The data nerds over at Nominal are (still) on a bit of a heater, this time with one of the Air Force’s most ambitious programs. The testing startup announced yesterday that it’s been selected for a $71.2M AFWERX Strategic Funding Increase (STRATFI)—split between $30M of Nominal’s own cash and $41.2M of government funding—to expand its […]
Secretary Pete Hegseth has pledged to make the US military an “AI-first warfighting force,” and the Navy is taking that on board. Literally. Yesterday, autonomy software giant Applied Intuition announced that the US Navy has tapped it to deploy a new AI-powered sensor fusion and data-collection system “across the manned and unmanned fleet,” starting with […]
Turns out 2026 is a great year to be a low-cost interceptor company. This morning, launch hotshot-turned-missile-defense-darling Long Wall (née ABL Space Systems) announced that it’s been awarded a $75M contract from the US Missile Defense Agency to “complete flight testing of [its] Cyclops low-cost interceptor.” “Demand for interceptors has surged, while low production capacity […]
The Navy quadrupled Gecko’s $71M IDIQ to expand from the Pacific Fleet to Naval Surface Force Atlantic.
Lasers are all the rage right now, but that doesn’t mean the Army’s lost sight of other forms of directed energy. This morning, Epirus announced it’s secured a $18M contract with the Army’s PAE Fires to make its flagship drone-zapping high-powered microwave (HPM) system, Leonidas, mobile and adaptable to different vehicle platforms. Fry ‘em: As […]
Another day, another heap of cash being allocated to the Army’s Next Generation Command and Control (NGC2) effort. Yesterday, “operational intelligence platform” Shift5 announced that it’s been awarded a $99M IDIQ from the US Army to “further support” the mega-project. Shift5 CEO Toby Magsig told Tectonic that the contract “expands Shift5’s role from a prototyping […]
With the Drone Dominance Program’s Gauntlet II winners announced last month, it was only a matter of time before the big orders started piling up. Yesterday, Orqa US, the American subsidiary of Croatian drone giant Orqa FPV, and XTEND revealed they’ve won $38M and $40.5M contracts, respectively, after strong showings in the second round of […]
Strap in, nerds. Everything really is computer. Yesterday, the Office of the Under Secretary of War for Research and Engineering (OUSW(R&E)) announced a total of $350M in awards and programs to “strengthen U.S. leadership in quantum computing capabilities that support national security.” With these awards, the Pentagon also says it will push the Department’s “innovation […]
Damn. The Navy really is on quite the spending spree. This morning, New Mexico-based solid rocket motor (among much else) company X-Bow Systems announced that it’s been awarded a prototype agreement with the Navy worth $69.7M to “develop and qualify a solid rocket motor booster for a key U.S. Navy next-generation weapon.” An X-Bow spokesperson […]
Anduril chooses MD for its Arsenal-2 shipyard, inks a $2.9B submarine contract, and wins a $1.8B Army deal for NGC2.
