aesthetic warfare and the new look of defense tech

how startups like anduril and palantir are rebranding militarism — and what that says about the future of war, design, and public trust

defense tech used to look like defense tech. it was gray, corporate, and obviously tied to the government. that’s changing. anduril’s site now looks like a startup. helsing shares clean diagrams that could belong to a climate platform. palantir is quoting philosophers.

this isn’t just a design refresh. it’s a shift in how these companies want to be seen — modern, technical, and future-forward. the camouflage isn’t green and brown anymore. it’s soft gradients, sleek fonts, and silicon valley tone.

the new look of defense

scroll through anduril’s site and it could be a spatial computing company. it’s clean, minimal, and full of renders that feel like product drops. the drones are cinematic. the towers are sculptural. the words are careful: systems, autonomy, software-defined defense.

it’s part of a broader change. defense startups don’t want to look like contractors. they want to look like builders. palantir calls itself a "mission-driven software company." helsing’s branding feels like a research lab. their weapons are shown like architecture.

none of them want to resemble the old guard — boeing, lockheed martin, or raytheon. those companies have struggled to update their image. even raytheon tried rebranding as "rtx," leaning on a cleaner, tech-like name. but the feel remains legacy. startups like anduril are building a new aesthetic from the ground up — less defense contractor, more infrastructure startup.

why this matters

aesthetics shape perception. when something looks familiar, clean, and modern, it feels easier to trust. it feels less like war, more like technology.

slick interfaces create emotional distance. they make hard systems feel simple. and when the edge is smoothed over, we often stop asking what lies beneath.

startups in defense

this shift is bigger than design. defense is being pulled into tech’s orbit — funded by venture, styled like a startup, and pitched as infrastructure.

anduril’s “rebuilding the arsenal” campaign is a good example. they’re investing nearly $1 billion into a new manufacturing facility in ohio. the tone isn’t urgent or aggressive. it’s clean, confident, and patriotic. a factory for the future.

their “don’t work at anduril” campaign takes another approach. bold posters in major cities — not polished, but raw and confrontational. it’s a challenge disguised as recruitment. reverse psychology meets defense recruiting.

this is branding as strategy. the goal isn’t just to hire. it’s to build a feeling. that this work is serious. that this company is different.

soft visuals, hard systems

this is aesthetic warfare. not in the traditional sense — but in how design is used to shape how we see systems of power.

anduril isn’t just making defense tech. it’s making it look like progress. and that has weight.

when weapons are wrapped in sleek interfaces, it becomes harder to question them. when militarism is styled like infrastructure, we forget to ask who’s in charge. and when something dangerous feels familiar, we stop noticing it at all.

what happens when war starts to look like a product? when drones come with onboarding flows? when power is framed as innovation?

how will these shifts unfold? how can we imagine how they might still be shaped toward something better?