Anduril unveils tail-sitting Omen VTOL drone in UAE partnership
November 13, 2025
Anduril has announced a new autonomous military aircraft that it is developing in a joint venture with the UAE. The announcement comes just weeks after Anduril achieved its first flight of its higher-end prototype YFQ-42A ‘Fury’ Collaborative Combat Aircraft.
Anduril announces new VTOL ‘Omen’ drone
Omen (categorised as Group 3 UAS) is a tail-sitting VTOL drone standing around ten feet tall, powered by a hybrid-electric propulsion system. Its runway-independent and modular design is intended for it to fill a wide range of military and non-military missions.
Omen is a hover-to-cruise Autonomous Air Vehicle (AAV) that will combine the endurance, payload, and autonomy seen with larger systems.
Anduril was coy about any specific capabilities, vaguely saying it is “built for endurance and heavy payloads” and is for “expeditionary operations.” A two-person team is able to transport, assemble, and launch the aircraft within minutes.
It will have dual military and civilian uses, including maritime surveillance, logistics resupply, air defence sensing, and communications relay. It would be able to function as an interim cell tower in the event of a natural disaster.
— Anduril Industries (@anduriltech) November 12, 2025
The War Zone points out that Omen appears to be at least somewhat similar to Shield AI’s V-Bat, which has seen combat use in Ukraine.
The announcement comes amid a seeming torrent of new drone unveils by the United States and China, spanning everything from intelligent munitions to Shield AI’s advanced X-BAT VTOL autonomous aircraft designed to supplant fighter jets.
Anduril’s Omen to be developed with UAE
Anduril stated it is being developed in cooperation with the United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) EDGE Group. The joint venture is to “accelerate the design, development, and production of autonomous systems to support civil and defence mission sets in the Middle East.”
The UAE has confirmed it will purchase 50 Omen systems. The Chairman of EDGE stated the joint venture reinforces the UAE’s position at the “forefront of autonomous air capability.” The country will be the “centre of gravity” for commercial and defence manufacturing in the region.
Anduril says the joint venture will develop systems that are capable, scalable, and ready for operational use, while also being affordable and fieldable en masse. Anduril says that Omen is the “first of many systems that will be co-developed and locally produced.”
Two Roadrunners return autonomously to base after intercepting non-threatening air targets.
— Anduril Industries (@anduriltech) August 21, 2025
Roadrunner’s vertical takeoff and landing capabilities allow our warfighters to recover and redeploy for the next mission. pic.twitter.com/sgWgviMnae
Omen features Anduril’s Lattice for Mission Autonomy software, and full-rate production is expected by the end of 2028.
Anduril is establishing a permanent presence in the UAE with a 50,000-square-foot facility designed to expand with future programmes.
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Anduril set to dramatically scale up
Anduril is building the massive Arsenal-1 factory in Ohio. Expected future US orders for Omen will be built there. Anduril announced the facility in January 2025, saying, “Pending approvals, construction on the facility will begin immediately and the first products will be manufactured beginning in July 2026.”
Anduril has selected Columbus, Ohio as the location of Arsenal-1, our first hyperscale manufacturing facility.
— Anduril Industries (@anduriltech) January 16, 2025
We are investing nearly $1 billion of our own money and will bring more than 4,000 direct jobs in the largest single job-creation project in Ohio history.
Arsenal-1… pic.twitter.com/muLke6fqc2
This novel “hyperscale” production facility will be able to ramp up and produce masses of military products from various types of uncrewed combat drones to autonomous underwater vehicles. Anduril hails its new facility as part of a “new paradigm in defence production.”
Anduril is also seeking to set up production lines in Europe. Anduril is one of half a dozen US contractors lining up to build customised variants of its advanced drones in Germany.
US defence contractors are world leaders in next-generation aerial autonomous systems, and the announcement of foreign partnerships with localised production is becoming commonplace.
Featured Image: Anduril
