By now (unless you’ve been living in a cave for the past few years), you’re probably well aware that the US military is going all-in on autonomous vehicles. And if you read Tectonic, you’ll know that there are a whole lot of companies making them. When those many thousands of autonomous vehicles are fielded, each […]
Looks like Saudi Arabia and Utah have more in common than deserts. SR2Vector, a joint venture between Saudi Arabia’s SR2 Defense Systems and Utah-based startup Vector, has unveiled a co-produced Shahed-esque (or in US terms, LUCAS-esque) long-range one-way attack drone called SKYWASP, which’ll be manufactured at the JV’s upcoming factory near Riyadh. The news was […]
Compute is, like, so hot right now. Yesterday, teeny-tiny startup Anduril (they’ve had like, no news lately) unveiled the Voyager Gateway 1, a new “rugged, body-worn compute and communications system designed to fit within an operator’s kit.” The idea is to bring compute allll the way to the front without the heat and discomfort of […]
Well, a drone with the same name as some dude you hung out with in college is getting a buzzy upgrade. Yesterday, autonomy giant Shield AI announced that it’s been tapped by the Office of the Under Secretary of War for Research and Engineering (OUSW R&E) to build its Hivemind autonomy software onto LUCAS—the Low-Cost […]
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 […]
The Aussies are coming, y’all. This morning, Arkeus, an Australian defense startup building AI-powered sensing systems for drones, raised $18M in a Series A led by Aussie VC QIC Ventures to expand its global footprint, including in the US. “We are a little bit under the radar, if you can excuse the pun for a […]
You know what sucks? When you think you’ve got a drone flying good and straight over a target, but then it turns out you’re like, super off base. Well, luckily, one prime-new kid on the block partnership is here to help. This morning, Vantor (the artist formerly known as Maxar) announced that it’s teaming up […]
Up until recently, satellite imagery was the domain of well-funded intelligence services and militaries. These days, a range of commercial actors are filling OSINT social media feeds and reporting with near-real-time updates from their eyes in the skies over Ukraine, Iran, the South China Sea, and wherever else the US government is keeping tabs on. […]
So, the fun thing about defense tech is that no matter how shiny, or fast, or go-boom it is, it doesn’t mean a whole lot if it doesn’t work hand in hand with everything else on the battlefield. Luckily, at least one service seems to be tackling the whole “make sure this stuff works when […]
