Tech

Exclusive: Vatn Unveils SIGURD Mine-Hunting Subsea Drone

Minehunting is back in vogue, and for good reason. If you’ve been keeping an eye on a certain strait off the coast of Iran, sub-sea mines—or the threat of them—have been causing a whole lot of problems.  The US Navy, which decommissioned half of its Avenger-class mine countermeasure ships last year, is looking for more […]

EuropeInvestment

Helsing Raises $1.8B at $18B Valuation

Europe—well, Germany especially—is having a heck of a year.  This morning, the German defense tech juggernaut announced it’s raised a $1.8B Series E at an $18B valuation, setting a new record for Europe’s largest defense startup funding round after Quantum Systems’ $1.2B raise earlier this month.  The Germans are taking this whole rearmament thing pretty […]

Investment

Israeli Counter-Drone Swarm Startup Skapion Emerges with $36M

Israel has built some of the most sophisticated air defense systems in the world, but FPV drones and swarms have increasingly become a bit of an Achilles heel for the country’s military, particularly in its fight against Hezbollah.  One startup is looking to change that, and is bringing some serious US investing firepower along with […]

Tech

DIU Taps Valinor’s Docking Station for Containerized Drone Swarm Program

Valinor launched last year with a focus on building the unsexy but important tech for modern conflict that no one else is, and it doesn’t get much more picks-and-shovels-y than drone docking stations. Looks like that bet is paying off.  Earlier this week, the new-age defense tech holding company Valinor announced its Dispatch product-company—a modular […]

PentagonTech

Exclusive: Forterra’s $114M Army-Backed Push Into Ukraine

Take a quick look around the defense startup scene, and you’ll notice that pretty much every company bills its tech as “tested in Ukraine.” Far fewer can say that they’re trusted in Ukraine. Forterra actually can. Yesterday, the ground autonomy startup revealed that it has sent over 100 Lancer autonomous ground vehicles (AGVs)—based on the […]

Tech

Exclusive: Aurelius Takes its Drone-Downing Lasers Mobile with Rheinmetall

Lasers and partnering with Rheinmetall…so hot right now.  Directed energy startup Aurelius Systems is teaming up with the German mega-prime’s American subsidiary to integrate its drone-downing laser weapon, Archimedes, onto a Rheinmetall unmanned ground vehicle, the company exclusively told Tectonic.  The partnership is the first for Aurelius and, since they aren’t planning to make ground […]

Investment

Ondas Acquires Drone-Maker DZYNE Technologies for $876M

The great defense tech rollup is well underway, and Ondas ($ONDS) is quietly leading the charge.  This morning, the drone and counter-drone roll-up announced that it’s acquired California-based drone company DZYNE Technologies for a whopping $875.8M, forming a new business unit with fellow Ondas portfolio company World View (acquired in April) that’ll be focused on […]

Investment

Defense Tech Funding is Breaking Records, with $35.6B Invested YTD

If you can believe it, today marks the halfway point of the year, and we’d be the first to tell you that it’s been a pretty wild ride in defense tech so far. As it turns out, the numbers back up our—and, if you’re reading this newsletter, your—excitement.  According to Pitchbook data provided to Tectonic, […]