Weekly News Update: July 28, 2023
22 - 28 Jul 2023
Good morning!
What a week!
54 years ago this week, Apollo 11 returned from its mission, marking the first human landing on the moon. July is set to be the hottest month on record, and a new study warns that the Gulf Stream could collapse as early as 2025. Congress held hearings on “unexplained aerial phenomena,” the new term for UFO. Most of the testimony was heavily based on hearsay. Two of the most senior lawmakers both had clear and very public health episodes this week. Elong Musk has rebranded Twitter as “X".” The Federal Reserve announced another 25 bps hike, hoping it will be the last. Investors flee from China to other emerging markets. And, researchers claim to have found a superconductive material at ambient temperatures and pressures, but other researchers are skeptical.
Weekly News Round Up
Military
U.S. Defense modernization and innovation
White House nominates ADM Lisa Franchetti as Chief of Naval Operations (NYT)
… taps Gen David Allvin to be next Air Force Chief of Staff (MT)
… taps State Department official to be Undersecretary of Defense for Policy (MT)
… taps ex-NSA, CIA official to be next National Cyber Director (BD)
Lawmakers grill Pentagon over MyTravel program failure (FdT)
Pentagon gets three assistant secretariats for technology (C4)
Army prototyping phone app to identify drone threats (S&S)
First commercial ships join new program to support military tanker fleet (BD)
A fight is brewing over alternative fuels for submarines (DO)
Air Force begins to release vision for future cargo planes (WSJ)
Air Force general advocates for ‘Judeo-Christian ethics’ in military AI (WP)
Air Force demonstrates new cruise missile dropped from cargo planes (T&P)
Europe, Russia, the Arctic, NATO, and the war in Ukraine
Biden orders U.S. to share evidence of Russian war crimes with int’l court (Pol)
Kremlin critic Boris Kagarlitsky detained for ‘calling for terrorism’ online (EN)
U.S. Officials: Main thrust of Ukraine’s offensive may be underway in south (NYT)
Russia escalates attacks on Ukraine grain routes, strikes Danube port (NYT)
China has secretly sent enough gear to Russia to equip an army (Pol)
White House hosts far-right Italian Premier Meloni for talks (AP)
Baltics announce joint contribution to NATO’s regional defense model (DN)
China, Korea, and Asia
China sends dozens of fighter jets, bombers toward Taiwan (MT)
U.S. SecDef visits Papua New Guinea hoping to boost security ties (AP)
U.S. Senate seeks to boost Taiwan defenses with $1B (DN)
N. Korea’s Kim Jong Un cozies up with Russian Defense Minister, signaling closer ties on military cooperation (AP)
New Zealand seeks to expand military relations with Pacific Island neighbors (BD)
Japan, Italy to conduct joint air drill in Sea of Japan (RT)
Middle East and Africa
Russian jet damaged U.S. drone with flares over Syria (MT)
F-35s arrive in CENTCOM amid threats from Russia, Iran (ASF)
Fighting in Sudan reaches 100-day mark (AlJ)
U.S. Special Forces are training counter-terrorism forces in Niger and other Western Africa countries (NBC)
Niger soldiers declare coup on national TV (BBC)
U.S. sanctions Malian officials over Wagner ties (AlJ)
U.S. Defense Industry News
Sen. Warren blasts defense primes over tax law lobbying (DN)
Anduril, Epirus combine forces to create counter-drone swarm weapon (DO)
Boeing records a quarterly loss of $527M, beats consensus on earnings (BD)
Booz Allen to pay $377M to resolve allegations related to false charges (TH)
The FTC will not block aerospace and defense company L3Harris’ $4.7B acquisition of Aerojet Rocketdyne (RT)
L3Harris, Leidos collaborate on Army’s ATHENA spy jet (C4)
Lockheed wins $6.6B contract from Australia for 20 new C-130 planes (RT)
Microsoft hack could have exposed more than just emails (TH)
Northrop Grumman won’t bid on Air Force’s Next Gen fighter (DN)
Raytheon’s Collins Aerospace will sell the actuation and flight-control business to French company, Safran, in a cash deal worth $1.8B (WSJ)
Southwest Research Institute to provide Electronic Warfare capabilities (EG)
System High wins $50M to destroy classified IT systems (C4)
Foreign Defense Industry News
Australia picks Korea’s Hanwha over Germany’s Rheinmetall for IFV deal (BD)
Canada orders more Airbus A330 tankers, hires firm to conver planes (DN)
EU gives nod to Milrem Robotics’ participation in European defense, following takeover by Emirati Edge Group (C4)
France, Qatar seek defense partnership based on Rafale fighter jets (RT)
Lithuania picks Leopard 2 tank over Abrams, Black Panther (DN)
Poland to buy two early warning aircraft from Saab for $58M (BD)
Singapore takes ownership of its first of four German-built submarines (DN)
Slovenia unveils acquisition plan for transport aircraft, helicopters (DN)
Turkish firms unveil suite of naval weapons at IDEF 2023 (BD)
… as well as air defense and ground systems (DN)
U.K. annual defense spending jumps over $8.5B (BD)
Space
The Space Economy grows to $546B (SF)
The satellite internet industry heats up as rivals set their sights on SpaceX (CBI)
U.S. Marine picked to lead NASA’s next space station mission (MCT)
Pentagon emphasizes ‘responsible’ options for countering space weapons (ASF)
Concerns grow over National Security Space Launch plans to use 3 providers (BD)
Draft commercial space ‘reserve’ plan allows DoD ‘exclusive access’ to services during conflict (BD)
Russia wants joint-BRICS space station research module (CNN)
Kleos Space files for bankruptcy (SN)
NASA power outage temporarily halts contact with space station (AP)
Space logistics startup Impulse Space raised a $45M Series A led by RTX Ventures (TC)
Constellr, a German startup that uses satellite imaging to track vegetation and soil health, has secured €17 million in a seed round led by Karista (SN)
In-situ testing solutions startup Space DOTS raised a $1.5M pre-seed round led by Boost VC, Sie Ventures, 7Percent Ventures, and more (FN)
Nuclear Power & Weapons
NASA, DARPA select Lockheed, BWXT for DRACO’s nuke-powered spacecraft worth $500M (C4)
“Octopus” Molecules offer potential solution ton nuclear waste (ScTD)
Russia has planted mines in Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, again (RT)
Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, Energy, and other cool tech
Korean scientists claim first room-temperature superconductor (PW)
New superconductivity claims overshadowed by retractions and allegations (NYT)
Google, Meta, other tech companies agree on Biden’s AI safeguards (C4)
Amazon has drawn thousands to try its AI service, competing with Microsoft, Google (RT)
Amazon will infuse Alexa with AI (AX)
Generative AI tool for writing bids and pitches AutogenAI raised $22.3M led by Blossom Capital (TC)
Blue Laser Fusion, a laser fusion technology company, raised a $25M seed round led by JAFCO Group and SPARX Group (FN)
Important Reads
Mario Gabriele covered a collection of startups that are implementing AI in interesting ways.
Lighter Side
The Eagle Nebula with X-ray Hot Stars | Image Credit: X-ray: Chandra: NASA/CXC/SAO, XMM: ESA/XMM-Newton; IR: JWST: NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI, Spitzer: NASA/JPL/CalTech; Visible: Hubble: NASA/ESA/STScI, ESO; Image Processing: L. Frattare, J. Major, N. Wolk, and K. Arcand
Keep building!
Andrew