Well, it’s a big week for metals around here. This morning, advanced metals manufacturing startup Foundation Alloy announced that it’s raised a $22M Series A to “scale production on its MetalsFIRST™ platform—a fully integrated, solid-state metallurgy technology—to industrial volumes.” The round was led by Voyager Ventures, with participation from Trust Ventures, Yamaha Motors, America’s Frontier […]
Drone fever is hitting new heights, and if the Senate’s latest version of the National Defense Authorization Act becomes law, the Pentagon will have a brand-new combatant command dedicated to autonomous systems. Last week, the Senate Armed Services Committee voted 18-9 to advance the FY 2027 NDAA, authorizing $1.14T in spending and setting the stage […]
If you didn’t believe us when we said, “Manufacturing is so hot right now,” well, we’re back with more data to prove our point. Yesterday, manufacturing startup and MIT spinout Fabri announced that it’s raised a total of $13.5M in funding since it was founded in 2022 from investors including Lavrock Ventures, Balerion Space Ventures, […]
Lest you thought Anduril was turning its gaze fully abroad with all that “international weapons hub” talk, think again. This morning, the defense tech megalith announced that it’s won a $363M contract with US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) for “more than 200 Extended Range Sentry Towers (XRST)…to expand autonomous situational awareness across a much […]
If there’s one thing you’ve learned from this newsletter lately, we hope it’s that integration is one of the least sexy but most important parts of getting technology deployed (and actually working) on the battlefield. After all, building a super-fast interceptor or the world’s best UAV is great. But if those platforms can’t connect to […]
The mega-drone competition in Europe is heating up, and fast. At the Berlin Air Show yesterday—just as Quantum Systems launched its PULSE P19—European defense tech giant Helsing unveiled a new EW-equipped variant of its drone-fighter-CCA-analog—the CA-1 Electronic Attack (CA-1EA). The new version of the CA-1 Europa mega drone (first announced last fall) is “specifically designed […]
Big day for Quantum Systems out at the Berlin Air Show. This morning, the German drone giant came in hot with two updates out of ILA: First, they’re launching a new drone called PULSE P19 that “deliver[s] persistent mission endurance while offering significantly higher speed, a more competitive cost profile, integrated counter-drone (C-UAS) capabilities and […]
If y’all thought the drone craze was dying down, think again. In the past 24 hours, German defense tech darling STARK unveiled not one but two new drones—Cascade and Gambit—at ILA Berlin. Gambit is a man-portable quadcopter designed for ISR and short-range strikes, while Cascade is a tube-launched loitering munition (also man-portable) with a range […]
The Nordics are heating up, y’all. This morning, Norwegian VC Sandwater announced the launch of a new €80M ($92M) fund called Gardar, which will “[invest] in Ukrainian defence tech startups from Seed to Series B.” The new fund was set up in conjunction with Ferd AS (a big ol’ family-owned Norwegian investment firm) and Munkene, […]
The Marines are on a bit of a spending spree this week, aren’t they? Yesterday, the Marine Corps announced that it intends to issue a sole-source contract to Anduril for non-kinetic counter-drone technology for its Amphibious Combat Vehicles (ACVs), including the company’s Pulsar-L EW platform and vehicle integration kits “to meet an urgent requirement.” According […]
