Latest news with #Anduril
Los Angeles Times
5 hours ago
- Business
- Los Angeles Times
Costa Mesa planners get the buzz on Hive Live, a 1,050-unit complex landing soon
A vision for high-density residential projects in Costa Mesa is becoming clearer, as planners Tuesday previewed Hive Live — a 1,050-unit complex with retail space proposed to replace an office park and the Los Angeles Chargers' former practice field. Planning commissioners took a look at the proposal, and the laundry list of entitlements being sought by applicants for the 14.25-acre parcel, during a study session Tuesday ahead of a June 9 hearing. The review comes nearly two years after the project was initially screened by the Costa Mesa City Council in August 2023. Panelists then gave developer Legacy Partners their consent to move ahead with the project. The firm's regional office in Irvine is overseeing the plan, which proposes three five-story buildings with 1,756 parking spaces to accommodate tenants, 3,692 square feet of retail occupancy and roughly 7.7 acres of total open space at 3333 Susan St. Planning commissioners will be asked in June to consider a general plan amendment and zone change allowing for high residential uses, as well as amendments to the North Costa Mesa Specific Plan, which establishes building standards for the area. Hive Live would also operate under a separate master plan imposing requirements specific to the property, which would be broken up into three separate parcels to accommodate three phases of development. Although not part of the project currently under consideration, developers have offered neighboring defense contractor Anduril, the headquarters of which border the Susan Street property, first right of refusal to build an additional office building at the southern end of the property. That decision would dictate which of the three Hive Live parcels would be constructed first. Anduril is located directly west of the proposed housing complex, across from a jointly managed strip of land called the Rail Trail, planned to connect bike trails in Costa Mesa and the city of Santa Ana to the north. To increase the value of that connectivity, the applicant is proposing pedestrian 'paseo' areas in between the buildings, where amenities would include seating, artwork and landscaping. Legacy Partners has offered to make 105 of the project's 1,050 total units — or 10% — affordable to low-income renters for a period of 55 years, in exchange for a 20% density bonus through the state. Any further community benefits, such as payments to the city for infrastructure and public services, will be outlined in a developer agreement that is still being negotiated and which will likely remain in effect for a period of 20 to 30 years after units become completed. Tim O'Brien, a senior managing director at Legacy Partners, explained how the concept for Hive Live began five years ago as the city was in the process of updating the housing element portion of its general plan and eyeing industrial areas north of the 405 Freeway for residential developments with higher densities. 'It was just kind of an inkling, like, depending on what the city's looking for here, maybe this could be a site that could be offered up,' O'Brien recalled Tuesday. 'The vision became, well look, we have a big (housing) obligation to the state, it calls for density, we think this density should be in the northern part of the city — that's the whole premise of this.' The Irvine-based developer also built 580 Anton, a 240-unit luxury apartment building in Costa Mesa's South Coast Metro district, as well as nearby Bloom South Coast in Santa Ana. O'Brien said the firm's target market for Hive Live is professionals aged 25 to 45, though each of the three residential buildings on the site would be aimed at different audiences within that demographic. The southernmost building, dubbed 'The Innovator,' would include 315 residential units and a 538-space parking garage, along with all the retail space and a public common area, for an active and social population with modern influences. Directly north of that, 'The Explorer' would be built out with 346 units and 572 parking spaces in a design appealing to creatives and outdoor adventurers looking for laid-back luxury. A third building 'Eco Enthusiast' would be the largest construction phase and include 389 units, along with a 643-space parking structure and a design focused on wellness, meditation and a refined, natural look. 'They all have these individual interests — everybody's different,' O'Brien told commissioners of the envisioned tenant profiles. 'It just helps us to create themes and feel for our buildings; it helps us create a sense of place, of character.'
South China Morning Post
5 days ago
- South China Morning Post
Could next-gen fighter jets and ‘loyal wingmen' help US offset China's numbers?
America's next-generation fighter jets and their 'loyal wingmen' drones could counter China's fleet size advantage and widen the operational range for a potential conflict in the Indo-Pacific, according to analysts. Advertisement But they also say that China is catching up in this area of military technology, and the gap is 'narrowing'. General David Allvin, chief of staff of the US Air Force, posted a photo of the YFQ-42A unmanned combat aerial vehicle on social media on Monday in the 'world's first look' at the UCAV. The drone is part of the air force's collaborative combat aircraft programme, or CCA, which Allvin said would 'prove not only cost-effective, but truly lethal'. 'No doubts these uncrewed fighters will put our adversaries on notice!' he wrote. US Air Force Chief of Staff General David Allvin (centre) said CCA would 'prove not only cost-effective, but truly lethal'. Photo: AFP The UCAV is being developed by General Atomics and is one of two designs in the first phase of the CCA programme, which aims to develop drones to augment crewed fighter aircraft in air-to-air missions. The US Air Force said earlier this month that it had begun ground testing of the two initial CCA designs, unveiling images of Anduril's YFQ-44A – the other drone being developed under the programme. Their propulsion systems, avionics, autonomy integration and ground control interfaces are being put to the test to see how they perform, inform future design decisions and prepare for flight testing later this year. If that goes to plan, production is expected to take place in 2026 along with development of the second phase designs. Advertisement Richard Aboulafia, an aviation analyst and managing director of AeroDynamic Advisory, said the first two designs were 'primarily for relatively simple strike missions, or for basic air-to-air missile carriage'.
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Elon Musk denies SpaceX is the frontrunner for Trump's $500 billion ‘Golden Dome' missile-defense project: ‘This is not true'
The Trump administration is reportedly turning to old friends as it looks to develop a 'golden dome' missile-defense system proposed by President Donald Trump. Although plans may change, and Elon Musk has denied that SpaceX pitched itself for the job, the administration is reportedly considering Anduril, Palantir, and Elon Musk's space-technology company to build key parts of the system. Cofounders at all three companies have previously supported Trump, most notably Musk, who donated $288 million to Trump's 2024 reelection campaign and is a close advisor to the president. President Donald Trump wants to build a 'golden dome' to protect the U.S. against missile attacks, and his administration is reportedly seeking out some familiar faces to help build it. The so-called 'golden dome' would be a missile-defense system similar to Israel's Iron Dome, and would intercept projectiles launched at the U.S. using satellites. According to President Trump, who gave more details on the project Tuesday, the ambitious effort is meant to build upon Ronald Reagan's proposed, yet never completed, SDI, or 'Star Wars' system, imagined as a defense against missile threats from the USSR. The dome will be completed in three years, by the end of Trump's term, and will cost an estimated $175 billion, he claimed. Yet, a recent study by the Congressional Budget Office estimated the project could cost $161 billion at the low end and $542 billion at the high end over two decades. 'Once fully constructed, the golden dome will be capable of intercepting missiles even if they are launched from other sides of the world, and even if they are launched from space,' Trump said in a press conference Tuesday. In two posts on X from April, Elon Musk denied that SpaceX was involved with Trump's golden dome project. In response to a post promoting the news reported by Reuters, Musk said 'This is not true.' In an earlier post, Musk had said he preferred other companies take up the golden dome project. 'SpaceX has not tried to bid for any contract in this regard. Our strong preference would be to stay focused on taking humanity to Mars. If the President asks us to help in this regard, we will do so, but I hope that other companies (not SpaceX) can do this,' he wrote. Palantir, Anduril, and SpaceX did not immediately reply to Fortune's request for comment. Although plans for the missile-defense system are in early stages and may change, the White House is reportedly considering a partnership between SpaceX, Anduril, and Palantir, three companies whose cofounders have previously supported Trump, as frontrunners to build key parts of the system, six sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. The three companies met with Trump administration officials over the past several weeks to present their proposal, which includes launching anywhere from 400 to more than 1,000 satellites into space to track missiles. An additional 200 attack satellites equipped with their own missiles or lasers would be responsible for taking down enemy projectiles, Reuters reported. SpaceX would not be directly involved with the weaponization of the satellites, sources told the outlet. SpaceX has reportedly pitched the idea of the U.S. government paying a subscription service for the government to access the technology, rather than own it, for it to be developed faster, Reuters reported. Pentagon officials have reportedly expressed concern about the idea of not owning the missile defense system outright, which would be unusual for such a large defense system. Elon Musk, the CEO of SpaceX, is a close advisor to President Trump and donated more than a quarter of a billion dollars to his reelection campaign. As the face of Trump's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), Musk has spent the last months slashing government spending, with around $170 billion in savings made so far, according to the DOGE website. (His original goal was to cut $2 trillion.) At the same time, Musk's company SpaceX has made billions of dollars in revenue from government contracts. The space company was awarded more than 300 contracts worth $3.8 billion last year, the New York Times reported. Musk's role in the government has reportedly had an influence over the golden dome pitching process, according to one of the sources familiar with the talks. 'There's an attitude that the national security and defense community has to be sensitive and deferential to Elon Musk because of his role in the government,' the source told Reuters. Palantir, the big-data software company, was cofounded by Peter Thiel, who was a major Trump supporter during his first run for president in 2016, donating more than $1 million to pro-Trump groups and serving on the president's transition team. While Thiel stepped back from his political involvement and donations in 2020 and 2024, Trump chose his protégé JD Vance as his running mate. Palantir CEO Alex Karp describes his politics as populist-left but has previously supported both Republicans and Democrats in congressional elections, according to OpenSecrets. He donated $360,000 to former President Joe Biden during his presidential campaign in 2024. Karp later supported former vice president Kamala Harris for president. Palmer Luckey, the founder of Oculus (which Facebook purchased for $2 billion in 2014), is also cofounder of Anduril, the country's largest private-defense startup. Luckey has supported Trump since his first run for president in 2016. At the time, Luckey donated $10,000 to a pro-Trump political group, which he claimed led to him being fired by Facebook in 2017 and being ostracized by his liberal colleagues in Silicon Valley. In 2020 and 2024, Luckey hosted and co-hosted fundraisers to support Trump's campaign for president, and personally donated $400,000 to his most recent reelection campaign, Fortune previously reported. The 32-year old Anduril cofounder has been a major supporter of Trump's defense strategy, and his company has more than $1 billion in military contracts, Fortune also reported previously. This story was originally featured on
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Both Air Force CCAs now in ground testing, expected to fly this summer
General Atomics announced Monday that ground testing of its YFQ-42A began earlier this month, and the collaborative combat aircraft is expected to have its first flight this summer. In a statement, General Atomics said their CCA's ground testing began May 7. 'The YFQ-42A is an exciting next step for our company,' David Alexander, president of General Atomics Aeronautics Systems, said in a statement. 'It reflects many years of partnership with the U.S. Air Force of advancing unmanned combat aviation for the United States and its allies around the world, and we're excited to begin ground testing and move to first flight.' The announcement follows the Air Force's revelation May 1 that Anduril Industries' CCA, the YFQ-44A, had also started its ground testing. Anduril also expects its CCA to start flight tests this summer. CCAs are uncrewed, semi-autonomous drones that will fly alongside aircraft like the F-35 and F-47, also known as Next Generation Air Dominance. Their purpose is to expand the reach of the Air Force's limited fleet of crewed fighters and conduct missions, such as strike operations, reconnaissance, electronic warfare and to serve as decoys. The Air Force chose General Atomics and Anduril to design, build and test the first iteration of CCAs in April 2024. General Atomics' YFQ-42A is derived from its XQ-67 Off-Board Sensing Station drone, which the Air Force Research Laboratory flew in 2024 to test a 'platform sharing' construction concept. That drone was built on a chassis that could be used as a foundation for multiple drones, which the company and AFRL said could allow drones to be built en masse and more cheaply. Anduril's YFQ-44A was previously called Fury, and the company uses its Lattice operating system for its autonomous capabilities. The service posted a graphic last week that said these first CCAs would have a combat radius of more than 700 nautical miles and stealth comparable to the F-35's. The Air Force wants to have at least 1,000 CCAs. The Air Force also plans to locate its first CCA aircraft readiness unit — which will keep them in a 'fly-ready status' for rapid deployment — at Beale Air Force Base in California. Because CCAs would not need to be flown regularly to keep pilots trained, the Air Force expects the drones would only be flown a minimal amount of times. That means Beale's unit would likely need fewer support airmen than crewed aircraft require, such as maintainers, the service said. But both Anduril's and General Atomics' CCAs may not end up being in the Air Force's fleet. The service plans to choose next year which of those CCAs to move into production and start to develop the next 'increment' of the drones.
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Our First Look At The YFQ-42 ‘Fighter Drone' Collaborative Combat Aircraft
We now have our first actual look at General Atomics' YFQ-42A 'fighter drone' prototype. The YFQ-42A, as well as Anduril's YFQ-44A, are being developed under the first phase, or Increment 1, of the U.S. Air Force's Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) program, and both designs are expected to make their maiden flights later this year. Chief of Staff of the U.S. Air Force Gen. David Allvin shared the picture of the YFQ-42A seen at the top of this story on social media today. The Air Force had announced the start of ground testing of both Increment 1 CCA designs on May 1, at which time the first images of a Anduril's YFQ-44A were also released. 'THE WORLD's FIRST LOOK AT OUR NEW YFQ-42A!' Allvin wrote in an accompanying post on X. 'As the @DeptofDefense matches threats to capabilities under @SecDef's [Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth's] leadership, Collaborative Combat Aircraft will prove not only cost-effective, but truly lethal…No doubts these uncrewed fighters will put our adversaries on notice!' THE WORLD's FIRST LOOK AT OUR NEW YFQ-42A! As the @DeptofDefense matches threats to capabilities under @SecDef's leadership, Collaborative Combat Aircraft will prove not only cost-effective, but truly lethal…No doubts these uncrewed fighters will put our adversaries on notice! — General David Allvin (@OfficialCSAF) May 19, 2025 'The YFQ-42A is an exciting next step for our company,' David Alexander, President of General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc., said in a separate statement. 'It reflects many years of partnership with the U.S. Air Force of advancing unmanned combat aviation for the United States and its allies around the world, and we're excited to begin ground testing and move to first flight.' What can be seen in the head-on view of the YFQ-42A we have now is largely in line with renderings and physical models that General Atomics has shown in the past. The design has some low-observable (stealthy) features and shares some broad similarities with past company designs like the Avenger. It is also notably less slender than Anduril's YFQ-44A, which could offer advantages and disadvantages. General Atomics has also previously confirmed that its CCA design is derived from the experimental XQ-67A drone originally developed for the Air Force's once-secretive Off-Board Sensing Station (OBSS) program. A core aspect of OBSS was a so-called 'genus/species' concept, involving a core 'genus' set of components from which multiple 'species' of differently configured drones could be crafted, lessons from which the Air Force has said are being incorporated broadly into the CCA program. General Atomics has been further proving that concept out via its Gambit family of drones, which all feature a common 'chassis' that incorporates landing gear, as well as key mission and flight control computer systems. The XQ-67A has been flying for more than a year now, offering General Atomics a valuable risk reduction asset for its CCA work, as well. Though partially obscured by the flight-test data probe, there is a notably different colored section on the bottom of the front of the nose with what looks to be a grill and an additional feature of some kind above it, the purpose of which is not immediately clear. Past renderings of the General Atomics CCA design have shown a trapezoidal window in the same general location, a feature typically associated with forward-facing electro-optical and/or infrared sensor systems. As TWZ has noted in the past, the position under the nose could be a likely location for an infrared search and track (IRST) sensor. IRSTs can spot stealthy targets and offer other benefits, and would align with the air-to-air combat role that is expected to be the main focus of the Increment 1 CCAs, at least initially. General Atomics has been separately using its stealthy Avenger drones to demonstrate potential air-to-air combat capabilities, including while equipped with podded IRST systems. Anduril's YFQ-44A also notably has what appears to be a forward-facing camera system prominently on top of its nose, which could, at least, be used to provide visual inputs for control and additional situational awareness during initial testing. General Atomics' YFQ-42A prototype could have a broadly similar system installed in its nose. What may be the doors for the YFQ-42A's ventral payload bay are also visible, along with the drone's tricycle landing gear. 'I think CCA can actually be, in some cases, a mobility aircraft,' Mike Atwood, vice president for Advanced Programs at General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI), had said during a panel discussion at the Air & Space Forces Association's (AFA) 2025 Warfare Symposium in March. 'One of the reasons that GA chose to have an internal weapons bay was for carrying not just missiles and kinetics, but to do that logistics.' 'We showed up at these World War II leftover airfields. And we quickly realized these airfields are in really bad shape, really bad shape, and we started to really appreciate runway distance,' Atwood had also said at AFA's annual Warfare Symposium. 'It's hard to make a fast-moving aircraft use a lot less runway. And so what we realized is we needed a trailing-arm landing gear.' A trailing-arm landing gear arrangement helps ease the impact of landing, which in turn can help reduce wear and tear, something that is especially beneficial for operations from short and potentially rough fields. It can also similarly help with rough field takeoffs. The Air Force said that the Increment 1 CCAs are the first aircraft, crewed or uncrewed, to be developed from the ground up to align with its Agile Combat Employment (ACE) concepts of operations. ACE centers heavily on short-notice and otherwise irregular deployments, including to far-flung locations with limited infrastructure. You can read more about how the Air Force's CCA vision aligns with ACE here. As it stands now, the Air Force is still looking to acquire 1,000 CCAs, if not more, across a series of iterative development cycles. Service officials have previously said that between 100 and 150 Increment 1 CCAs could be acquired, but it remains unclear whether that fleet with consist of YFQ-42As, YFQ-44As, or a mix of both types. 'A competitive Increment 1 production decision is expected in fiscal year 2026,' which begins on October 1, 2025, the Air Force had said as part of the announcement about the start of ground testing at the beginning of the month. The Air Force is now in the process of finalizing requirements for Increment 2 of CCA, which are expected to be significantly different from those for Increment 1. In March, Air Force Maj. Gen. Joseph D. Kunkel, director of Force Design, Integration, and Wargaming and deputy chief of staff for Air Force Futures, indicated that the second phase of the program could call for designs that are both less complex and cheaper. More details are likely to continue to emerge about the Increment 1 CCA designs, as well as other plans for the program, as the YFQ-42A and YFQ-44A progress through ground testing toward their first flights. Contact the author: joe@
