Europe

Cambridge Aerospace Emerges from the Shadows

Well, it’s official. Just about two months after reports first surfaced that a super-stealthy UK startup had raised about $100M at a $400M valuation to build missile and drone defense systems for Europe, Cambridge Aerospace is officially out in the open. The company is formally launching its first two products—Skyhammer and Starhammer—at DSEI next week, […]

Tech

Lockheed Wins $26M OTA for NGC2

Break out the popcorn, y’all. Yesterday, the Army announced its second award for Next Generation Command and Control (NGC2) prototyping—this time, a $26M 16-month OTA to a team led by Lockheed Martin. The super-prime and its team will deliver their prototype to the 25th Infantry Division. This comes a little over a month after the […]

Q + A

A Q+A with Justin Fanelli, CTO of the Navy

If you’re a regular reader of Tectonic, you’ll know that the Navy is majorly changing the way it does things. There’s the Trump administration and SecNav Phelan’s focus on amping up shipbuilding, the push to amp up capabilities by 2027, and—just last week—the introduction of the Naval Rapid Capabilities Office. And that’s just the beginning, […]

Pentagon

The Anti-Drone Taskforce is Here

Well, the rumors are true. Yesterday, in a typically stylized video (we see you, Pentagon green room), SecDef Pete Hegseth announced the creation of a joint interagency anti-drone task force that will “bring together our best talent from all our agencies to counter these threats and restore control of our skies.” (This was first reported […]

PentagonPolicy

DoD’s Innovation Coup

In case you haven’t noticed, there’s been a bit of a shakeup in the DoD innovation world in the past week. The head of DIU is out, critical technology areas are changing, the Navy is overhauling how it develops and adopts new tech, and JCIDS is dead. Oh yeah, and then there’s the whole Defense […]

PolicyTech

Saildrone Gets Full Certification from ABS

Looks like we’re on a bit of a maritime kick today. This morning, unmanned surface vessel (USV) company Saildrone announced that its 65-foot Surveyor vessel has received full classification from the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS).  Now, what does that mean for us non-seafaring laypeople? Basically, the company’s big-boy sailboat drone has been inspected and […]

Investment

Roadrunner and New Mexico’s Quantum Leap

In case you haven’t heard (we know you have), quantum computing is the next hot thing. And New Mexico and Roadrunner Venture Studios are getting in on the trend. Yesterday, the venture studio announced that it will lead a $25M initiative backed by the New Mexico Economic Development Department to build a quantum campus in […]

Tech

Firehawk Successfully Flight Tests Hybrid Motor for AAL

​​We told you that energetics were having a moment. This morning, rocket motor startup Firehawk Aerospace announced that it has completed a successful flight test of its 3D-printed GMLRS-class analog hybrid rocket engine as part of its ongoing Phase III SBIR contract with the Army Applications Laboratory (AAL). According to Firehawk, the hybrid rocket system […]

Tech

ARX Unveils a Combat-Capable UGV

The robots really are coming for us. This morning, Germany-based unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) company ARX Robotics unveiled its first combat-capable UGV: Combat Gereon. The company says that the mini, battle-hardened robot-tank was built in a “European-Ukrainian development campaign” and honed with direct feedback from Ukrainian users on the frontline. “[This] system extends the reach […]

Tech

PDW Opens Drone Factory 01 in Huntsville

Remember when we said everyone wanted a factory of the future? Well, looks like we were right. Yesterday, Alabama-based Performance Drone Works (PDW) announced the official opening of Drone Factory 01 in Huntsville, a “state-of-the-art” production facility that the company says will be able to churn out over 60,000 FPV drones a year. The 90,000 […]