Catch up on the latest insights into the defense industry.
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Scoop: Why US Navy Unmanned PEO Rear Adm. Kevin Smith Was Dismissed
This may come as a departure from Tectonic’s usual lighthearted coverage, but at the end of the day, it’s our responsibility to report on all of the defense tech industry—even the gritty bits. The US Navy’s former Program Executive Officer for Unmanned and Small Combatants (PEO USC), Rear Adm. Kevin Smith, was fired from his Read More
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Seasats Snags $24M Navy and Marine Corps Contract
Seasats is making a splash in the unmanned surface vessel (USV) space. Yesterday, California-based USV startup Seasats announced that it’s been awarded a joint $24M contract with the Navy and Marines under the APFIT program to accelerate production and delivery of its Lightfish USVs. This comes on the heels of the company scoring a $89M Read More
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Marine Corps Places $24M Order for 600 Anduril Strike Drones
The Marines have a bunch o’ Bolts heading their way. On Thursday, defense tech poster child Anduril announced that the US Marine Corps placed a $24M order for 600 of the company’s Bolt-M kamikaze drones under the Organic Precision Fires-Light (OPF-L) program, with deliveries expected between 2026 and 2027. Bolt goes boom: Weighing around 15 Read More
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DARPA Wraps Up the RACER Autonomy Program
Looks like at least one RACER has crossed the finish line. On Wednesday, DARPA announced that the Robotic Autonomy in Complex Environments with Resiliency (RACER) program, launched in 2021 to develop new vehicle autonomy algorithm technologies, has officially wrapped up. Now, it’s up to the autonomy companies that spun out of it—including Overland AI—to keep Read More
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Raft Launches a Partner Ecosystem
Guess what, guys? The defense tech dudes are forming new cliques. This morning, AI-for-defense powerhouse Raft announced that it’s launched a “partner program [that’s] designed to help industry partners rapidly build, integrate, and deploy mission-ready applications on top” of Raft’s data and AI programs. The idea is that because Raft is already plugged into the Read More
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DIU, DAWG, and Navy Want You to Control Their Boats
DIU is wasting no time getting to work under its new leadership. Last night, the innovation unit posted a new $100M (yes, $100M) prize challenge to “prototype market-ready solutions to establish a robust, scalable and vehicle-agnostic capability for understanding, tasking and coordinating autonomous systems at the fleet level.” Using normal words: They’re looking for a Read More