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 […]
The era of France’s most famous exports being wine, cheese, and Spurs phenoms may be coming to an end, at least if Alta Ares has anything to do with it. This morning, the French counter-drone software and hardware startup announced that it’s raised a €50M ($58M) Series A led by Air Street Capital, alongside Cherry […]
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, […]
Well, the dudes (and dudettes) in Germany are diving headfirst into the research game. This morning, German defense tech giant Helsing officially unveiled a new research division it’s calling Area 9, a pie-in-the-sky incubator for European defense tech. Think of it as the Moonshot Factory or Skunk Works, but make it European. As part of […]
Well, seems the Europeans are getting super serious about investing in their defense. Yesterday, Sifted reported that Earlybird Ventures is teaming up with Paris-based AVP (the artist formerly known as AXA Venture Partners) to raise a €500M fund focused on defense. The reported raise comes just a few weeks after Earlybird announced that it’s closed […]
It’s been a busy week for Redwire. On Tuesday, the space and defense giant announced a “multi-year contract valued at high eight-figures” with an undisclosed NATO country for its Penguin Mk3 VTOL UAS, and followed that up yesterday with a $15M contract with the US Army’s Aviation Center of Excellence (AVCOE) for its ISR-focused Stalker […]
Our friends across the pond are pretty big on building up sovereign defense capabilities these days, and Rheinmetall has moved at lightning speed to snap up the lion’s share of that European military spending boom. Today, the German defense giant and Dutch drone startup Destinus unveiled a new, co-produced long-range deep-strike cruise missile called the […]
If you thought the dudes over at Anduril were done reimagining what the word “drone” can mean, think again. On Friday, the UK subsidiary of the not-so-little defense company announced that it’s officially been downselected for the British Army’s Project Nyx—the MoD’s effort to build an autonomous loyal wingman for Apache helicopters. “We think Nyx […]
