Tech

Exclusive: TERN and Sandtable Team Up

If you thought the Crow Industries and Parry Labs mash-up was the only collab to come out of the Army’s xTech Overwatch competition, think again. This morning, GPS-free navigation company TERN and AI-powered simulation and planning company Sandtable announced in an exclusive release to Tectonic that they’re teaming up after the exercise to plug Sandtable’s […]

Tech

Ultra I&C Heads to the High North with the Canadian Military

You know how the Arctic is, like, super remote, freezing, and increasingly contested? Well, all that makes comms a bit dodgy. Yesterday, defense communications and mission-systems company Ultra I&C announced that it’s sending its Archer troposcatter beyond-line-of-sight (BLOS) comms system up to the Arctic for operational trials with the Canadian Armed Forces.  Tropo talk: If […]

InvestmentTech

AV Snaps Up Drone-Maker ESAero for $200M

Less than a year after dropping a cool $4.1B to acquire BlueHalo, AV—the artist formerly known as AeroVironment—is back with another acquisition. Earlier this week, the company snapped up California-based drone manufacturing and design firm ESAero for $200M.  Under the deal, ESAero will function as a subsidiary of AV under its Loitering Munition Systems business […]

Investment

Merlin Goes Public on the Nasdaq

Another day, another IPO. Defense tech is entering the big leagues, baby. Yesterday, flight autonomy hotshot Merlin officially started trading on the Nasdaq as $MRLN after merging with a SPAC called Inflection Point Acquisition Corp. IV and raising about $200M in proceeds. The deal valued Merlin at $800M pre-money. In normal people speak? Merlin just […]

Pentagon

Gecko Secures $71M US Navy Contract 

This Gecko is going green. This morning, Pittsburgh-based Gecko Robotics announced a five-year, $71M IDIQ contract with the US Navy to deploy its wall-crawling robots and AI maintenance software to 18 ships in the Pacific Fleet—at least to start. The contract, which has an initial award worth $54M with the potential to scale up to […]

Pentagon

Australian Rare-Earths Miner Lynas Inks $96M Pentagon Deal

Between the Pentagon backing a $400M investment in MP Materials, a $1.4B deal with rare-earth magnet-maker Vulcan Elements, and Korea Zinc’s $7.4B refinery in Tennessee, companies up and down the critical mineral supply chain had a pretty big year in 2025. And the Pentagon’s demand for rare earths sure isn’t slowing down in 2026. Yesterday, […]

Pentagon

The Navy and DIU Tap Anduril’s Dive-XL for Drone Sub Program

Sounds like it’s time for Palmer Luckey to bust out the bikini again.  On Thursday, everyone’s favorite teeny tiny defense startup Anduril announced that their Dive-XL autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) was tapped by the Defense Innovation Unit and the US Navy for the Combat Autonomous Maritime Platform (CAMP) drone sub program.  Deep Dive: In case […]

Europe

Kraken Secures £12.3M USV Contract with the Royal Navy

Things may be heating up on the maritime autonomy front stateside, but don’t sleep on our friends across the pond.  Yesterday, the UK Ministry of Defence awarded British unmanned surface vessel (USV) startup Kraken Technology Group a £12.3M ($16.5M) contract to supply the Royal Navy with 20 of its super speedy K3 Scout drone boats.  […]

Europe

Arondite Secures “Multi-Million” Pound Contract With the UK MoD 

Watch out, y’all. The British are coming.  Earlier today, Arondite, a UK-based startup building integration tech to make those autonomous systems we all know and love work together nicely, announced a “multi-million” pound contract with the UK Ministry of Defence to deploy its Cobalt software across the British Army’s Very High Readiness Force.  Teamwork: If […]

InvestmentTech

Exclusive: HavocAI’s All-Domain Shopping Spree

We keep saying maritime autonomy is all the rage, but multi-domain autonomy is really where it’s at.  This morning, Rhode Island-based unmanned surface vehicle (USV) startup HavocAI announced in an exclusive release to Tectonic that it has acquired not one but two companies—heavy-lift drone-maker Mavrik and industrial vehicle autonomy startup Teleo—to take its autonomy software […]