PentagonPolicy

What to Expect from Hegseth’s Address to Industry

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” […]

Pentagon

Neros Snags Major Marine Corps Contract for FPVs

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 […]

InvestmentPentagon

Vulcan Elements Inks $1.4B Deal with the US Government and ReElement

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 […]

Pentagon

Trump Jr.-Linked Unusual Machines Wins Army Contract

It never hurts to have a few well-connected friends, especially one with a key to the White House. Late last week, Donald Trump Jr.-backed drone and drone component company Unusual Machines ($UMAC) announced that it has won a contract to supply the Army with 3,500 drone motors and other components. Business as (un)usual.  Built different: […]

Pentagon

Castelion Wins Army & Navy Integration Contracts 

The hype for hypersonics is back, baby. On Friday, hypersonic missile company Castelion announced that it has won multiple awards to integrate its Blackbeard “hypersonic strike weapon” (read: super-fast missile) onto operational US Army and Navy platforms.  Castelion couldn’t reveal too many details of the contracts—the DoD is keeping deets hush-hush during the shutdown—but Castelion […]

PentagonTech

ICYMI: The Navy’s CCA Program

If you read our newsletter yesterday (we see you), you’ll know that General Atomics announced that they’ve been tapped by the Navy to develop conceptual designs for the service’s very own CCA program.  (For the blissfully unaware, that’s the collaborative combat aircraft, or loyal wingman, program. Essentially, it’s the effort to build drone fighters that […]

Pentagon

Anduril Wins Army and DIU Counter-UAS Fire Control Competition

It’s been a big week for everyone’s favorite defense tech darling. Just days after Anduril launched their buzzy AI-powered EagleEye helmet display for the Army, the service announced Wednesday that the company has won a DIU competition for a new counter-drone fire control solution. NGC2 concerns aside, it sure seems like Anduril’s still in good […]

PentagonPolicy

The Army Goes Nuclear

A plan to deploy a nuclear energy source at a US military installation, first laid out in a May executive order, has grown some legs. At AUSA this week, Energy Secretary Chris Wright announced the Janus Program, which will aim to get a nuclear reactor up and running at a domestic US military base by […]

PentagonTech

Exclusive: Seasats Snags $89M US Navy IDIQ Contract for USVs

For all those SBIR skeptics out there, this one’s for you. In an exclusive release to Tectonic, San Diego-based small unmanned surface vessel (sUSV) startup Seasats announced today that it’s snagged an $89M ceiling SBIR Phase 3 indefinite-delivery/indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract with the Navy to deliver its Lightfish USVs to the Marine Corps.  Talk about […]

InvestmentPentagon

DoD Invests $43M in Critical Minerals Mine

Well, it seems the DoD, sorry, DoW, has really gotten a taste for critical minerals. Yesterday, Australian-American mining company Nova Minerals ($NVA) announced that it’s scored a $43.4M investment from the Pentagon to build out a production plant for a critical mineral called antimony in Alaska. The funding was awarded under the Defense Production Act […]