The Pentagon just signaled a major shift in military logistics, awarding study contracts to Anduril and Blue Origin to explore orbital cargo transport. The $2.37 million in combined contracts may be small, but they could revolutionize how the Defense Department moves critical supplies worldwide within an hour.
The Pentagon just handed Anduril and Blue Origin the keys to potentially transform military logistics forever. The two companies landed study contracts under the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory's Rocket Experimentation for Global Agile Logistics program, with Blue Origin securing $1.37 million and Anduril grabbing $1 million according to TechCrunch's exclusive reporting.
While the dollar amounts seem modest, these contracts represent something far more significant: the Pentagon's serious push toward "delivery as a service" via orbital transport. The Air Force wants to contract these capabilities like it does commercial airlines, enabling cargo drops to remote or hostile theaters in under an hour.
Anduril's involvement marks a fascinating pivot for the defense startup, which built its reputation on AI-powered border surveillance and autonomous weapons systems. Now the company's diving into an entirely new business vertical: space logistics. According to contract documents on SAM.gov, Anduril will study developing reentry containers capable of carrying 5 to 10 tons of payload from orbit back to Earth.
The technical challenge is immense. Reentry remains one of spaceflight's most punishing problems, requiring materials that can survive atmospheric burning while protecting delicate cargo inside. Currently, only a handful of players have cracked this code: SpaceX with its Dragon capsule, startup Varda Space Industries with manufacturing-focused reentry vehicles, and precious few others.
