Latvia to acquire Anduril Barracuda long-range cruise missiles

Latvian President Edgars Rinkēvičs has announced that Latvia is moving to acquire the Barracuda family of long-range cruise missiles from the American company Anduril Industries. Following a visit to Anduril’s California facilities and a meeting with founder Palmer Luckey, the President indicated that the country is looking to finalize the acquisition to expand its conventional deterrence capabilities along NATO’s eastern flank.

The Barracuda missile family consists of jet-powered, autonomous variants designed for high affordability and rapid production. The Barracuda-500M variant, for example, can carry a warhead over 45 kilograms for a distance of approximately 926 kilometers. These missiles are designed to operate both as active strike munitions and as aerial decoys to support collaborative mission roles.

While the specific number of missiles, the exact variant, and the contract value have not been disclosed, the move marks Latvia as the first Baltic state to field strike weapons with this specific range. Additionally, the Latvian Ministry of Defense has signed memoranda of cooperation with Anduril and the Latvian unmanned systems manufacturer Origin Robotics to foster defense industry collaboration.