Replicator 1.2, Hypersonic Wind Tunnels, Axis of Autocracy Treaties, and more!
Defense and dual-use texhnologies
Good morning,
The Pentagon has announced several awards for the Replicator-1, Tranche 2 (or Replicator 1.2) program. While Replicator remains focused on all domains, these announced awards are only for UAS and include Anduril's Ghost X and Altius-600 systems, Performance Drone Wroks C-100, and the Air Force Enterprise Test Vehicle (ETV). Of note, the ETV is not actually a product yet, but is undergoing a prototyping competition, which DIU downselected to four companies.
The Ghost X looks like a small helicopter while the PDW C-100 is a quadcopter. Both have flight times of around 70 minutes and will be fielded to U.S. Army units at the company level. The Altius-600 is part of the Marine Corps' Organic Precision Fires capability enhancing the indirect fire capabilities of a Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion. Now the ETV is not clearly defined, but appears to be an effort to create a low-cost cruise missile. For the ETV to be truly useful, it needs to come in at a price point below $150K; currently, our cheapest cruise missile is the JASSM which costs ~$700K. Ideally, the ETV would come in below $100K, but we won't hold our breath.
Or as our predecessor 'Building our Defense' tried to make abundantly clear, we need to treat these systems not as platforms but as expendable munitions.
Now, let’s dig in to the news!
News Headlines:
Yemeni Houthi rebels claim shooting down another U.S. reaper drone (AP)
Biden and Xi will meet in Peru as U.S.-China relations tested again by Trump’s return (AP)
President-Elect Trump taps Fox News host Peter Hegseth for Secretary of Defense role (AP)
Trump draft executive order would set up board to oust generals en masse (TH)
From firing generals to limiting women in combat, Hegseth hints at possible Pentagon shakeup (BD)
FBI arrests CIA official for leak of classified document on Israel's plans for Iranian strikes (WSJ)
Pro-Kremlin think tank warns Russian economy is heading towards stagflation (BI)
Defense & Dual-Use Technologies
Space and defense sectors brace for potential Trump policy shifts (SN)
Defense tech startups are thrilled, despite talk of a bubble (TI)
Notre Dame opens first-ever Mach 10 quiet wind tunnel for hypersonics testing (DS)
Congressional Research Service releases its report on Next-Gen Air Dominance Fighter (USNI)
Promising AI threat detection tool due for naval testing in wake of Army trials (S&S)
U.S. defense tech firms mull partnering with Taiwan (AWN)
Threat Tech
Trump expected to deepen tech cold war with China (WP)
N. Korea ratifies major defense treaty with Russia covering mutual-defense and cooperation (AP)
Massive Chinese anti-drone high-power microwave weapon emerges (WZ)
Russia's S-70 'Hunter' drone downed in Ukraine packed with Western components (TWZ)
China's stealth CH-7 long-endurance drone emerges (TWZ)
President-Elect Trump promises to save China's greatest information warfare tool (AP)
Satellite images and documents indicate China working on nuclear propulsion for new aircraft carrier (AP)
Moldova says two Russian 'decoy' drones crashed on its territory (RT)
Houthis attack U.S. Navy ships with 8 attack drones, 5 anti-ship ballistic missiles, and 3 anti-ship cruise missiles; U.S. Navy destroys all of the attacking weapons (T&P)
Foreign Defense Tech
European countries are spending more on defense: Think Tank (AP)
NATO adopts practices for innovation demonstrated by U.S. Air Force (ASF)
NATO allies ready sea drones for the task of repelling enemy warships (DN)
Trump win fuels campaign for nuclear arms in S. Korea (S&S)
State Dept approves $5B sale of early warning aircraft to S. Korea (S&S)
France, UK embrace fully drone-based naval mine hunting with new tech (DN)
Defense Industry
Supersonic aircraft startup Exosonic is winding down (TC)
Kongsberg wins biggest-ever missile contract from U.S. Navy, Marines (DN)
Lockheed wants to build a new stealth aerial tanker drone (ASF)
Boeing swoops up Northrop exec to take over Phantom Works, running Pentagon programs (RT)
MBDA pushes new deep-strike missile in time for Europe to arm up (DN)
Autonomous Systems
Pentagon announces new batch of drones for Replicator program (BD)
Air Force orders more robot wingmen for its experimentation unit (DO)
New Mexico researchers develop observation drones from dead birds (UT)
Russia and Ukraine trade biggest drone attacks of conflict (AlJ)
Deal Flow:
Funds
Godspeed Capital Management raised $675M for its third PE fund focused on the defense and government sectors (GCW)
VC
Chaos Industries raised a $145M Series B led by Accel to expand its software-defined critical infrastructure for defense use-cases (BW)
Vatn Systems, a startup producing autonomous underwater vehicles for defense, raised a $13M seed round led by DYNE Ventures (PRN)
Nordic Air Defence raised $1.3M led by SNO Ventures for its drone defense technology (EUS)
PE / M&A
Lynx Software Technologies, backed by OceanSound Partners, acquired Core Avionics & Industrial, a development tools and software company for GPU computing in aerospace and defense markets (BW)
Opportunities
Cyber Ranges in partnership with the Ukrainian Government, introduces TRYZUB--a new service which offers cybersecurity training based on real-world scenarios reflecting the most advanced threats--for militaries, government, LE agencies, and critical network operators (CR)
DARPA is seeking technologies to enable an agile and scalable advanced manufacturing capability that is responsive and capable of maintaining a surge of material production (SAM)
SOCOM is looking for multidomain microdrones that can operate in the air and underwater (SAM)
Editor's Picks:
Jorge Rivero discusses overlaying lessons from Ukraine onto how the Marine Corps conducts decoy and deception operations.
Former acting SecDef and Project 2025 co-architect Chris Miller shares how the incoming administration may shake up the DoD.
Stew Magnuson explains why the U.S. needs to develop defense tech with its partners.
Lighter Side:
Keep Building,
BOF