EuropeTech

EDA Picks Finalists for Sentinel Strike Challenge

Told you the Europeans were getting (kind of) serious about the whole drones and autonomy thing. Yesterday, the European Defense Agency (the EU’s joint defense capability organization) announced that it’s down-selected five companies for stage two of its Sentinel Strike Challenge for loitering munitions. Each company will get €30,000 to move on to stage two, […]

PentagonTech

Exclusive: Danti Gets a Makeover, Scores US Air Force Contract

Well, who says an AI-for-defense platform can’t have a major glow-up? This morning, defense and intelligence AI startup Danti announced in an exclusive release to Tectonic that they’ve launched the new generation of their platform and secured a fresh contract with the US Air Force. The revamp comes after Danti was used during US Special […]

Investment

FPF Defense Raises $10M for Interceptors

If you thought you’d seen the last of the new-and-shiny interceptor companies, think again. Late last week, FPF Defense—a new cUAS company founded by former Acting Secretary of Defense and Director of the US National Counterterrorism Center Chris Miller—announced that it’s scored a “strategic investment” co-led by RSE Ventures and Ondas Inc.  Miller told Tectonic […]

Tech

Saronic and Samsung Heavy Industries Team Up

Dare we say 2026 might turn out to be the year of startup-legacy maritime partnerships? Yesterday, unmanned maritime darling Saronic announced that it’s teaming up with Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) to “accelerate the development of autonomy-capable maritime systems and technologies to strengthen America’s shipbuilding industrial base.” Together, the two companies will work on “autonomy and […]

PentagonTech

Noda AI Wins $10M for Orchestration across LUCAS and Other Unmanned Platforms

If you thought you’d heard the last of the LUCAS program, think again. Yesterday, orchestration startup NODA AI announced that it’s won a $10M contract with the Pentagon to develop MAESTRO (Multi-Domain Autonomous Enhanced System for Tactical Reasoning and Orchestration), algorithms designed “to project commander’s intent into coordinated autonomous action across air, maritime, ground, and […]

Pentagon

CoAspire Wins $70M US Navy CHAOS OTA

Well, the hottest missile startup you probably haven’t heard of is having a very exciting July. Yesterday, missile startup CoAspire announced that the US Navy has selected a ground-launched variant of its Rapidly Adaptable Affordable Cruise Missile-Extended Range (RAACM-ER) for its Coalition Heterogeneous Affordable Offensive Strike (CHAOS) program. Under a $70M OTA, the company “will […]

Investment

Twenty Raises $30M Series B Extension from Khosla

Well, the guys over at Twenty are having quite the summer. Yesterday, just about a month after announcing their $100M Series B, the offensive cyber warfare startup announced that it’s raised yet another $30M (a Series B extension) from Khosla Ventures at a $1.2B valuation.  Founder and CEO Joe Lin told Tectonic that they’d actually […]