Anduril’s Ghost‑X in the field; drone race spikes talent
Anduril’s Ghost‑X was deployed by the U.S. 4th Infantry Division for targeting and battle damage assessment at Ivy Sting 5, demonstrating fielded autonomy paired with Lattice AI. Separately, the AI Grand Prix drone race drew 2,700 teams from 93 countries — a pipeline for autonomy talent and a recruiting tool tied to $500k in prizes and Anduril hiring. (x.com)
The 4th Infantry Division is running serialized Ivy Sting exercises to scale the Army’s Next Generation Command and Control (NGC2) prototype from battalion to full‑division ahead of Project Convergence Capstone 6. (army.mil) Anduril has integrated its Ghost family into those NGC2 demonstrations, streaming full‑motion video into the Lattice mesh and feeding Striveworks’ Chariot and Sky Saber AI apps for automated object detection and battle‑damage‑assessment in prior Ivy Sting events. (anduril.com) The industry team led by Anduril won a prototype Other Transaction Authority award valued at roughly $99.6 million to build and field the NGC2 stack that links Lattice, partner apps, and sensor suites across the division. (soldiersystems.net) Anduril’s Ghost family is published as an expeditionary VTOL sUAS with roughly 90 minutes endurance, multi‑payload capacity on the order of 25 pounds, and tactical range figures cited in vendor materials and demonstrations. (anduril.com) The Ghost‑X platform was one of the systems flagged for rapid fielding under the Defense Department’s Replicator effort, a program that prioritized selected sUAS for accelerated production and wider Army issuance. (defensescoop.com) Anduril’s AI Grand Prix launch packages the company’s recruiting and autonomy‑development strategy into a global autonomous drone‑racing series with a $500,000 prize pool, identical Neros‑built race drones, and partners including Drone Champions League and JobsOhio. (anduril.com) The AI Grand Prix schedule begins with remote qualification rounds in spring 2026, progresses to in‑person training and qualifiers, and is slated to culminate in a November 2026 final in Columbus, Ohio; top performers receive expedited access to Anduril’s hiring pipeline rather than the normal recruiting funnel. (dronexl.co)
