The growing threat of nuclear proliferation and fixing the industrial base
Defense and dual-use texhnologies
Good morning,
The United States Secretary of Defense says there are now around 10,000 North Koreans in Russia and that it looks probable that the Russians are trying to incorporate them into their formations at the front of the war in Ukraine. Ukraine intelligence has intercepted signals suggesting that the Russian units at the front are having a hard time integrating the North Koreans into their formations. North Korea also tested a new ballistic missile that appears to be intercontinental in nature, the Hwasong-19. Japan’s Defense Minister Gen. Nakatani says that the missile stayed aloft for 86 minutes and covered over 7,000mi. Final point on this topic is that it is highly likely that Russia is providing North Korea with advanced missile technology (and potentially warhead tech) in exchange for North Korea providing troops in the Ukraine fight.
It seems probable to Building our Future that the next few years will see rapidly increased proliferation of missile technologies and potentially nuclear weapons. China is rapidly growing its nuclear arsenal. North Korea is making advances. Iran has demonstrated that it wants nukes (still). Ukraine is likely regretting signing over the world’s third largest nuclear arsenal in 1991 in the Budapest Memorandum—as nuclear deterrence may have effectively dissuaded Russia in 2014 through the present. So the lesson is don’t trust other countries’ security assurances over nuclear weapons.
What does that really mean? It means the world is going to be a more dangerous place for the foreseeable future. It means that western militaries will need to re-learn Cold War lessons in how to fight within a nuclear fight. It means that western militaries must also continue to advance ballistic missile defense programs and counterproliferation efforts to interdict transregional nuclear smuggling and proliferation.
Let’s finish this intro on a slightly less depressing topic: the DIB. The Defense Industrial Base got two great boosts this week. First, the office of the Asst. Secretary of Defense for Industrial Base Policy released the unclassified edition of National Defense Industrial Strategy Implementation Plan. Now, while the NDIS-IP doesn’t have everything that BOF wants to see in it, it’s still a great step forward to rebuilding our capacity.
Second, our good friend, Shyam Sankar, the CTO of Palantir released his own ‘18 theses’ on what we must do to revitalize the defense base and be truly competitive in our production capabilities. It includes gems like charging industry with accepting the risk of IRAD and the abandonment of Cost-Plus contract vehicles. It’s definitely a must-read.
Now, enough of us waxing philosophically. Let’s dig in to the news!
News Headlines:
Moscow warns German weapons factory is legit target for Russia's military (POL)
SECDEF expects North Koreans to join Ukraine war (DN)
Defense & Dual-Use Technologies
Pentagon unveils new plan to energize America's defense sector (DN)
DoD is running low on air-defense missiles as demand surges (WSJ)
DoD to 'complement' Replicator initiative by accelerating solid rocket motor production (DS)
Air Force Secretary: In 'race for technological superiority,' AI may be the key (ASF)
Maxar is developing a 3D-mapping tool to replace GPS (DO)
Space CEOs discuss challenges and opportunities of selling defense tech at Tech Crunch Disrupt (TC)
Threat Tech
U.S. lawmakers urge review of China threat from photonics technology (RT)
Satellite photos show Israeli strike likely hit important IRGC missile base (AP)
China leading 'rapid expansion' of nuclear arsenal, Pentagon says (DN)
Russia's Putin launches drill of nuclear forces simulating strikes (AlJ)
U.S. sanctions 400 firms across more than a dozen countries for helping Russia's war effort (AP)
N. Korean long-range missile test signals its improved, potential capability to attack U.S. (AP)
N. Korea’s ICBM test was of its new Hwasong-19 (RT)
Foreign Defense Tech
U.S., S. Korea move to enhance their militaries' technology partnerships (DS)
Nearly 60 militaries now endorse U.S.-launched pledge on ‘responsible AI’ (DS)
Italian Navy tasks Fincantieri to design drone-laden warships (DN)
Israeli MOD awards $200M contract to Elbit and $500M to Rafael to supply high-power laser for "Iron Beam" air defense system (ASD, ASD)
Israeli startup R2 says it can help detect deadly terror drones with smart signal tech (TOI)
Defense Industry
Inspector General finds Boeing overcharged DoD by up to 7,000% (ASF)
DoD Cyber Crime Center's vulnerability disclosure program racking up savings for industrial base (DS)
Autonomous Systems
U.S. Army buys long-flying solar drones to watch over Pacific units (DN)
Air Force Chief: small drones are both 'threat and opportunity' (ASF)
Deal Flow:
Funds
Deep tech VC firm Tamarack Global raised $72M at the close of its second fund (PRN)
VC
Beyond Aero, a French startup developing hydrogen fuel cell-powered electric aircraft, raised a $20M Series A co-led by Giant Ventures and Bpifrance (TFN)
Latvia-based Origin Robotics raised a $4.3M pre-seed round led by Change Ventures to develop a portable ISR drone-launched weapon that uses computer-vision and AI for precision guidance (TC)
PE / M&A
PE-Backed SAS buys hypersonics providerConcordia Technologies (AW)
OceanSound Partners acquired Antenna Research Associates, a Laurel, Md.-based integrated radio frequency and advanced communications products provider to the aerospace and defense end-markets (BW)
Opportunities
Army DEVCOM is seeking information from industry and academia on decision-support capabilities to significantly improve command post organization and operations (SAM)
Air Force Research Lab has issued a BAA seeking assistance across 13 research areas to support Air Dominance Technology, spanning electronics, fuzing, datalinks, warheads, AI, aircraft integration, and more (SAM)
DARPA's Information Innovation Office has dropped its office-wide BAA covering four key thrust areas: proficient AI; resilient, adaptable, and secure systems; advantage in cyber ops; and confidence in the information domain (SAM)
Editor's Picks:
Long-time friend of Building our Future, Shyam Sankar, has put together an absolute must read on what we need to do to win the 'hot Cold War II' that we are in--if you read nothing else today, read this one.
Anthony Newbold discusses how diversity improves defense tech.
Lighter Side:
Keep Building,
BOF