Weekly News Update: Jan 5, 2024
30 Dec 2023 - 5 Jan 2024
Good morning and welcome to the New Year!
Things are a bit slower this week as we all return back to the office and shake off the fog associated from too much egg nog. Opportunities abound, however, as the DoD has released the Small Business Innovation Research broad agency announcement for the first part of 2024. ISIS has attacked a group of Iranians honoring Quds Force commander Qassim Soleimani, killing nearly 100. Attacks against civilian shipping in the Red Sea has dropped off a bit, following some reprisals against Houthi hijackers and attackers.
A special tip of the hat to the team at ShieldAI on their announced Series F raise at a $2.8B valuation!
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
Dep Secretary of Defense Hicks selects Replicator capabilities; Pentagon to brief key lawmakers (DS)
New radars and missile interceptors on schedule for Army air defense (AT)
US Marines test radars, networks for expeditionary base operations (DN)
Defense Tech Opportunities
Joint DOD Small Business Innovation Research 24.1 and Tech Transfer 24.A programs are open! (DoD)
The West badly needs more missiles, but production is years away (WSJ)
US Army Engineer R&D Center has issued a BAA covering numerous areas (EW)
Europe, Russia, the Arctic, NATO, and the war in Ukraine
US exhausts security funds for Ukraine (DN)
Russia is now using North Korean munitions in Ukraine (WP)
… and buying ballistic missiles from Iran (WSJ)
Russia’s only aircraft carrier may never sail again (NI)
European navies focus on securing seabeds (DN)
China, Korea, and Asia
Ethnic armed group battling Myanmar’s military claims to have downed Army helicopter (AP)
Taiwan reports 4 suspected Chinese spy balloons over the island (MT)
China protests American ‘technological blockade’ amid semiconductor battle (BD)
Middle East and Africa
Isis kills at least 84 in blasts at ceremony honoring Iranian general (AP)
Airstrike in central Baghdad kills Iran-backed militia leader (MT)
US, allies promise larger military response if Red Sea attacks persist (MT)
US seeks drone bases in West Africa to stem Islamist advance (WSJ)
Red Sea crisis boosts shipping costs, delays - and inflation worries (CNBC)
U.S. Defense Industry News
Aurora Flight Sciences begins manufacturing X-65 drone for DARPA (DS)
Bombadier wins US Army contract for new spy plane prototype (DN)
Firehawk Aerospace wins Phase III SBIR award from Army Applications Lab to supply rockets for javelin, stinger, and GMLR systems (PRN)
Maxar to provide Indo-Pacific imagery, models for US mapping agency (C4)
GAO rejects L3Harris protest over Ball Aerospace award (SN)
RTX, L3Harris to update electronic warfare kits on Navy’s Super Hornets (C4)
USAF gives RTX $345M to build 1,500+ new StormBreaker guided bombs (ASF)
Rocket Lab signs $515M satellite contract (FM)
Foreign Defense Industry News
BAE Systems to build new M777 howitzer structures for US Army (DN)
MBDA Germany, RTX Joint Venture award $5.5B for Patriot missiles for four European countries (DN)
Singapore’s Navy inks modernization deals amid personnel shortage (DN)
Space
US Space Force wargames potential satellite refueling plans (SN)
Two companies to attempt firs US moon landings since Apollo program (C4)
US leads world in 2023 launches, satellites on orbit: study (BD)
SpaceX charged with illegally firing workers who spoke critically of Elon Musk (CNBC)
SpaceX deploys Direct-to-Cell Starlinks (PS)
Nuclear Power & Weapons
Russia blocks IAEA inspectors from accessing parts of Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine (RT)
N. Korea’s Kim issues ominous warning about nuclear strike this year (NW)
Russian Eurasianist and political theorist calls for nuclear strikes on Ukraine (Sp)
AI, Robotics, & other Frontier Tech
GSI Technology sells AI chip to the Air Force for search and rescue, object tection, moving-target indication, and change detection (MW)
Tech’s AI hangover might just be getting started (WSJ)
A&D-Focused Finance
Shield AI, a defense technology company building the best AI pilot for aircraft, raised $100M in equity and $200M in debt in a Series F round valuing the company at $2.8B, led by Hercules Capital (TC)
Airbus is working on an offer worth up to ~$2B for Atos’s big data and cyber security unit, BDS (FT)
Axelspace raises $44M Series D round for its microsatellite constellation and applications (BW)
Important Reads
Semafor discussed how VC started betting big on defense tech.
Jerry McGinn, an expert in Government Contracting and a former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense, points to lessons learned from buying MRAP vehicles as a model for mobilizing the industrial base.
Former Undersecretary of State Brian Atwood argues that military technology is outpacing our diplomatic capacity.
The news is usually filled with doom and gloom headlines, but this site compiled a list of 177 ways the world got better in 2023.
Lighter Side
Keep building!
Andrew