InvestmentTech

Exclusive: Antaris Launches Defense-Focused Business, Aeonyx

Look out, world. The space guys are coming for your defense contracts. This morning, Antaris—which, to date, has done simulation and modeling primarily for space-based assets—announced in an exclusive release to Tectonic that it’s launching a dedicated defense-focused mission virtualization company called Aeonyx. The company will help “defense organizations evaluate architectures, validate operational concepts, improve […]

Tech

Exclusive: Vatn Unveils SIGURD Mine-Hunting Subsea Drone

Minehunting is back in vogue, and for good reason. If you’ve been keeping an eye on a certain strait off the coast of Iran, sub-sea mines—or the threat of them—have been causing a whole lot of problems.  The US Navy, which decommissioned half of its Avenger-class mine countermeasure ships last year, is looking for more […]

EuropeTech

Harmattan and Dassault Unveil Co-Developed NAMIB EW System

Well, seems like the Dassault-Harmattan AI partnership is working out just fine.  This morning, the Paris-based autonomy startup and the French aviation giant announced that they’ve teamed up to build—and successfully integrate and test—a new EW detection drone payload called NAMIB. And they’ve already tried it out. In a recent test, a drone (built with […]

PentagonTech

Pentagon Awards $86M in OTAs for Laser Weapons

Pew-pew, baby. Laser weapons are here to stay. Yesterday, the Pentagon announced that it’s awarded two OTAs to nLIGHT Defense and Lockheed Martin Aculight to develop laser weapons systems to “advance the United States’ next-generation cruise missile and unmanned aerial system (UAS) defense architecture.” The combined awards have an initial contract value of $86M with […]

Tech

DIU Taps Valinor’s Docking Station for Containerized Drone Swarm Program

Valinor launched last year with a focus on building the unsexy but important tech for modern conflict that no one else is, and it doesn’t get much more picks-and-shovels-y than drone docking stations. Looks like that bet is paying off.  Earlier this week, the new-age defense tech holding company Valinor announced its Dispatch product-company—a modular […]

PentagonTech

Exclusive: Ordnance Aero Scores DEVCOM CRADA

If you thought there were enough companies that were making the things that go boom, think again. This morning, new and stealthy munitions startup Ordnance Aero announced in an exclusive release to Tectonic that they’ve entered into a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Armaments Center (DEVCOM […]

PentagonTech

Exclusive: Forterra’s $114M Army-Backed Push Into Ukraine

Take a quick look around the defense startup scene, and you’ll notice that pretty much every company bills its tech as “tested in Ukraine.” Far fewer can say that they’re trusted in Ukraine. Forterra actually can. Yesterday, the ground autonomy startup revealed that it has sent over 100 Lancer autonomous ground vehicles (AGVs)—based on the […]

Tech

Exclusive: Aurelius Takes its Drone-Downing Lasers Mobile with Rheinmetall

Lasers and partnering with Rheinmetall…so hot right now.  Directed energy startup Aurelius Systems is teaming up with the German mega-prime’s American subsidiary to integrate its drone-downing laser weapon, Archimedes, onto a Rheinmetall unmanned ground vehicle, the company exclusively told Tectonic.  The partnership is the first for Aurelius and, since they aren’t planning to make ground […]

EuropeTech

ICYMI: Ukraine Lays Out Export Plan for Defense Tech

Well, the moment you’ve all been waiting for is finally here.  Late last week, the Ukrainian government officially announced its first mechanism for exporting defense and military technology to partner nations. Under the setup—in the works for nearly two years—the government will maintain pretty tight control over exports, but manufacturers will (at long last) be […]

Tech

Exclusive: Vermeer Launches Recovery for Lost Drones

You know what sucks? When you’ve got a drone on mission with no (or limited) comms and it gets lost with no satellite data to fall back again. Can be a pretty pricey—or at least deeply annoying—issue. Well, good news is, visual navigation startup Vermeer has come up with a solution. This morning, the company […]