Trae Stephens on defense economics
From Anduril's Stephens on Innovating in an Age of War · · Bloomberg Live
“You don't want to shoot a $3 million cruise missile at a $200,000 weapon. Uh, the economic trade off is bad. And so, you know, we originally started working entirely in kind of the surveillance reconnaissance space. Uh, and now the kind of plurality of a lot of our work is actually related to air defense, lowering the cost of engaging, uh, with threats that are incoming to not only the United States, but also our allies and partners in the regions around the world where these threats are most present.”
On , Trae Stephens, Cofounder at Anduril Industries, spoke about defense economics during Anduril's Stephens on Innovating in an Age of War on Bloomberg Live.
About Trae Stephens
Trae Stephens, co-founder and executive chairman of Anduril Industries and a partner at Founders Fund, discussed defense technology and investment strategy in several recent interviews. At Bloomberg Tech 2026, Stephens said Anduril's goal is to introduce software and autonomy to reduce the cost of engaging with modern threats, describing an economic imbalance in which a $3 million cruise missile is used against a $200,000 weapon. He stated that Anduril's Arsenal One facility in Ohio is producing the Fury autonomous fighter aircraft, with Barracuda cruise missiles and Roadrunner interceptor missiles expected to begin production later in 2026. Stephens said additional factories, both domestic and international, are planned. On the topic of U.S. allies, he said it is important for U.S. foreign policy to provide capabilities to allies so they can defend themselves using U.S. production. In separate interviews, Stephens discussed his investment philosophy at Founders Fund, saying the firm creates "a ton of friction" in deal-making by requiring high conviction and allowing any one partner to block an investment. He said the fund makes significantly fewer investments by number than others of its size, with about 40% of each fund concentrated in a few companies. Stephens also spoke about his Christian faith and his view that defense work is about creating conditions for peace, stating that he wants his children to grow up without fearing for their personal safety. He described the September 11 attacks as a moment that led him to pursue national security work.