Anduril CEO defends contract wins amid questions over Luckey’s Pentagon role

Anduril CEO Brian Schimpf defended the company’s government contracts in an October 15 CNBC interview, saying it wins through competitive bidding rather than political connections. His response comes as co-founder Palmer Luckey helps lead a Pentagon-sponsored study of future warfare, raising ethics questions about defense suppliers helping shape the military’s priorities.

Speaking on CNBC’s Squawk on the Street, Schimpf pointed to Anduril’s growth under President Joe Biden as evidence that its success extends beyond the Trump administration. He described himself as a lifelong Democrat with strong relationships on both sides of the aisle.

“We’ve done incredibly well under [President Joe] Biden,” he said. “That was one of the biggest ramps that we’ve had as a company.” His defense emphasized the government’s process for evaluating bids, which he described as highly structured and competitive.

So everything goes through these very competitive processes, and we win based on the merits.

Brian Schimpf, Anduril CEO, speaking on CNBC’s Squawk on the Street

A supplier helping define future needs

The concerns concern more than relationships with the administration. CNBC reported questions about whether executives whose companies receive billions in government contracts should also play an active role in defense strategy. Luckey’s appointment places an Anduril co-founder inside an effort intended to inform future military capabilities.

MITRE’s October 2 Project Meridian page lists Luckey as a co-director alongside Elon Musk and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich. MITRE says the department commissioned it to lead the initiative, which it describes as independent. Its remit covers technologies and operational concepts needed to sustain U.S. military advantage across future warfighting domains.

The project will bring business leaders, policy experts and technologists together regularly to inform strategic recommendations for the department. According to MITRE, their contributions will help shape priorities and capability development, while identifying new operational concepts for future battlefields. MITRE says its technical experts will assess emerging technologies and their implications for military operations.

That mandate explains the distinction at the center of the dispute: Schimpf’s answer concerns how bids are judged, while the ethics questions concern who helps define future defense priorities. Project Meridian’s stated work is developing recommendations, not selecting the winner of a particular Anduril contract.

Billions in contracts frame the questions

On October 6, the U.S. Navy announced an Anduril shipyard contract worth up to $2.9 billion, days after Luckey was publicly named to Project Meridian. Anduril had also won a multiyear Defense Department contract worth up to $20 billion in March. Both figures are contract ceilings, not statements that the full amounts have already been paid.

Anduril supplies autonomous unmanned devices, drone boats and software to the Defense Department and allied militaries. That makes the study’s focus on emerging technologies directly relevant to the kind of business the company already pursues. The proximity of the October appointment and award puts the two roles in focus; timing alone does not establish that Luckey influenced the contract.