In case you’ve been living under a rock, Germany has done a pretty sharp U-turn on the whole “we’re pacifists” thing it’s had going since the end of WWII. In the past few months, the country has placed some big-time defense orders, passed a bill introducing voluntary military service and potentially conscription, exempted defense spending […]
Remember when we said the Ukrainians were coming? Well, it’s beginning to look like we were right. This morning, Ukraine-focused US VC UA1 announced in an exclusive release to Tectonic that they’re raising a $50M fund to scale Ukrainian tech “into capabilities that strengthen U.S., European, and NATO security.” The firm—co-founded by US Marine Corps […]
The Europeans are, indeed, coming. Yesterday, in a plot twist very few expected, the US and the Netherlands signed a letter of intent stating that the northern European nation will participate in the US Air Force’s Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) program. According to Dutch State Secretary for Defense Gijs Tuinman, his country has now unlocked […]
The partnerships keep coming on both sides of the pond. This morning, Harmattan AI, the white-hot French autonomous systems startup launched last year, announced a partnership with Ukrainian drone-maker Skyeton to integrate its Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) system on Skyeton’s Raybird ISR drone. Oui oui, indeed. Doing deals: In its first year of existence, Harmattan […]
Whoever thought the “maritime autonomy was all the rage” era was over, think again. This morning, European defense tech company STARK announced that they’re officially entering the maritime domain with a range of unmanned surface vessels (USVs), tested for the past month at NATO’s REP(MUS) exercise. The drone boats—called Vanta—will come in two flavors (Vanta-4 […]
Two Firehawk stories in a week? We promise we’re not hawking Firehawk (bada bing), but the 3D-printed propellant and hybrid and solid rocket motor startup is kinda on fire. On Wednesday, Firehawk announced a $60M Series C funding round, led by 1789 Capital with participation from Presto Tech Horizons—a joint venture between Czech VC Presto […]
Well, turns out everyone really does want their own unmanned fighter. This morning, on Grob Aircraft’s very rainy airfield just outside of Munich, European defense darling Helsing unveiled their own concept for an autonomous fighter jet—the CA-1 Europa. In a high-octane presentation (we’re talking strobe lights and smoke machines, people), the neoprime pulled back the […]
We teased yesterday, but it really does seem that the export of Ukrainian defense tech across the NATO alliance is beginning to pick up speed. Yesterday, Ukrainian UAV software company Swarmer announced that it’s closed a $15M Series A led by Florida-based Broadband Capital Investments, with participation from R-G.AI, D3 Ventures, Green Flag Ventures, Radius […]
If you thought we were done with European defense, think again. In a plot twist few expected, German defense behemoth Rheinmetall is getting into the shipbuilding game. Yesterday, the company announced that it’s snapping up Naval Vessels Lürssen (NVL), the military division of the Lürssen Group (which also builds fancy yachts). This comes just a […]
Well, things certainly haven’t calmed down after a barrage of Russian drones flew deep into Polish airspace last week. Over the weekend, Romania became the second NATO member to ring the alarm bells and scramble jets after a Russian drone was detected and intercepted near the border with Ukraine. Romania’s defense minister called the incursion […]
