Tech

Vantor and Niantic Spatial Team Up on Air-to-Ground Visual Positioning System

In case you hadn’t noticed, two things have really defined the modern battlespace: Cameras are pretty much everywhere, and GPS navigation could be going the way of the sextant.  On Tuesday, Vantor and Niantic Spatial announced they’re teaming up to build a unified visual positioning system (VPS) that combines Vantor’s aerial intelligence with Niantic’s ground-based […]

Tech

Exclusive: HavocAI’s Vessels Clear Area for Sea-Based Rocket Launch

It’s been a big year for unmanned surface vessels (USVs), and maritime darling HavocAI might’ve found a new way to make them even more popular.  On Monday, in an exclusive to Tectonic, the Rhode Island–based sea-drone maker and The Spaceport Company, a sea-based rocket launch startup, announced a successful suborbital rocket test launch in the […]

Tech

Long Wall Unveils Cyclops Interceptor

The Golden Dome may be facing some serious price-tag questions, but it doesn’t look like that’s tamped down anyone’s interest in next-gen missile defense.  This morning, defense startup Long Wall—the artist formerly known as ABL Space Systems—announced that it’s building a “new, surface-launched, exoatmospheric interceptor to defeat missiles in the midcourse phase of flight,” called […]

Tech

Exclusive: Neros and Kela Team Up on Fiber-Optic Drones

The year of the mash-up is coming to a hell of a close. This morning, in an exclusive release to Tectonic, American FPV drone company Neros Technologies announced that it’s building a fiber-optic drone with Israel’s Kela Technologies, just a week after the two companies announced an official partnership. The drone-with-a-cord is a modification of […]

Tech

Exclusive: Moog Taps Niron for Rare Earths-Free Magnets

If we learned one thing from China’s response to President Trump’s tariffs in April, it’s that the US is still deeply reliant on its biggest rival for those ever-important rare earths. That’s especially true for the ones that make all of our military kit go boom and zoom.  Luckily, startup Niron Magnetics has come up […]

PentagonTech

Voyager Wins $21M Air Force Contract for AI-Powered Aerial ISR 

Voyager ($VOYG) is best known for its work in space, but the Air Force wants to bring it closer to Earth.  On Wednesday, the publicly traded space company announced a $21M contract with the Air Force Research Lab (AFRL) to develop AI-powered intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) systems that “scale seamlessly from tactical small Unmanned […]

Tech

Beehive Industries’ 3D-Printed Engine Cleared for Takeoff

The engine biz is getting buzzy.  Earlier this week, Beehive Industries, a Colorado-based startup making 3D-printed engines for munitions and unmanned aerial systems (UAS), announced that its Frenzy engine has completed high-altitude testing and is ready for integration onto an aerial vehicle for flight tests starting early next year.  In a frenzy: Founded in 2020, […]

Tech

Applied Intuition and SNC Join Forces on Autonomous Air Defense

‘Tis the season of team-ups, and it looks like the primes have new friends in the startup world on their Christmas list.  On Tuesday, defense prime Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) and autonomy quasi-startup Applied Intuition announced they’re joining forces to introduce vehicle autonomy to SNC’s fleet of mobile c-UAS and air defense platforms.  Shoot ‘em […]

Tech

Exclusive: CX2 Unveils Wraith for RF Detection

In case you haven’t been paying attention, electronic warfare is kind of a big thing right now.  Few are more aware of that than CX2, the El Segundo-based defense tech startup that says it’s “securing spectrum dominance for the United States and its allies.” This morning, in an exclusive release to Tectonic, the company unveiled […]

InvestmentTech

NATO and Ukraine Launch Joint Innovation Initiative

Ukraine’s path to NATO is looking shakier by the day, but that hasn’t stopped the alliance from pushing to integrate the country’s battle-tested tech into Europe’s defense tech ecosystem.  Late last week, as we were all enjoying our turkey, NATO and Ukraine unveiled a new competition called “UNITE–Brave NATO,” designed to accelerate the adoption of […]