If this is the week before Farnborough, we can’t possibly imagine what next week is going to be like. This morning, UK-based (and fairly sneaky) aerospace tech company Greenjets announced that it’s raised a $40M Series A led by Blossom Capital with participation from the NATO Innovation Fund (NIF), the UK’s National Security Strategic Investment […]
The FPV phenoms at Neros are on a heater. This week, the California-based drone startup snagged a five-year, $500M-ceiling US Army contract for its Archer FPV drones under the Purpose-Built Attritable System (PBAS) program. Neros’ Head of Growth, Ross Pedersen, told Tectonic that the Army has already placed orders for thousands of the drones against […]
Well, guys, the moment you’ve all been waiting for (or, at least, that some of you have been waiting for) has finally arrived. This morning, autonomous surface vessel (ASV) hotshot (and newly-minted member of Iran’s shit list) Saronic announced that it’s officially picked Brownsville, TX, as the site for its futuristic shipyard, Port Alpha. Saronic […]
If you thought all of the Modular Attack Surface Craft (MASC) cancellation drama was in the rear-view window, buckle up: We’re just getting started. Late last month, two unmanned surface vessel startups—Blue Water Autonomy and Saildrone—filed separate lawsuits against the Navy after their medium-USV designs were rejected from the MUSV marketplace that replaced the canceled […]
Turns out at least one old dog can, in fact, learn new tricks, or at least can find a young gun to teach it. This morning, robo-manufacturing startup Machina Labs announced that it’s inked a qualification contract with mega-prime Lockheed Martin (which, conveniently, also sits on Machina’s cap table through its venture arm) for Joint […]
In case you hadn’t noticed, the long-consolidated and constrained solid rocket motor (SRM) industry is getting dragged into the future with the help of a few startups, some fancy advanced manufacturing tech, and a military desperate to shore up its shrinking munitions stockpile. Ursa Major is one of the startups leading the charge. This morning, […]
If you weren’t sold on the whole “the US is getting hella serious about rare earths and critical minerals” thing, well, the Pentagon is back to prove you wrong—again. In case you missed it, on Monday the DoD announced that the Economic Defense Unit (EDU), in partnership with the Office of the Under Secretary of […]
The drone interceptor world is, like, hotter than hot right now, and investors aren’t showing any signs of backing down just yet. This morning, Singularity emerged after two years in stealth with an $80M Series A led by Khosla Ventures and Felicis, a $400M valuation, and a mission to deploy “low-cost air defense systems at […]
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 […]
Well, gosh darn. Our friends across the pond really are having quite the month. This morning, UK-based Valarian—which is building “the sovereign infrastructure layer for high-consequence operations and AI-driven systems”—announced that it’s raised a $50M Series A led by New Enterprise Associates (NEA). “We’re really, really excited to partner with [NEA],” Valarian founder and CEO […]
