Looks like the Europeans got the memo on the whole “prime-startup” partnership thing—and man, oh man, they’re not effing around. This morning, French autonomy startup Harmattan AI announced that it’s scored a $200M Series B at a $1.4B valuation led by French defense giant Dassault Aviation. Harmattan CEO Mouad M’Ghari told Tectonic that the two […]
Africa might not come to mind as a defense tech hotspot, but a startup founded by two Nigerians in their early twenties is changing that—and catching the eye of the defense tech world’s venture capital heavyweights. Early this morning, Nigerian autonomous systems startup Terra Industries announced in an exclusive release to Tectonic that it’s raised […]
If 2025 was the year of the BFB (big f*cking boat), it looks like 2026 might end up being the year of the EBFB (even bigger f*cking boat). Yesterday, autonomous surface vessel (ASV) company HavocAI announced that it’s teaming up with Hanwha Defense USA (the US subsidiary of the Korean defense giant) to build a […]
Northrop Grumman’s hot streak in the Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) world is showing no signs of slowing down. Just a few weeks after the Air Force called Northrop’s Talon drone a “strong contender” for the service’s CCA program (designating it as the YFQ-48A), the prime announced that it’s been awarded a contract to build the […]
If there is one piece of advice that everyone seems to bandy about in the defense tech world, it’s “go fast.” And it seems at least one company has taken that seriously to heart. This morning, just a few months after emerging from stealth, new-age defense tech holding company Valinor announced that it’s raised a […]
The counter-drone space may be busy as hell, but it seems that hasn’t deterred California-based Mach Industries. This morning, the MIT-dropout-founded defense tech startup unveiled Dart: their new low-cost interceptor designed to take down Group 1-3 drones, plus an internally developed ground-based radar system to go with it. If Mach loves one thing, it’s trying […]
There are three certainties in life: death, taxes, and champagne popping at Lockheed Martin HQ. On Monday, the Pentagon gave the mega-prime good reason for celebration, announcing an agreement to boost annual production of the ever-popular Lockheed-made PAC-3 MSE missile interceptors from 600 to 2,000 over the next seven years under a new acquisition model. […]
It certainly seems like our friends in Rhode Island had some pretty ambitious New Year’s resolutions. This morning, autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) company Vatn Systems announced in an exclusive release to Tectonic that it has acquired RI-based Crewless Marine to scale up its underwater acoustic sensing and processing capabilities. Crewless will be fully folded into […]
Well, if anyone thought 2026 was going to be a chill year, everyone and their mother is out to prove you wrong. Yesterday, European drone giant Destinus announced that it’s finalized its acquisition of Swiss AI avionics company Daedalean for a cool CHF 180M ($225M). Destinus said in a statement that Daedalean (say that five […]
“If AI is to be the brains of America’s tech supremacy, Gundo hopes to provide the muscle, the energy and the firepower,” The Economist recently wrote. “The harder it is to build, the better.” Looks like we can add super high-tech materials and composites to the list of ambitious Gundo exports, especially after El Segundo, […]
