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 […]
In case you missed it, Germany-based drone company Quantum Systems is making some serious money moves. Just two weeks after raising €180M at a cool €3B, the company announced yesterday that it’s launching a joint initiative with Ukrainian company Frontline Robotics called “Quantum Frontline Industries.” The mash-up—part of a defense cooperation initiative formally launched during […]
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 […]
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 […]
Nothing gets the blood—and innovation—pumping like a little bit of healthy competition to round out the year. On Wednesday, NATO DIANA, the alliance’s defense tech accelerator, announced the 150 startups from across 24 member states that made the cut for its 2026 Challenge Program, and it was a particularly intense one. Making the call: Each […]
If you’ve been paying attention to the past year of Tectonic (!!), you’ll recognize a sneaky three-letter acronym that pops up on a lot of defense tech cap tables: IQT. For those lucky enough not to be in the know, that stands for In-Q-Tel, a not-for-profit venture fund backed by the US government and investing […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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, […]
