SILICON VALLEY — Anduril is reportedly raising its next funding round at a valuation of $60 billion. The defense technology company is preparing to build an autonomous fighter jet that could be among the Pentagon's first.

Matthew Steckman, President and Chief Business Officer of Anduril, emphasized the importance of capturing major defense programs. "If you capture them, you have a business, and if you don't, you have no business," Steckman said.

"It's this 'addressable market question' that most companies in the sector get wrong," Steckman said. There are only one or two programs in each defense tech product category that are large enough to sustain a business.

Anduril named its underlying technology Lattice. Lattice consumes data, interprets it, and manipulates robots based on the data. Lattice technology applies to 20 different markets in the defense sector.

The global defense tech industry is valued at $2.7 trillion. Multiple wars and growing geopolitical threats have driven increases in defense budgets and stimulated growth in the defense tech industry.

Procurement reform at the Department of Defense has accelerated the deployment of new technology. The value of venture capital deals for defense tech reached a record $49.1 billion last year, up from $27.2 billion a year earlier, according to PitchBook data. Equity funding for defense tech more than doubled to $17.9 billion, according to CB Insights data.

Rising defense budgets have drawn more capital and entrepreneurs to the defense tech sector, including those who previously vowed not to work in defense. Perceived threats from the Russian and Chinese militaries have attracted tech talent previously hesitant to work in defense. Most venture capital deals in defense tech are for autonomous flying drones, which are used for surveillance, strikes, and intercepting other drones.