Latest Stories
Europeans Want In on CCA
The Europeans are, indeed, coming. Yesterday, in a plot twist very few expected, the US and the Netherlands signed a letter of intent stating that the northern European nation will participate in the US Air Force’s Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) program. According to Dutch State Secretary for Defense Gijs Tuinman, his country has now unlocked […]
Anduril Wins Army and DIU Counter-UAS Fire Control Competition
It’s been a big week for everyone’s favorite defense tech darling. Just days after Anduril launched their buzzy AI-powered EagleEye helmet display for the Army, the service announced Wednesday that the company has won a DIU competition for a new counter-drone fire control solution. NGC2 concerns aside, it sure seems like Anduril’s still in good […]
Exclusive: YC-Backed Albacore Swims Into $6.5M Seed Round
Maritime autonomy on the surface has had its time in the sun—a startup out of this year’s Y Combinator class is taking the hype underwater. In an exclusive release to Tectonic, Albacore, a Philadelphia-based startup making long-range unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs), announced it has raised a $6.5M seed round led by Outlander VC with participation […]
Armada and Skydio Team Up
If there is one thing that will define Fall 2025 in the defense tech world, it’s partnerships. Yesterday, edge computing company Armada announced that they’ve inked a deal with drone giant Skydio to “equip federal, state, and local agencies with the ability to capture and process drone intelligence in real time,” even in jammed environments. […]
A Q+A with Arthur Herman and John Burer
If you’ve been in DC anytime in the past few years, you will have heard of Arthur Herman. In case you’re unfamiliar (nerd!), he wrote Freedom’s Forge back in 2012, which has shaped a lot of the First Breakfast-type reindustrialization conversations we’ve been having lately. Sparknotes: The book (if you haven’t read it or have […]
A Q+A with Enrique Oti, CSO at Second Front Systems
Personally, we would give a lot to be a fly on the wall in the early days of the Defense Innovation Unit (RIP Unit X). Luckily, we know a guy who was there. Enrique Oti—apparently referred to intermittently as “Software Jesus of the Air Force”—was one of the co-founders of DIU, and for much of […]
A Q+A with Mal Crease, CEO of Kraken
Some people like to take things slow. Other people—like Mal Crease—prefer everything at full throttle. The founder and CEO of USV company Kraken Technology came into defense from high-speed boat racing in 2020, and has brought the same obsession with speed and performance that once helped him break world records to the world of unmanned […]
A Q+A with Justin Fanelli, CTO of the Navy
If you’re a regular reader of Tectonic, you’ll know that the Navy is majorly changing the way it does things. There’s the Trump administration and SecNav Phelan’s focus on amping up shipbuilding, the push to amp up capabilities by 2027, and—just last week—the introduction of the Naval Rapid Capabilities Office. And that’s just the beginning, […]
