A new company called Warhound has emerged from stealth with a plan to breed genetically enhanced dogs for the U.S. military, law enforcement agencies and emergency first responders. The startup was conceived by Palmer Luckey of Anduril and Ben Lamm, a cofounder of Colossal Biosciences.
Warhound says it has raised $200 million to "rebuild America's domestic supply of elite working dogs" and to lessen the military's reliance on European breeders for its canines.
Lamm told WIRED that the company is already gene-editing its first batch of animals. Warhound has collected blood samples from "top-performing" military, police and first responder dogs in the United States, with the aim of cloning them. The breeds will be "mostly Belgian Malinois, some labs, and some shepherds," Lamm said, and the first puppies are expected to be born in early 2027.
The earliest edits will target health problems that commonly affect these breeds, such as hip dysplasia. Later, Lamm said, the company could move on to "really interesting things," including adding olfactory receptor genes from wolves to improve the dogs' sense of smell. Colossal Biosciences is perhaps best known for its gene-edited wolves, part of its Dire Wolf De-Extinction Project.
According to a press release, Warhound will also outfit its dogs with "Anduril's advanced cybernetic Augments, software, and battlefield situational awareness." Asked whether that makes the animals cyborgs, Lamm said the current plan is to provide equipment such as "advanced body armor," not to implant computers in the dogs' bodies.
When WIRED asked whether the dogs would carry lasers, Lamm said he could not comment on Anduril's plans. "Dog safety and performance, and then helping continue helping to improve the human handler and dog bond, and working as a team, that is what the mission is," he said.
Neither Luckey nor Lamm will handle daily operations, though Lamm sits on the company's board. David Spirk, a former Department of Defense chief data officer who most recently worked at Palantir, is the chief executive. Investors include In-Q-Tel, Sequoia Capital and ARK Invest. Luckey holds no ownership stake, and neither does Anduril, while Colossal Biosciences does own a share.
Lamm said he and Luckey have worked on the project for more than a year and only recently decided to go public. He recalled one person describing it as "the Captain America dog program with the Ironman tech program on top of it." The company says it will operate under the guidance of the American Humane Society.
