Weekly News Update: June 30, 2023
24 - 30 Jun 2023
Good morning!
The world reeled this week from the excitement over last weekend. The loss of the Titan submersible, the Wagner Group rebellion, the upcoming Musk-Zuckerberg cage match, and more overloaded our ability to process news. After that, this week felt almost cathartic, despite plenty of activity still occurring. Russian president Putin has begun consolidating power through purges and other mechanisms. Wagner Group’s move to Belarus has our Eastern European allies on edge. Competition between the U.S. and China continues to ratchet up with the U.S. threatening to curb exports of even more AI tech and China threatening war on the Philippines. And there’s much to do in space.
Read more below.
Weekly News Round Up
Military
Europe, Russia, the Arctic, NATO, and the war in Ukraine
After failed mutiny, Wagner Group still recruiting (BBC)
Wagner Group appears to be building a camp in Belarus (NYT)
Russia begins Stalinesque purge following coup attempt (MT)
Putin moves to seize control of Wagner’s global empire (WSJ)
U.S. mulls providing ATACMS missiles to Ukraine (WSJ)
U.S. nuclear sub visits Faroe Islands amid under seas tensions with Russia (NT)
NATO members tentatively agree to extending Stoltenberg as Secretary General for one year (MT)
Serbia-Kosovo fuels fears of escalation in already tense Europe (TH)
China, Korea, and Asia
DoD: Chinese spy balloon did not collect, transmit data over U.S. (MT)
… but it was equipped with U.S. tech (WSJ)
China to Philippines: you’ll be a target if you host American bases (S&S)
Taiwan: 11 Chinese aircraft crossed median line of Taiwan Strait on Friday morning (RT)
Middle East and Africa
ICG: U.S. approach in Somalia too militaristic (S&S)
U.S. Defense modernization and innovation
Pentagon mulls new defense of critical infrastructure plan (BD)
New study: U.S. needs counter space weapons for space superiority (ASF)
Researchers explore threat EVs pose to military bases (MT)
T-7 Red Hawk trainer jet takes its first flight (AFT)
New study: USAF needs big cash infusion to stave off fighter fleet collapse (ASF)
Air Force studies using drones, AI to conduct aircraft inspections (DN)
Army’s Project Linchpin seeks to simplify AI for intelligence (DO)
Mark Kitz to take over Army’s battlefield communications office (C4)
Marines seek to add drones to their amphib ships, to prove value (C4)
U.S. Defense Industry News
VCs, Tech firms beg Defense Secretary to accelerate innovation (BD)
State Dept clears $15B sale of missile defense system to Poland (DN)
… clears $440M in sales to Taiwan (RT)
… approves $5.6B sale of F-35s aircraft to Czechia (RT)
Pentagon pushes pause on F-35 deliveries to USAF (DO)
Anduril acquires solid rocket maker Adranos (DN)
GD Land Systems and American Rheinmettall move forward in Bradley replacement program (DN)
GM Defense, Cummings win DIU Stable Tactical Expeditionary Electric Power program award (BD)
HII gets an extra $400M and an extra year to build USS Kennedy aircraft carrier (TME)
Lockheed wins Army long-range jammer contract (C4)
Garciga picked to be new Army Chief Information Officer (C4)
Raytheon restarts Stinger missile production (DO)
Raytheon wins $625M to harden SatCom terminals against nuclear attacks (SN)
The Spaceport Company wins $1.5M from the DoD to build mobile space launch capabilities (SN)
Foreign Defense Industry News
Greece picks Safran’s Patroller drones as French industry ties deepen (C4)
Rheinmetall partners with Lockheed, develops European version of HIMARS (DN)
Israeli firm Smartshooter unveils remote weapons station-radar combo to hunt drones (BD)
Korean air delivers first fuselage to Boeing for AH-6 helicopters (DN)
Space
U.S. Space Force general: Prepare for space conflict (BD)
New U.K. military cell to partner with U.S. Space Force for space domain awareness (BD)
King Charles unveils the Astra Carta for space sustainability (SPO)
Virgin Galactic completes first commercial rocket plane flight to space (RT)
NASA plans large-scale lunar regolith mining by 2032 (RT)
NASA’s Mars Sample Return has a new price tag—and it’s colossal (AT)
NASA is building an AI assistant for astronauts (THBL)
SpaceX will use hot-staging, igniting the upper stage before separation, on next Starship launch (NBF)
First Vulcan launch further delayed for Centaur modifications (SN)
SpaceX is offering to sell $750M of insider shares at a $150B valuation (BBG)
In-space propulsion solution provider Agile Space Industries raised a $13M seed round led by Caruso Ventures (FN)
Continuum Space Systems, a unified space mission management company, raised a $3M seed round led by Prophetic Capital Partners (FN)
Nuclear Power & Weapons
U.S. Gov’t considers nuclear micro reactors for Guam energy (S&S)
Russia reducing personnel at Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant (RT)
Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, Energy, and other cool tech
U.S. to spend $42B to make internet access universal by 2030 (RT)
The US in considering new restrictions on AI chip exports to China (WSJ)
130 countries representing 98% of the global economy are exploring digital versions of their currencies (RT)
ChatGPT creator OpenAI sued for theft of private data in ‘AI Arms Race’ (BBG)
Tesla charging technology put on fast track to become US standard (RT)
Celestial AI, a startup developing photonics-based tech for data transfer, raised a $100M Series B led by IAG Capital Partners, Koch Disruptive Technologies, and Xora Innovation Fund (TC)
Thyssenkrupp and Industrie De Nora are looking to raise $617M in a $2.94B IPO of their hydrogen joint venture Nucera, which is below the forecasted $3B+ valuation (RT)
Warp, a startup providing a ‘Rust-based terminal with AI’, raised a $50M Series B led by Sequoia Capital, GV, and more (FN)
Contoro Robotics, a startup augmenting robot intelligence with AI, raised a $4.7M seed round led by SV Investment (PRN)
Important Reads
Noah Smith pushed back against the idea that “the West is failing” in a recent newsletter.
Pennsylvania’s incredible 12-day rebuild of I-95 could provide a model for how America can start building again, according to Packy McCormick.
Lighter Side
Orbits of Potentially Hazardous Asteroids (Illustration Credit: NASA, JPL-Caltech)
Keep building!
Andrew