Anduril Industries buys sensor firm Copious Imaging

US defence technology business Anduril Industries has acquired sensor provider Copious Imaging to enhance its counter-drone and force protection systems, Anduril announced on 28 September.

Unlike radar systems that are often used to find and track threats, Copious Imaging's Wide-Area Infrared Sensing with Persistence (WISP) sensor does not emit large amounts of radiation and cannot be easily detected, making it useful in contested environments, Anduril said. WISP sensors can also be integrated into radar-based systems to improve their accuracy.

“Integrating the WISP technology into Anduril's family of systems will provide a powerful capability for our customers,” Anduril CEO Brian Schimpf said.

For Copious, “joining forces with Anduril will help get our technology out to the field faster and at greater scale”, Copious CEO Bill Ross said.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Based in Lexington, Massachusetts, Copious was formed in 2017 as a spin-off of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Lincoln Laboratory. It employs 43 people, and its customers include the US Air Force, Army, and Navy, and the US Special Operations Command.

The acquisition follows Anduril's announcement in April that it had expanded its portfolio of unmanned aerial vehicles by acquiring Area-I, which makes tube-launched drones, including the Agile-Launched, Tactically Integrated, Unmanned System.