Pentagon

Navy Launches MASC Program

Remember when we said maritime autonomy is all the rage? Well, looks like we were right.  Yesterday, the Navy officially launched its Modular Attack Surface Craft (MASC) program with a nice lil solicitation. According to the doc, PMS 406–the unmanned maritime systems program office–is “seeking proposals for innovative, commercial technologies that accelerate attainment of [unmanned […]

Policy

A Trip to the Baltics

In case you missed it, on Friday, SecDef Pete Hegseth met with his Baltic counterparts at the Pentagon, where the Estonian, Latvian, and Lithuanian defense leaders committed to spending 5% of GDP on defense by next year. Yes, next year, as in 2026. Impressive, especially when you consider the rest of NATO isn’t on track […]

Policy

The AI Action Plan for Defense

In case you missed it, on Wednesday, President Donald Trump unveiled his “AI Action Plan” to slash red tape for AI development, promote the export of American AI, and counter “ideological bias” in artificial intelligence. Plus, there’s all that fun countering China stuff. The plan is wide-ranging, but the 28-page document (paired with all of […]

Investment

Armada Raises $131M for Edge Computing

The big money moves just keep on coming. This morning, edge computing company Armada announced a $131M strategic funding round, which it will use to build a new “megawatt-scale” modular data center called Leviathan. New investors Pinegrove, Veriten, and Glade Brook joined the round, alongside returning backers Founders Fund, Lux Capital, Shield Capital, 8090 Industries, […]

PentagonTech

ICYMI: Anduril Wins $99.6M NGC2 Award

In case you missed it, Anduril announced late Friday that they’d been awarded a $99.6M, 11-month OTA contract to spearhead a next-generation command and control (NGC2) prototype for the 4th Infantry Division of the Army.  The defense megalith will lead an all-star team—including heavyweights like Palantir, Govini, Microsoft, and Striveworks—in building an end-to-end system that […]

Investment

Rune Raises $24M Series A for AI-Powered Logistics

Big day for all the sustainment nerds out there. Yesterday, military logistics startup Rune Technologies announced they’ve raised a $24M Series A led by Human Capital, with participation from Pax VC and Washington Harbour Partners. Existing investors Andreessen Horowitz, Point72 Ventures, XYZ Venture Capital, and Forward Deployed VC also returned to the table. The raise […]

Tech

STARK’s Big Week

It’s been a big week for Stark. Last Wednesday, the German drone company announced that it’s opening a 40,000 sq ft manufacturing facility in the UK, the company’s first site outside of Germany and Ukraine.   Plus, the company announced that it’s acquiring Berlin-based autonomous flight control start-up Pleno, which specializes in comms-denied navigation for low-cost […]

InvestmentTech

Firestorm Eyes Manufacturing with $47M Series A

Well, turns out Firestorm Labs is printing a lot more than drones. On Wednesday, the San Diego-based manufacturing and drone company announced it has raised a $47M Series A led by New Enterprise Associates (NEA), with participation from Lockheed Martin Ventures, Decisive Point, Washington Harbour Partners, Booz Allen Ventures, and others. The company says it […]

Investment

Exclusive: Blue Water Autonomy Expands to DC

Looks like Blue Water Autonomy is doubling down. This morning, the Boston-based autonomous shipbuilding company told Tectonic in an exclusive release that they’re opening a DC office and hiring three new engineers to amp up their development and testing process with the Navy. This comes just two months after the company emerged from stealth with […]

InvestmentTech

Chariot Defense Emerges from Stealth with $8M 

If you’ve learned one thing from this newsletter, we hope it’s that new tech is changing the way wars are fought. Drones, directed energy weapons, massive sensor suites—they’ve changed the shape of the battlefield. But the thing is, they also require a heck of a lot of power. Power isn’t always easy to come by […]