Looks like at least one RACER has crossed the finish line. On Wednesday, DARPA announced that the Robotic Autonomy in Complex Environments with Resiliency (RACER) program, launched in 2021 to develop new vehicle autonomy algorithm technologies, has officially wrapped up. Now, it’s up to the autonomy companies that spun out of it—including Overland AI—to keep […]
Whatever image you have of what batteries look like, forget it. On Tuesday, Miami-based 3D-printed battery startup Material announced it had raised a $7.1M seed round co-led by Outlander VC and Harpoon Ventures. The company is taking aim at a surprisingly persistent problem: Batteries power nearly everything we write about, yet they’re rarely designed for […]
Epirus loves a buzzy demo. In an exclusive release to Tectonic, directed energy counter-drone startup Epirus revealed that a smaller variant of their flagship Leonidas HPM downed a fiber-optic drone at a government test site in December, which the company called the “first known instance of a weaponized electromagnetic interference system defeating a fiber-optic guided […]
Africa might not come to mind as a defense tech hotspot, but a startup founded by two Nigerians in their early twenties is changing that—and catching the eye of the defense tech world’s venture capital heavyweights. Early this morning, Nigerian autonomous systems startup Terra Industries announced in an exclusive release to Tectonic that it’s raised […]
Northrop Grumman’s hot streak in the Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) world is showing no signs of slowing down. Just a few weeks after the Air Force called Northrop’s Talon drone a “strong contender” for the service’s CCA program (designating it as the YFQ-48A), the prime announced that it’s been awarded a contract to build the […]
The counter-drone space may be busy as hell, but it seems that hasn’t deterred California-based Mach Industries. This morning, the MIT-dropout-founded defense tech startup unveiled Dart: their new low-cost interceptor designed to take down Group 1-3 drones, plus an internally developed ground-based radar system to go with it. If Mach loves one thing, it’s trying […]
There are three certainties in life: death, taxes, and champagne popping at Lockheed Martin HQ. On Monday, the Pentagon gave the mega-prime good reason for celebration, announcing an agreement to boost annual production of the ever-popular Lockheed-made PAC-3 MSE missile interceptors from 600 to 2,000 over the next seven years under a new acquisition model. […]
“If AI is to be the brains of America’s tech supremacy, Gundo hopes to provide the muscle, the energy and the firepower,” The Economist recently wrote. “The harder it is to build, the better.” Looks like we can add super high-tech materials and composites to the list of ambitious Gundo exports, especially after El Segundo, […]
You don’t hear “ahead of schedule” very often in the defense world, but Aeon seems to be making a habit of it. On Monday, in an exclusive release to Tectonic, Aeon announced it completed a successful flight test of its Zeus missile launched from a Moog ($MOG.A) integrated turret platform last week. That’s just three […]
We’d be the first to tell you that it’s been a banner year in defense tech. As it turns out, the numbers back up our—and, if you’re reading Tectonic, your—excitement. According to a Q3 report from Pitchbook, defense tech venture capital is on track to close out the year “firmly in expansion mode.” We’re not […]
