Weekly News Update: Aug 23, 2024

17 - 23 Aug 2024

Good morning,

Hadrian is joining Anduril, doubling down on centralized, vertically integrated defense manufacturing. This comes as the Defense Production Act has become a proxy fight between the Pentagon and Congress over visions of how to best build and maintain our forces for future fights.

Ukraine is continuing its push into Kursk oblast, Russia, while Russian force continue to make slow gains in Eastern Ukraine. China, whose nuclear stockpiles are growing faster than anybody else, is outraged that the US has a new nuclear strategy in case we must face Russian, Chinese, and N. Korean nukes all at once.

Boeing’s clown show continues, with its astronauts equipped with spacesuits that are incompatible with SpaceX systems, closing a door on that recovery plan.

The Defense Tech sector may have jumped past light speed, right to Ludicrous Speed (Go!). This is underscored by one of the 25 largest seed rounds in history, Defcon AI’s $44M raise from Bessemer and others.

Let’s dive in to these …