Defense-tech company Anduril Industries' founder, Palmer Luckey, proved that a startup could challenge traditional defense contractors by building cutting-edge military hardware.
XTEND CEO Aviv Shapira says the next chapter of defense technology could be won somewhere else.
Rather than competing to manufacture every drone, robot and autonomous system, the bigger opportunity lies in building what Shapira calls the "Android of robotics"—a software platform that connects hardware from countless manufacturers into a single AI-powered operating system.
A Different Vision From Anduril Shapira is quick to credit Anduril for reshaping investor perceptions of the defense industry.
"Palmer Luckey proved that a venture-backed company could outperform the traditional primes," he told Benzinga in an exclusive email interview, helping establish defense as "a real technology category instead of a niche." But that's where the similarities end.
