Weekly News Update: Jul 12, 2024
6 - 12 Jul 2024
Good morning,
The dog-days of summer are here, and boy is it hot. I’m melting (figuratively) here in the mid-Atlantic, and I’ve seen people posting pictures of their shades melting (literally) in the American Southwest. But as hot as the temperatures are, it’s even hotter in Defense Tech!
TechCrunch says investment into the sector has hit $35B, Pitchbook says a surge is on the way. There’s been more than $1.6Bn raised by funds announced this week, and we’ve seen some massive rounds for startups—led by Helsing’s $488M Series C.
NATO leaders are in Washington for the summit, where President Putin, er I mean President Zelenskyy, was introduced by POTUS. Germany has announced new military aid to Ukraine, and Russia has attempted to assassinate the CEO of Rheinmetall.
The Silicon Valley Defense Group released its annual NatSec 100 list of the most important VC-backed startups in defense and dual-use. They also found that these startups are still struggling to win government contracts in any meaningful way—and most of the startup-won contracts are going to SpaceX.
If you’re reading Building our Defense, then you’re smart. So you likely already know that the term “dog days of summer” comes from an Ancient Roman belief that the dog-star Sirius was closer to the earth and contributed its heat to us during the summer. I’m ready for autumn.
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
Defense Innovation Unit should expand across US, lawmakers say (C4)
ACC chief expects sixth-gen NGAD jet selection this year (BD)
Defense Tech Opportunities
NATO DIANA issues five new challenges in the areas: Energy & Power, Data & Information Security, Sensing & Surveillance, Human Health & Performance, and Critical Infrastructure & Logistics (NATO)
DARPA released an updated Advanced Research Concepts (ARC) program solicitation seeking high risk/reward ideas (SAM)
Army RCCTO is seeking white papers on directed energy capabilities (SAM)
Europe, Russia, the Arctic, NATO, and the war in Ukraine
Hicks urges NATO to grow industrial capacity, adopt Replicator-like systems (DS)
US to send Tomahawks, hypersonics, other long-range fires to Germany (DN)
Ukraine’s seaborne success an ‘arbiter’ of future naval warfare: NATO SACEUR (BD)
Russian oligarchs pocket $11Bn dividends on war economy boom (BBG)
High-tech American weapons work against Russia-until they don’t (WSJ)
NATO eyes new tech pursuits with IndoPacific partners at DC summit (DS)
NATO tests counter-drone playbook amid real-life jamming in Romania (DN)
Saudi Arabia threatened to sell French debt if G7 seized Russian assets (BBG)
China, Korea, and Asia
Chinese military ships spotted near Alaska's Aleutian islands (NBC)
To counter China, NATO and its Asian partners are moving closer under US leadership (AP)
Middle East and Africa
A suspected attack by Yemen’s Houthi rebels targets a ship transiting the Bab al-Mandeb Strait (AP)
Support for Israeli military campaign in Gaza ticks up in US (TH)
Iran encourages Gaza war protests in US to stoke outrage and distrust, intelligence chief says (AP)
Reformist Pezeshkian beats hard-liner to win Iran presidential election, promising outreach to West (AP)
U.S. Defense Industry News
Silicon Valley wins few government contracts (WSJ)
Australia buys loitering munitions from AeroVironment (DN)
AWS wins $2BN AUD to build top secret Aussie cloud (BD)
SSC awarded Blue Origin and Stoke Space contracts for rapid launch services worth a combined $190M+ (VS)
Boeing accepts a plea deal to avoid a criminal trial over 737 Max crashes (AP )
Northrop Grumman finalizes deal to coproduce ammo in Ukraine (BD)
NATO agency places $700M order for Stinger anti-aircraft missiles from RTX (RT)
Scout Space nabs DARPA deal to simulate autonomous satellite swarming (BD)
Foreign Defense Industry News
Canada commits to buying 12 new conventionally-powered, under-the-ice submarines (BD)
Airbus was awarded a €2.1B ($2.27B) SATCOMBw3 prime contract by Germany’s armed forces to create a secure military satellite system (SW)
Germany to help procure drones for Ukraine, Pistorius says (DN)
Germany says it won't be cowed by Russia after reported plot to kill Rheinmetall CEO (RT)
Japan reveals test launch of its hypersonic strike missile program (DN)
Saab awarded $123 million air defense order from Lithuania (BD)
Romania buying $1B in K9 and K10 artillery systems from Hanwha (BD)
Saudi Arabia orders 4 more A330MRTT aircraft from Airbus (BD)
South Korea to deploy laser weapons to intercept North Korean drones (C4)
Space
NATO plans first commercial space strategy to spur tech innovation (BD)
Ariane 6 launch returns in-house space access to Europe’s armed forces (DN)
Sweden inks first military space strategy, looks to bolster role in global space race (BD)
Astronauts say Boeing space capsule can safely return them to Earth (AP)
Turkey launches first mostly indigenous comms satellite, could appeal to Gulf amid space push (BD)
Russia wants 2,600 satellites in orbit by 2036 (DN)
Chinese commercial rocket firm iSpace suffers 4th launch failure (SN)
Nuclear Power & Weapons
Pentagon keeps commitment to Sentinel nuclear missile as costs balloon to $214M per missile (DN)
Putin sees no need for nuclear weapons to win in Ukraine, but keeps his options open (AP)
Nuclear energy stocks are rallying only second to AI amid AI energy demand (RT)
UN demands Russia immediately return Europe’s biggest nuclear plant to Ukraine (AP)
AI, Robotics, & other Frontier Tech
NATO updates AI strategy for the age of ChatGPT (BD)
Defense Innovation Unit project makes supercomputers more accessible (C4)
A US agency focused on foreign disinformation could shut down after the election (DO)
Marines release new AI strategy (DS)
VC firm a16z is hoarding Nvidia chips in effort to win AI VC deals (TI)
China is leading the world in GenAI adoption (RT)
A&D-Focused Finance
More ex-military officials are becoming VCs as defense tech investment reached $35B (TC)
AE Industrial Partners closed its third flagship PE fund at ~$1.3B (BW)
Space VC Alpine Space Ventures closed its debut fund at $184M (TC)
J2 Ventures, a veteran-led VC focused on military healthcare, closed its second fund at $150M (TC)
Defense AI startup Helsing raised a $488M Series C led by General Catalyst (TC)
AI robotics startup Skild AI raised a $300M Series A at a $1.5B valuation led by Lightspeed, Coatue, SoftBank, and Bezos Expeditions (BW)
X-Bow Systems, a producer of advanced manufactured SRMs and hypersonics technologies, raised a $70M+ Series B led by Razor's Edge (PRN)
PE firm Platinum Equity agreed to acquire Canadian aerospace manufacturer Héroux-Devtek for ~$1B, including debt (BBG)
PE firm Arcline is in advanced talks to acquire a unit of RTX's Collins Aerospace division for ~$500M (BBG)
Vista Outdoor rejected investment firm MNC Capital's final buyout offer of $3.2B while agreeing to sell its ammunition unit to Czechoslovak Group for ~$2B (RT)
Important Reads
Pitchbook’s analysts find VC defense-tech dealmaking is holding its ground, and may mount a surge.
The Silicon Valley Defense Group has released its NatSec 100 list of the leading VC-backed defense tech and dual-use firms.
ICYMI: we dissected the most important things that policymakers, military leaders, and industry (Primes + VC-backed tech companies) need to do to prepare for the Hellscape proposed to defend Taiwan from a Chinese invasion.
Lighter Side
Keep building!
Andrew