If you thought startups were running out of Lord of the Rings-themed names, think again. Last week, a startup called Valinor—led by former Palantir exec Julie Bush—emerged from stealth with guns blazing and a clear mission: to build the ultra-necessary “picks and shovels” of defense tech, rather than chasing flashier “moonshots.” We love a little […]
If you read our newsletter yesterday (we see you), you’ll know that General Atomics announced that they’ve been tapped by the Navy to develop conceptual designs for the service’s very own CCA program. (For the blissfully unaware, that’s the collaborative combat aircraft, or loyal wingman, program. Essentially, it’s the effort to build drone fighters that […]
The small unmanned surface vessel (sUSV) scene may be pretty crowded, but Seasats is still diving right in. On Monday, the San Diego-based startup launched its second USV offering: A bigger, speedier sibling of its flagship Lightfish vessel called the Quickfish, which was unveiled at a recent Navy exercise in California. Gone fishing: Seasats’ first […]
Remember when we said the Ukrainians were coming? Well, it’s beginning to look like we were right. This morning, Ukraine-focused US VC UA1 announced in an exclusive release to Tectonic that they’re raising a $50M fund to scale Ukrainian tech “into capabilities that strengthen U.S., European, and NATO security.” The firm—co-founded by US Marine Corps […]
The Europeans are, indeed, coming. Yesterday, in a plot twist very few expected, the US and the Netherlands signed a letter of intent stating that the northern European nation will participate in the US Air Force’s Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) program. According to Dutch State Secretary for Defense Gijs Tuinman, his country has now unlocked […]
It’s been a big week for everyone’s favorite defense tech darling. Just days after Anduril launched their buzzy AI-powered EagleEye helmet display for the Army, the service announced Wednesday that the company has won a DIU competition for a new counter-drone fire control solution. NGC2 concerns aside, it sure seems like Anduril’s still in good […]
Maritime autonomy on the surface has had its time in the sun—a startup out of this year’s Y Combinator class is taking the hype underwater. In an exclusive release to Tectonic, Albacore, a Philadelphia-based startup making long-range unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs), announced it has raised a $6.5M seed round led by Outlander VC with participation […]
If there is one thing that will define Fall 2025 in the defense tech world, it’s partnerships. Yesterday, edge computing company Armada announced that they’ve inked a deal with drone giant Skydio to “equip federal, state, and local agencies with the ability to capture and process drone intelligence in real time,” even in jammed environments. […]
In case you didn’t know, it’s like really, really hard to navigate at sea. And that gets even harder when you’re putting drones under the water—like autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) company Vatn Systems is. Well, yesterday, the Rhode Island-based startup announced that they’ve found a solution: They have developed their very own inertial navigation system […]
The great transatlantic team-up continues. On Tuesday, counter-drone big dog, Dedrone by Axon, and German startup TYTAN announced a partnership integrating Dedrone’s sensors and detection tech onto TYTAN’s autonomous Group 3 drone interceptors. Shoot ‘em down: Dedrone, which was snapped up by public safety tech company Axon (the Taser-maker) last year, is an OG in […]
