Weekly News Update: July 14, 2023
8 - 14 Jul 2023
Good morning!
After spending four hours building this, SubStack deleted 2/3rds of the work. I have tried to recreate it, but some news could be missing. Some of the highlights from this week include:
The NDAA stalls as Democratic lawmakers abandon support over Republican push anti-abortion and anti-transgender riders. Other GOP lawmakers seek to end Ukraine support through the NDAA. Russian president Putin claims he met with Wagner Group head Prigozhin days after the mutiny. Others call BS and say Prigozhin is likely dead already. NATO confirmed that there is no short-cut for Ukraine to membership. Amid signals that Turkey will stop blocking Sweden’s membership, Turkish autocrat Erdogan states that he’ll continue to slow-roll their application. Lots of changes in U.S. military leadership remain pending senate confirmation. China seems to have hacked the U.S. Government. And lots of rockets unexpectedly and rapidly disassembled (Muskism for exploded) during tests this week.
Read more below.
Weekly News Round Up
Military
Europe, Russia, the Arctic, NATO, and the war in Ukraine
Russian general in southern Ukraine relieved for advocating for troops (MT)
Enemies duel with drones as Ukraine faces dug-in Russian forces (WP)
Pentagon confirms arrival of cluster munitions to Ukraine (TH)
No clear path, no fast track for Ukraine to gain NATO membership (MT)
France sends long-range missiles to Ukraine (DO)
Wagner Group returns tanks, missiles, weapons, ammo to Russia (WP)
Putin may have hosted Wagner Group boss Prigozhen days after rebellion (MT)
U.S. far-right republicans seek to cut Ukraine support (NYT)
U.S. agrees to F-16s for Turkey to get Sweden in NATO, Greece wants F-35s (WP)
Even after deal, Erdogan will turk-up Sweden’s NATO process for 3 months (BD)
Japan and NATO agree on new partnership program at Vilnius summit (RT)
NATO announces investment team managing $1.1B deep tech fund (NATO)
China, Korea, and Asia
U.S. Military chief praises Japan’s defense funding boost as a buttress against China and N. Korea (AP)
Germany sends troops to Australia in a first amid shifting focus (RT)
Bombers surge in the Pacific: B-52s arrive in Guam, B-1s in Japan (ASF)
China conducts massive three-day military drill near Taiwan (MT)
… increases tensions in Taiwan (CNN)
N. Korea test fires its first ICBM in three months (MT)
China hacks U.S. Government through Microsoft Cloud (FT)
Middle East and Africa
South Africa deploys army over burning of trucks, braces for unrest over ex-president’s court case (AP)
Sudan’s neighbors meet in Cairo to try and end Sudan conflict (AP)
Russian fighter jets harass U.S. drones over Syria, again (MT)
U.S. Defense modernization and innovation
Pentagon Deputy Chief Digital and AI Officer skeptical of need for centralized AI acquisition plan (BD)
USAF General Haugh tapped to lead CYBERCOM and NSA (C4)
USAF Chief of Staff: Military is losing its electronic warfare muscle memory (C4)
Biden nominates George as next Army chief of staff (AT)
… Mingus as next Army vice chief of staff (DN)
U.S. Army takes out one-way attack drones in desert demonstration (DN)
White House stays mum on Navy chief nominee (USNI)
Defense Innovation Unit joins Navy’s hunt for a new large undersea drone (BD)
Biden nominates Space Force’s Whiting to lead U.S. Space Command (C4)
U.S. Defense Industry News
Senators look to block L3Harris-Aerojet deal (DN)
Albion River, a private investment firm focused on defense products and services, raised $400M in equity for its new investment vehicle (BW)
Three of four planned ACV variants rolling down BAE’s production line (DN)
PE firms Blackstone and Veritas are competing against large defense companies such as BAE Systems, General Dynamics, and Textron for Ball Corp’s aerospace business, which may be worth over $5B (RT)
Drone startup Darkhive wins $5M from for USAF autonomy software (EN)
HawkEye 360, a company that provides geospatial intelligence from space, raised a $58M round led by BlackRock (TC)
“Turbine ‘fatigue’ issue forced F-22 engine retrofit,” USAF, Pratt & Whitney (BD)
Sikorsky resurrects ‘flying wing’ drone concept for Pentagon program (S&S)
Foreign Defense Industry News
U.S. paying contractor to supply Bulgarian 155mm shells to Ukraine (DO)
BAE Systems launches FalconWorks innovation division (BD)
BAE Systems wins order for munitions as UK rebuilds stocks (DN)
European arms vendors concerned that Ukraine is eating all the ammo (DN)
French defense giant Thales is in exclusive talks to buy aerospace supplier Cobham Aerospace Communications for $1.1B (RT)
France, Germany seek to energize next-gen tank project (DN)
Germany approves $769M weapons package for Ukraine, clears huge Boxer deal with Australia (BD)
Italy to buy Leopard combat tanks, upgrade Arietes (DN)
Slovenia eyes purchase of German IRIS-T air defense system (DN)
India gives initial okay to buy French jets, submarines (RT)
Elbit announces $114M sale of patrol aircraft in Asia (DN)
Space
India launches Chandrayaan-3 lander toward moon’s south pole (RT)
JAXA Epsilon S rocket explodes during testing, no injuries reported (RT)
Blue Origin BE-4 rocket explodes during testing (CNBC)
ULA delays first Vulcan flight to end of year (C4)
Already overvalued, SpaceX closes in on a $150B valuation (CNBC)
U.S. Congress looks to keep NASA budget flat threatening Mars return (SPO)
U.S. Congress asks why Space Force plans cut missile warning satellites (C4)
U.S. Space Force wants ‘Foo Fighter’ satellites to track hypersonic missiles (Sp)
Largest nuclear fusion rocket engine begins construction (SA)
Defense Innovation Unit teams with companies on spaced-based internet (C4)
China plans to send two rockets for crewed moon landing (RT)
Chinese startup LandSpace claims win in methalox race to orbit (NSF)
Nuclear Power & Weapons
Sam Altman to take nuclear energy startup public for $500M (FT)
The U.S. may soon get its first new source of nuclear fuel in 70 years (CM)
Nuclear safety staffing in the U.S. is in crisis (BAS)
Pakistan launches $3.5B Chinese-designed nuclear energy project (SCMP)
Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, Energy, and other cool tech
U.S. Senators receive classified AI briefing (TH)
Meta to release commercial AI model in effort to catch rivals (FT)
FTC is investigating ChatGPT over unfair/deceptive practices (WSJ)
Google announced numerous updates to Bard in race versus ChatGPT (WSJ)
After fearmongering over AI, Elon Musk launches new AI company (RT)
Bedrock, an autonomous underwater vehicle startup, raised a $25.5M Series A co-led by Northzone and Primary Venture Partners (TC)
Important Reads
Kyla Scanlon wrote an excellent piece on how Gen-Z looks at job satisfaction.
Lighter Side
Webb's Rho Ophiuchi (Image Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Klaus Pontoppidan (STScI), Processing: Alyssa Pagan (STScI))
Data is beautiful. This graph, however, is just awful.
Keep building!
Andrew