Turns out the leap across the pond goes both ways. This morning, UK-based USV company Kraken Technology Group announced that they’ve scored a coveted $49M cap OTA with United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) to develop and prototype “novel uncrewed surface and subsurface vessel technologies to enhance maritime capabilities for U.S. special operations forces.” This […]
If you’re a Payload reader, you’ve probably heard of Interlune. Luckily for us, the space resources startup is kicking off work a little closer to home. On Wednesday, in an exclusive release to Tectonic, Interlune announced that they’ve scored a $1.25M AFWERX contract to increase the terrestrial supply of helium-3—a rare isotope of helium critical […]
Christmas came early for the defense tech world. On Monday, Undersecretary of War for Research and Engineering (USW(R&E)), Emil Michael, unveiled the six Critical Technology Areas (CTAs) that made the cut on the Pentagon’s pared-down list of priorities, a key signal of where the Department intends to direct R&D resources. Hope y’all aren’t too bummed […]
Despite the government being shut down for 43 days—the longest in US history—the Pentagon was certainly open for business. After the House struck a deal and President Trump signed a continuing resolution to keep the government open through January last week, the DoD’s workforce returned to their desks to announce nearly $9B in new contracts […]
Last week, we said Neros was turning things up a notch. We might’ve jumped the gun—now they’re really turning it up. Earlier this week, the white-hot drone startup announced it closed $75M Series B. As a cherry on top, they were tapped for the US Army’s Purpose Built Attritable System (PBAS) program. Not a bad […]
Well, that Hegseth speech wasn’t the only good piece of defense tech news to come out at the tail end of last week. On Friday afternoon, Reuters reported that the US Army plans to buy at least a million drones in the next two to three years, and that they plan to buy 500K a […]
In case you’ve been living under a rock for the past few days, a tectonic shift is underway in the way the Pentagon does business. (Ha, ha, ha.) Over the course of his 70-minute speech to defense industry execs, military procurement officials, and others at the National War College on Friday, Secretary of Defense Pete […]
Happy Hegseth Lecture Day to all who celebrate! Everyone’s favorite new monthly tradition—SecDef Pete Hegseth gathering a bunch of super important people for a stern talking-to—is back for its November rendition, but with a bit of a twist this time. Instead of calling his audience fat, Hegseth is set to deliver an “Arsenal of Freedom” […]
Neros is turning things up a notch. Earlier this week, the California-based drone startup announced that it has scored a multi-million-dollar delivery order contract from the US Marine Corps for thousands of its Archer drones. Plus, most of the FPVs will have a mini-warhead attached to make them lethal. Big buzz: Neros’ Archer FPV quadcopter […]
The DoD, sorry, DoW, has really gotten a taste for critical minerals. On Monday, rare-earth magnet maker Vulcan Elements announced a whopping $1.4B partnership with the Pentagon, Department of Commerce, and ReElement Technologies to scale their vertically integrated rare-earth magnet supply chain. Sounds like the meeting with Xi wasn’t that good. Rare air: Drones have […]
