Latest Stories
A Big Week in South Korea
In case you missed it with, well, everything else that’s been going on, it’s been a pretty busy week in South Korea. On Tuesday, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung committed to increasing defense spending next year to 66.3T won ($46B). Then, Hegseth popped by on a two-day visit to meet with his counterpart, Defense […]
What to Expect from Hegseth’s Address to Industry
Happy Hegseth Lecture Day to all who celebrate! Everyone’s favorite new monthly tradition—SecDef Pete Hegseth gathering a bunch of super important people for a stern talking-to—is back for its November rendition, but with a bit of a twist this time. Instead of calling his audience fat, Hegseth is set to deliver an “Arsenal of Freedom” […]
Shield AI Teams Up with GE for X-BAT
Looks like Shield AI is getting serious about the whole CCA thing. Yesterday, the company announced that it’s teaming up with jet engine megalith GE Aerospace ($GE) to power its newly announced little drone fighter, X-BAT. The two companies signed a Memorandum of Understanding stating that “the F110-GE-129 engine, featuring the advanced Axisymmetric Vectoring Exhaust […]
Canada’s Defense Tech Scene Gets a Big Budget Boost
When President Trump said, “If [NATO members] don’t pay, I’m not going to defend them,” earlier this year, his mind was clearly on Europe. That message got through and ignited a speedy and spendy military buildup on the Old Continent, sure, but one much bigger—and closer—NATO ally has stayed out of the defense spending spotlight […]
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, […]
