the tools required to support broad situational consciousness of the abstraction domain, delivering a decisive vantage to antagonistic rapidly-evolving threats,” the connection read.

Anduril, which develops drones, missiles, robotic submarines and autonomous combatant jets, was founded successful 2017 by Peter Thiel protégé Palmer Luckey.

Its Costa Mesa office are located successful the ammunition of a erstwhile printing property for the Los Angeles Times.

The institution plans to interruption crushed connected a sprawling $1-billion field adjacent the Long Beach Airport by midyear. In 2025, the institution announced plans to walk $1 cardinal connected its archetypal “Arsenal” manufacturing works successful Ohio.

The institution was valued astatine $30.5 cardinal past twelvemonth and had much than 6,000 employees. The institution is successful talks to rise caller backing astatine a valuation of much than $60 billion, the Information has reported.

ExoAnalytic was founded successful 2008 and headquartered successful Foothill Ranch successful Orange County. Founded by 3 physicists, the institution astatine archetypal focused connected missile-tracking algorithms but aboriginal pivoted to physique what it has described arsenic the “world’s largest commercialized optical scope network.”

Both Anduril and ExoAnalytic Solutions are privately held and did not disclose presumption of the deal, which inactive has to walk regulatory muster.

Defense tech startups similar Anduril are rapidly expanding successful the hopes of winning authorities contracts for President Trump’s projected $175-billion “Golden Dome” outer rocket defence strategy to support the full U.S. from attacks by land, oversea and space.

California has been astatine the forefront of the modern-day abstraction race.

In Central California, Vandenberg Space Force Base successful January announced plans for a $900-million infrastructure overhaul arsenic it prepares to grip a surge successful rocket launches.

Southern California’s abstraction system is being revitalized, with companies similar Vast, a Long Beach-based startup trying to marque the archetypal commercialized abstraction presumption to ellipse Earth; and AstroForge, a Seal Beach steadfast hoping to excavation metals from asteroids, creating caller jobs successful Los Angeles County.

Dozens of SpaceX alumni person gone connected to recovered aerospace, artificial quality and companies successful different fields successful Southern California. (Elon Musk successful 2024 moved SpaceX’s office from Hawthorne to Starbase, Texas, though the company’s main operations stay successful Hawthorne.)

Other companies — including Rocket Lab, which was founded successful New Zealand and is present headquartered successful Long Beach — person moved to Southern California to beryllium adjacent to the endowment excavation that primitively attracted SpaceX.