Scaling production is hard. Luckily for UK-based unmanned surface vehicle (USV) startup Kraken Technology, they’ve just partnered with German shipbuilding big dog NVL to ramp up manufacturing of their speedboat drones at NVL’s Blohm+Voss shipyard in Hamburg this year. Helps to have friends in high places. Go fast: Kraken’s roots are in manufacturing racing speed […]
The defense world is (understandably) enthralled by innovation and new tech, but the older, less exciting stuff is just as important in modern warfighting—especially the 155mm artillery shell. The problem is that the US has struggled to produce them, and munition stocks have become a hot topic (just ask Bridge Colby). On Wednesday, the Army […]
You can buy pretty much anything on Amazon, but military equipment is so far off-limits. Luckily for all of the shopaholic soldiers out there, the US Army is taking a page out of Amazon’s book and building Prime for the primes (and startups). Earlier this month, the Army announced it’s planning to roll out an […]
Another day, another big shakeup at the Pentagon. On Monday, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Allvin unexpectedly announced his retirement halfway into his four-year term. The Air Force said Allvin—the service’s highest-ranking uniformed officer—will continue serving until his successor is confirmed to minimize disruption. Never a dull moment, huh? Allvin is the latest […]
Frying them with microwaves, shooting them down, jamming them—c-UAS companies have a growing and creative array of ways to take down drones. But Israeli-American drone-takeover company D-Fend has a novel solution: commandeering them. And in an exclusive release with Tectonic this morning, they rolled out their newest option: EnforceAir PLUS, an amped-up version of the […]
If you’re worried about money in defense tech drying up, well, don’t worry quite yet. Today, in an exclusive release to Tectonic, VC firm Veteran Ventures Capital, which focuses on veteran-run dual-use startups, announced it has closed an oversubscribed $60M Fund II, tripling the size of its first fund. Big trust: Veteran Ventures was founded […]
It’s training season, baby. This morning, augmented reality flight training company Red 6 announced that they’ve scored a contract with the US Air Force to integrate their ATARS (Airborne Tactical Augmented Reality System) into the F-16 Fighting Falcon. That means that fighter jet pilots will now be able to simulate real-world engagements—like dogfights—using augmented reality […]
Merlin the magician had a few tricks up his sleeve, but Merlin Labs just made an $800M pre-money valuation appear. On Thursday, the Boston-based aviation autonomy startup announced plans to go public next year through a Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC) led by Inflection Point Asset Management. The deal, which is expected to close in […]
For an industry that hasn’t changed a whole lot in decades, solid rocket motors (SRMs) have had quite a month. A week after Anduril opened its SRM facility in Mississippi, Ursa Major announced yesterday that it has held successful static tests of its SRM on BAE’s APKWS guided missile. Given the critical gap in supply […]
There’s no shortage of companies promising to automate aviation, but Beacon AI just wants to make the human pilots better. And so far, the DoD is loving it. On Tuesday, the aviation decision-making startup announced it won its twelfth contract, this time a Direct-to-Phase II SBIR with the Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC). Beacon, […]
