Anduril Barracuda-100M completes US Army HSMM test flights

California company Anduril Industries’ Barracuda-100M Autonomous Air Vehicle (AAV) in May completed a series of successful flight tests for the US Army DEVCOM (Development Command) Aviation & Missile Center (AvMC) High-Speed Maneuverable Missile (HSMM) program.

The HSMM program aims to create an affordable, high-speed, manoeuvrable, and modular air vehicle testbed for AvMC’s Precision Target Acquisition Seeker (PTAS) payload. The Government-developed PTAS payload is designed to allow for passive, autonomous tracking of identified targets and uses video feedback to correlate and seek a previously identified target image using a Long Wave Infrared (LWIR) camera within the seeker.

As part of this effort, Anduril has integrated the PTAS payload autonomy into its Lattice for Mission Autonomy suite, demonstrating how modular hardware and software enables rapid integration of various payloads and mission systems for unique customer mission sets, the company says.

Designed from the outset for affordable, large-scale production, Barracuda-100M is purpose-built to bring mass to the fight, says Anduril. Offering ten times the range of the comparably-sized Hellfire missile at a similar price point, the company says the Barracuda-100M delivers a capability that will be critical for conflicts requiring extended standoff, collaborative autonomy, and rapid target engagement.

When powered and controlled by Anduril’s Lattice for Mission Autonomy software platform (or third-party software suites), Barracuda-100M is also capable of novel collaborative autonomous behaviours that increase survivability and effectiveness against large target sets in contested environments, the company says. Therefore, as a software-defined, hardware-enabled platform Barracuda’s performance and behaviours can be rapidly and continuously updated to meet evolving mission requirements at the speed of relevance. The Barracuda-100M can be launched from the ground or air and is compatible with existing external rails of fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft, tail launches from airlift aircraft, and multiple ground-launch modalities.

Working with the AvMC Technology Development Directorate (TDD-M), in 2023 Anduril says it completed a series of HSMM trade studies and design reviews for the Barracuda-100M. In 2024, the company completed major testing milestones, including full scale transonic wind tunnel testing, environmental testing, captive carriage flights, glide test, and engine testing, all culminating in multiple powered flights of the Barracuda-100M for the HSMM program. This achievement represented concept to powered flight in under two years, including an aggressive 12-month test campaign, says Anduril.

In May 2025, Anduril executed several additional powered flights of Barracuda-100M, aimed at further expanding and verifying the vehicle’s capabilities and performance, the company said. These flights included integration of an Anduril-developed low-cost navigator, independent mission computer, and several design improvements for manufacturability. Anduril says it exceeded all outlined test objectives, including autonomous launch, mission execution, and multiple terminal guidance strikes, it added. Barracuda-100M met or exceeded all vehicle performance criteria, including high-G manoeuvres and speeds of more than 500 knots, demonstrating how the system packs high performance into a small, modular form factor to unlock new concepts of operation for tactical forces, Anduril added. The flight tests serve as an important milestone towards future operational employment of Barracuda-100M.

Later this year, Anduril says it plans to execute a series of ground-launch demonstrations of Barracuda-100M for the HSMM program, proving out its multi-domain launch potential and unlocking new capabilities for mobile ground forces by equipping them with a highly manoeuvrable, mass-producible, extended range, and high-speed direct attack munition. Ultimately, the HSMM program will culminate with a live fire demonstration at a government test range in 2026.