Silicon Valley billionaires are quietly bankrolling a massive new missile arsenal built for war with China
Silicon Valley-backed defense startup Covenant unveiled a long-range, heavy-payload cruise missile on Wednesday designed for rapid, low-cost mass production, mounting a direct challenge to established U.S. weapons manufacturers.
The announcement follows two years of development and coincides with efforts by the U.S. and its allies to replenish depleted arsenals of affordable, long-range precision-strike weapons after the war in Iran drained key stocks.
Named Anthem, the ground-launched cruise missile carries a payload exceeding 200 kg (441 pounds). It is intended for high-volume deployment alongside existing long-range systems, including Raytheon’s 1,000-mile (1,609-km) Tomahawk cruise missile and Lockheed Martin’s 600-mile Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile-Extended Range (JASSM-ER).
According to Michael Kaufman, Covenant’s co-founder and chief executive, equivalent systems from major defense contractors are “being built in small quantities at really high prices. And so we set out to change that,” he said in an interview.
Established in 2024, the company has raised just over $250 million from venture firms including Andreessen Horowitz, Founders Fund, Lux, 8VC, Aleph, and Lightspeed. It currently employs more than 200 people across the U.S., Germany, and Israel.
Anthem relies on a solid rocket motor for launch and a heavy-fuel jet engine during cruise flight. Over the past year, Covenant reports it has conducted more than 200 flight tests of the weapon.
Company leaders stated that the system was developed specifically with Indo-Pacific scenarios in mind. “We were designed for the China fight,” said Covenant President Abby Denburg.
Military strategists envision deploying ground-based weapons from allied island nations close to China, such as the Philippines. This positioning spans approximately 2,000 miles, placing Chinese targets within range without relying on manned aircraft or naval strike groups.
Covenant is aiming for a mid-six-figure unit cost once full-scale manufacturing is underway. The firm has already secured roughly $150 million in orders and expects to start generating revenue in 2027 as deliveries expand.
An international customer is scheduled to receive German-built Anthems by the end of this year, while deliveries to the U.S. Army are expected to begin in 2027, executives said.
Emerging defense companies often face significant hurdles taking on entrenched industry players and scaling up production to deliver high volumes of complex equipment.
To prevent supply bottlenecks, Covenant avoided single-source suppliers, securing three solid-rocket-motor vendors with a fourth in progress, while locking in agreements for over 4,000 jet engines through the next two years.
The company’s 105,000-square-foot (9,754-square-meter) Dallas facility opened on Wednesday and is designed to reach a full production capacity of 5,000 missiles annually.
Covenant also operates a matching 105,000-square-foot facility in Saxony, Germany, capable of producing 5,000 units per year, alongside a smaller site in northern Israel designed to manufacture 2,000 missiles annually.
