Anduril Industries is announcing a strategic partnership with Apex, a Los Angeles-based merchant supplier of productized satellite buses, to enable rapid development and delivery of space systems for the United States and partners.
Anduril will use Apex’s buses for missions where Apex’s off-the-shelf approach and scalable manufacturing enable Anduril to rapidly deliver capability to customers; such as space situational awareness, proliferated LEO architectures, and missile warning and tracking. Together, Anduril and Apex aim to set a new standard for quality, scale, and capability that can be delivered to customers to responsively meet their needs.
The agreement combines Apex’s capabilities as an innovative spacecraft bus manufacturer with Anduril’s AI-powered payloads and systems integration expertise. As part of this agreement, Anduril will utilize its capabilities as a mission systems integrator to field operational systems by bringing together technology across the industrial base. Anduril will also contribute its own products from on-orbit edge processing, versatile payloads, ground C2 systems, and other autonomous operations support that is essential to field mission-ready satellite constellations.
As a merchant supplier of satellite buses, Apex will provide its off the shelf spacecraft designed for mass manufacturing. These productized buses offer Anduril the scale, quality, and reliability it needs to advance their missions in space. Satellite buses provide necessary components for any spacecraft, allowing systems to maneuver, communicate, provide power, and more. Apex’s productized satellite buses are unique in their rapid manufacturability, allowing the company to deliver high-quality spacecraft in quantity at a pace necessary to meet critical mission needs.
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Earlier this year, Anduril and Apex successfully launched their first joint mission, Aries SN1, with Anduril’s edge-processing payload. Pictured above is a photo taken by SN-1 sensors and processed by Anduril’s edge-payload, all tasked through Anduril’s Lattice platform. From initial concept to flight-ready delivery, this entire project was completed in just 2 months – an unprecedented speed – demonstrating the value of Anduril and Apex’s product-led approach that prioritizes interoperable components and productized off the shelf spacecraft, which can be rapidly integrated and customized for mission needs.
In 2025, Anduril will launch its own self-funded mission, powered by Apex’s Aries bus, featuring upgraded mission data processing and new infrared imaging capabilities, marking the next phase of their collaboration. This next mission will serve as an essential tech maturation demo, and it will be the foundation for Anduril and Apex’s commitment to regularly deploying more mass to orbit.
“We’re proud to partner with Apex to put our software-defined, hardware-enabled capabilities in space,” said Gokul Subramanian, Anduril’s SVP of Space and Engineering. “Apex’s productized, off-the-shelf, approach to bus development offers the high quality and reliability Anduril needs for our IRAD mission as well as their ability to manufacture at scale to meet future demand.”
“Apex and Anduril are aligned in our approach to getting decisive capabilities into the hands of the warfighter at the necessary scale and speed,” said Ian Cinnamon, Apex Founder and CEO. “Anduril was founded on the belief that the exquisite, bespoke approach to defense capabilities will not keep pace with threats from China and Russia. Apex takes that same approach in space, providing productized capabilities to help our customers get on orbit as fast as possible. Together, Anduril and Apex can meet the Pentagon’s goal of rapidly proliferating capabilities in space.”
SOURCE: PRNewswire