American defense startup Covenant is emerging from stealth with a new long-range weapon system as the Pentagon and U.S. allies look to expand their inventories of precision weapons and increase the pace at which they can be produced.
The company on Wednesday unveiled Anthem, a ground-launched system designed to carry a heavy payload over long distances. Covenant says it is intended to be produced in large quantities at a lower cost than comparable legacy systems.
Anthem, a ground-launched system designed to carry a heavy payload over long distances
(Photo: Courtesy of Covenant)
The launch comes as recent conflicts have highlighted a growing challenge for Western militaries: Precision-guided weapons can be consumed rapidly in a major war, while expanding production of sophisticated weapons can take years.
Covenant, headquartered in Washington, D.C., also announced more than $250 million in funding from investors including Andreessen Horowitz, Founders Fund, Lux, 8VC, Aleph and Lightspeed. The company said it has secured about $150 million in orders so far, including contracts for research and development, testing and production.
“Anthem was built to credibly hold those targets at risk in a prolonged conflict,” said Michael Kaufman, Covenant’s co-founder and CEO. “If our stockpiles run thin, so does our deterrence.”
The company said Anthem made its first flight in August 2025 and has since been flown more than 200 times. Those tests have included work with the U.S. Army in the United States and overseas, according to Covenant.
Rather than relying entirely on specialized defense components, Covenant says most of Anthem’s parts are commercially available. The company has also signed long-term agreements for other key components and is developing supply chains in the United States and other allied countries.
The approach is aimed at one of the central problems facing Western defense industries: how to produce sophisticated weapons quickly and in sufficient numbers during a prolonged conflict.
Kathleen Hicks, the former U.S. deputy secretary of defense and a Covenant adviser, said the company’s strategy follows the broader lessons of the Pentagon’s Replicator initiative, which sought to accelerate the production of relatively inexpensive autonomous systems.
“The same focus is needed to drive production and delivery of affordable capabilities at higher ranges and larger payloads,” Hicks said.
Covenant is also developing software for mission planning and command and control, which it says will allow multiple Anthem systems to be coordinated during an operation.
Production is expected to begin in Texas in the first quarter of 2027. The company’s new 105,000-square-foot facility in the Dallas area opened Wednesday, with Covenant saying it eventually aims to produce as many as 5,000 systems annually.
The company also operates a 110,000-square-foot facility in Saxony, Germany, and a 32,000-square-foot facility in northern Israel.
Covenant is working with the U.S. Army under an Other Transaction Agreement, a contracting mechanism used by the Pentagon for certain prototype and accelerated development programs. The company also has a contract with the Navy’s Rapid Capabilities Office to develop a maritime version of Anthem.
That program, which Covenant values at about $70 million, is intended to adapt the ground-launched system for maritime use and incorporate modifications designed to facilitate future exports to U.S. allies and partners.
Mike Garcia, a former U.S. representative and Covenant adviser, said the challenge facing the U.S. military is not simply developing new weapons but producing enough of them.
“We don’t lack advanced weapons, we lack enough of them,” Garcia said.
Covenant is continuing to expand its workforce in engineering, manufacturing and program management across its U.S., German and Israeli facilities.
The company is positioning Anthem as its flagship system as it moves from development and testing into production for the United States and its allies.