Weekly News Update: Jul 26, 2024
20 - 26 Jul 2024
Good morning,
I’m on holiday for the next week. Don’t expect too much from me in that time. Keeping my intro short and sweet:
Russia and China are buzzing Alaska in their first document joint air patrol. Leonardo wants more consolidation in the European defense industry. Boeing is still in the news, joining the ranks of several other primes rejecting fixed-price contracts, because why wouldn’t industry want to try and take all the money from the government? Raytheon needs more solid rocket motors (can you help them out Firehawk and X-Bow systems?). And if you recall, I’ve talked a fair amount in the first half of the year about how slow investments were happening in Defense. It does seem to be that they’re picking up pace—but mostly at the growth stage.
Dive in to these and other issues surrounding aerospace and defense technology, while I go dive into the swimming pool.
Weekly News Round Up
Military
U.S. Defense modernization and innovation
Pentagon to test whether counter-drone systems can operate effectively under electronic attack (DS)
Pentagon creates regional partnerships to sustain gear far from home (DN)
DoD’s Arctic strategy seeks new tech to keep pace with adversaries (DN)
Defense Tech Opportunities
Marine Corps seeks ‘buckshot-like’ counter-drone gear (SAM)
Pentagon poised to launch inaugural ‘challenge’ for Global Information Dominance Experiments (DS)
NASA MSFC released an RFI for the SNAPPI program seeking capabilities on space nuclear propulsion technology development (SAM)
Europe, Russia, the Arctic, NATO, and the war in Ukraine
Ukraine’s foreign minister seeking ‘common ground’ with China in talks on ending war with Russia (AP)
China, Korea, and Asia
Russian and Chinese bombers intercepted off of Alaska (ABC)
Austin says Chinese, Russian aircraft near Alaska was first detected joint flight (TH)
NGA buys maritime data to help IndoPacific Command, via first-ever CSO (DS)
Middle East and Africa
Iranian charged by US with illegally funneling dual-use tech to his country (S&S)
Demonstrators stage mass protest against Netanyahu visit and US military aid to Israel (AP)
U.S. Defense Industry News
Bell to remove Spirit AeroSystems as FLRAA fuselage maker due to proposed Boeing acquisition (BD)
No Fixed-Price Contracts: Boeing joins other Primes, says it will shun fixed-price contracts for drone wingmen (DN)
First CCA Prototype could fly next year: General Atomics president (BD)
Honeywell targets unmanned market as interest in drone wingmen grows (BD)
Lockheed launching competition to replace F-35 cooling system (BD)
Maxar debuts never-before-seen shots from its new, next-generation satellites (DS)
Orbital Insight nabs NGA pilot for commercial maritime awareness data (BD)
Raytheon hunting for another US supplier of solid rocket motors (DO)
With SandboxAQ, Army futurists to use AI to build better batteries, find ‘novel alloys’ (BD)
Foreign Defense Industry News
Sixth-Gen Fighter JV to be set in next few months with Leonardo, BAE, and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (BD)
Aussie defense industry minister says Ghost Bat could carry lethal loads (BD)
Boeing and Ukrainian planemaker Antonov explore tie-up on drones (BD)
Dassault says Rafale jet production ramp-up hit by supply chain snags (DN)
Brazil’s Embraer sells 6 A-29 Super Tucano (BD)
Israel’s IAI plugging away at German Arrow-3 order amid Gaza war (DN)
IAI also announces new Air-to-Surface missile, named Wind Demon (BD)
Leonardo CEO says sixth-gen fighter is likely safe from budget cuts (DN)
Exec at Leonardo sees consolidation as path forward for European defense (BD)
Leonardo, Rheinmetall eye three-year rush to field Italy’s new tanks (DN)
Rheinmetall, unbowed by reported Russian plot, announces order for ammo factory in Ukraine (BD)
UK signs $227 million contract with Thales for new Martlet missiles (DN)
Space
SDA acquisition program faces long-term challenges: Aerospace Corp (BD)
Space Force missile warning competition robust despite RTX exit (DN)
Sweden angles to fill a void in NATO’s space plans (DN)
Army moves to expand ‘space control’ planning, ‘interdiction’ capabilities (BD)
Annual global military space spending jumps 18% to $57B in 2023: Space Foundation (BD)
Nuclear Power & Weapons
US says Iran moving forward on a key aspect of developing a nuclear bomb (AP)
North Korea hackers trying to steal nuclear secrets, US and UK warn (BBC)
AI, Robotics, & other Frontier Tech
Pentagon holds toughest drone-defense demo to date (BD)
ULTRA drone flies for days in military test (AX)
OpenAI unveiled SearchGPT to rival Google (WSJ)
GenAI VC investments show no signs of slowing (TC)
A&D-Focused Finance
Geopolitics overtakes inflation as sovereign wealth funds’ top worry (RT)
Satellite communications startup Astranis raised a $200M Series D led by a16z (TC)
H55, a Swiss startup specializing in electric aviation tech, raised a $71M Series C from Quebec (FN)
Star Catcher, a space-based energy grid, raised a $12.25M seed round led by Initialized Capital and B Capital (FN)
Important Reads
Michael Bloomberg argues that the Defense Department has what it needs for modernization, it just needs to do better at adopting and scaling.
Craig Singleton argues that we’re not doing enough to deter China in the South China Sea.
Lighter Side
Keep building!
Andrew