Weekly News Update: Dec 29, 2023
23 - 29 Dec 2023
Good morning and Happy holidays!
I wasn’t planning on dropping an update today, but found that I had some time still this morning while everyone was sleeping. But, now the family is awake, so I won’t write much here. Fortunately, it was a fairly quiet week. We saw continued activity in the Red Sea. Egypt has attempted to broker a deal between Israel and Hamas. The UK has a warship steaming towards Guyana, which has Venezuela crying.
Let’s dive in to these and other issues surrounding aerospace and defense technology.
Weekly News Round Up
Military
U.S. Defense modernization and innovation
Biden signs $886B NDAA into law (Pol)
Proposed rule could allow DoD program managers to request waivers for cybersecurity certificate requirement (DS)
The Osprey is not enough; DARPA wants a highspeed vertical takeoff plane (DN)
Joint Warfighter Cloud Capability off to slow start (WP)
Air Force concerned about Hypersonic Attack Cruise Missile, hasn’t ruled out glide design (DS)
Army to field three new combat vehicles in 2024 (AT)
Two new missiles in pipeline for Army in 2024 (AT)
The Army wants thousands more ‘Coyote’ counter-drone systems (TDP)
Army tests long range quantum radio communication (DO)
Navy emphasizes frigates in latest modernization plans (DN)
Defense Tech Opportunities
DoD SBIR 2024.1 and STTR 2024.A will open January 3rd (DSIP)
Army looks to industry for new command post designs (DS)
Europe, Russia, the Arctic, NATO, and the war in Ukraine
US announces latest—and potentially last—aid package to Ukraine worth $250M (MT)
Turkish committee approves Sweden’s NATO accession (DN)
US passes executive order aimed at financial facilitators of Russian defense industry (AP)
Lukashenko: nuclear shipments from Russia to Belarus complete (AP)
Jacques Delors, Euro architect as leader of EU, dies at 98 (BBG)
China, Korea, and Asia
US Intel: Chinese spy balloon used US based Internet Service Provider to communicate (NBC)
China names new defense minister, months after Li’s ouster (BBG)
Middle East and Africa
US Navy continues to down missiles and drones from Iranian-backed groups in Red Sea (UPI)
Iran-backed forces widen their attacks on commercial shipping (WSJ)
US Allies are reluctant to join Red Sea task force (RT)
Maersk schedules dozens of vessels to travel via Suez Canal (RT)
Airstrike in Somalia kills mastermind of attacks on Americans (WP)
Turkey strikes Kurds in Iraq and Syria after attacks on Turkish soldiers (AP)
U.S. Defense Industry News
DZYNE wins $49M from Air Force for long endurance drone (TDP)
RTX is prototyping directed energy weapons for Navy, Air Force (C4)
RTX shakeup signals a shift away from innovation to maintenance (DN)
South Korea to buy 20 more F-35s from the United States for $3B (SS)
Foreign Defense Industry News
Global defense orders surges as tensions mount (FT)
BAE Systems wins Australian award to expand F-35 maintenance center (TDP)
New Zealand naval chief talks future fleet, unmanned tech (DN)
Rheinmetall to modernize Romanian air defenses for $362M (TDP)
Russia, India in talks of joint weapons production, amid Ukraine war (DN)
Spain orders Airbus maritime patrol, surveillance aircraft for $2B (DN)
Space
X-37B Space Plane launches on another secretive mission (AFT)
Pentagon agencies team up in upcoming launch of hypersonic missile tracking satellites (SN)
Nuclear Power & Weapons
IAEA: Iran accelerates enrichment of uranium to near weapons-grade (RT)
North Korea ramps up nuclear weapons fuel production (AP)
Lawrence Livermore Lab achieves multiple fusion ignition in first (TI)
AI, Robotics, & other Frontier Tech
China is stealing AI secrets to turbocharge spying, US says (WSJ)
GAO prepares to assess Pentagon’s revamped AI strategy (DS)
New York Times sues Microsoft and OpenAI for copyright infringement (BBG)
OpenAI is in early talks to raise a fresh round of funding at a valuation at or above $100B (BBG)
A&D-Focused Finance
Labrys Technologies, a UK-based defense tech startup, raised a $5.5M seed round led by Project A Ventures (TC)
Spain's defense systems maker Indra is considering acquiring a stake in satellite operator Hispasat, which is partly owned by state-controlled grid operator Redeia (RT)
Important Reads
Two senior commanders of US naval forces in the Middle East as well as an expert from JINSA argue the US must hit Houthi targets in Yemen to deter that group and other Iran-backed forces from widening the current conflict.
Several current and former US Air Force engineers call for closer collaboration between DoD and NASA as fundamental for success in ‘new space race.’
Lighter Side
Keep building!
Andrew