The budget drama on the Hill continues. Yesterday, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved its $852.5B defense spending bill for FY26, providing a $21.7 billion (2.6%) boost in spending over Trump’s budget, plus a big ol’ “hell no” to some of the President’s policy priorities. Among the starkest differences between the Senate’s appropriations bill and the administration’s […]
As you may have heard, the EU and US have struck a trade deal—sort of. In case you missed it, in Scotland earlier this week, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and President Trump announced a trade agreement reshaping the $2T transatlantic trade relationship, including a blanket 15% tariff on all European goods imported […]
You know what they say: if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. Yesterday, Northrop Grumman announced the first six startups that will join its “Beacon Project” to “rapidly test and deliver new autonomous solutions at scale.” Seems the big time prime might be realizing what we’ve been waxing lyrical about for ages: Especially when it […]
Everyone loves a tiny little plane. Yesterday, Israeli eVTOL (electric vertical takeoff and landing) startup AIR announced a $23 million Series A, led by Entrée Capital with participation from Dr. Shmuel Harlap. The company says it will use the funding to ramp up production and expand its U.S. operations—especially given how keen the Trump administration […]
And now for the big reveal: On Tuesday, defense mapping startup Reveal Technology announced a $30M Series B led by Ballistic Ventures with participation from Booz Allen Ventures, Shield Capital, and others. That’s a big—and speedy-quick—jump from its $11.2M Series A last December. Founded in 2018, Reveal grew out of its co-founders’ firsthand combat experience […]
Another heavyweight is jumping into the command and control (C2) ring. This morning, unmanned surface vessel (USV) maker Saronic Technologies unveiled Echelon, a C2 system built for the unique demands of the maritime domain. Saronic CTO Vibhav Altekar described it to Tectonic as a unified portal to manage everything that could impact an autonomous fleet. […]
If you’re getting tired of reading about drones, you’re in the wrong place—because business is booming. Just look at Auterion: The autonomy software firm said Monday it will send 33,000 AI-powered drone guidance “strike kits” to Ukraine by year’s end under a new $50M Pentagon contract. While this isn’t Auterion’s first rodeo in Ukraine, it’s […]
What a time to be a prime. In the past few weeks, we’ve finally gotten a look at Q2 results from some of defense’s biggest players—Northrop Grumman, Raytheon (RTX), Lockheed Martin, and L3Harris, among them—and the results have been mixed, to say the least. Amidst tariffs and record-high geopolitical tensions, and in the face of […]
Remember when we said maritime autonomy is all the rage? Well, looks like we were right. Yesterday, the Navy officially launched its Modular Attack Surface Craft (MASC) program with a nice lil solicitation. According to the doc, PMS 406–the unmanned maritime systems program office–is “seeking proposals for innovative, commercial technologies that accelerate attainment of [unmanned […]
In case you missed it, on Friday, SecDef Pete Hegseth met with his Baltic counterparts at the Pentagon, where the Estonian, Latvian, and Lithuanian defense leaders committed to spending 5% of GDP on defense by next year. Yes, next year, as in 2026. Impressive, especially when you consider the rest of NATO isn’t on track […]
