New Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse just dropped: According to the Financial Times, major defense technology companies Palantir and Palmer Luckey’s Anduril are in conversations with SpaceX and OpenAI (among other tech players) to form a consortium to bid for US government defense contracts.

Two big defense tech players, Palantir and Anduril, are talking to tech companies including SpaceX, OpenAI, Saronic, and Scale AI about forming a

Palantir’s share price has skyrocketed by 300 per cent in the past year, giving the company a market capitalisation of $169bn — larger than Lockheed Martin. The data intelligence group was co-founded by tech investor Peter Thiel, who also provided the initial backing for Anduril, which launched in 2017 and was this year valued at $14bn.

Palantir Technologies (PLTR) and Anduril Industries are spearheading negotiations to create a consortium of tech companies, with plans to collaboratively pursue Pentagon defense contracts, according to a Financial Times report.

Along with many smaller defense technology firms, Musk has been heavily critical of legacy defense programs such as Lockheed Martin’s F-35 fighter jet, which is set to cost the U.S. government an estimated $1.7 trillion over its lifetime. As an alternative, he has called for the mass production of cheaper AI-powered drones, missiles and submarines.

Palantir Technologies and Anduril Industries are in talks with about a dozen competitors to form a consortium .

Defense technology Palantir Technologies (NASDAQ:PLTR) and Anduril are talking with around a dozen rivals to create a consortium to jointly bid for US government contracts to challenge the major defense companies,