Palmer Luckey, who founded defense tech company Anduril in 2017, came out in nearly full support of Trump’s policies. While he noted without elaborating that all the changes “might not necessarily help the defense space,” he stood by Trump’s policy changes despite the president’s rebuke of defense companies as well as their CEOs.
“I think it’s even good maybe to scare people sometimes,” Luckey said in an interview with Bloomberg TV.
A spokesperson for Anduril declined to comment beyond Luckey’s public comments.
The order also bars defense companies from issuing stock buybacks and dividends during periods of “underperformance.” It also required future defense contracts to bundle compensation with production speed and on-time delivery rather than “short-term financial metrics.”
Luckey compared Trump’s defense reforms to “grounding” a teenager and noted they were positive as a temporary measure to help improve the sector’s performance overall. He added that the government should be the one calling the shots when it comes to public money spent on defense.
Luckey’s support for Trump’s crackdown puts him at odds with his industry and potentially his own company’s interests (as it pertains to stock buybacks and dividends) as Anduril reportedly prepares for an IPO.
He pointed to Anduril’s “Arsenal-1” plant for building autonomous vehicles in Columbus, Ohio, as evidence. Luckey said the company spent $900 million on the plant and built it faster than expected. The plant will start production this summer. He noted, though, that the company is behind schedule in developing a man-portable system to protect soldiers from drones due to the technology’s complexity.
Luckey, despite likely owning a portion of privately-owned Anduril, claims his salary comes in well below Trump’s threshold for CEO pay, and said he’s not worried about Trump’s proposed $5 million ceiling.
“If they say that I’m not allowed to pay myself $1 until I get caught up, I think they should be allowed to do that,” he said.
