Weekly News Update: Mar 29, 2024

23 - 29 Mar 2024

Mar 29, 2024

Good morning,

Despite overwhelming evidence, including prior warnings from the US intelligence community of Islamic State terrorist threat and the terrorist group claiming it, Russia tries to link spectacular attack against a Moscow concert hall to Ukraine. For its part, Ukraine seems content to continue sinking Russian warships in the Black Sea.

Uncrewed systems continue to dominate the defense technology landscape, with the US military continuing to invest heavily in the sector. Additionally, the Pentagon continues work to build out and secure the defense industrial base.

Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea continue to build closer ties, underscoring a growing divide between autocracies and classically liberal democratic regimes. China continues to bully its neighbors, particularly the Philippines as it appears to be continuing to build its capabilities to attack and seize Taiwan, including building a mock-up of the island nation’s capital in a Chinese desert for rehearsals.

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

Most Americans believe world war likely in 5-10 years (TH)
DIU launches first AUKUS prize challenge focused on electromagnetics (BD)
Classified tech, LongShot drone lead R&E unfunded list (BD)
Report: US must establish independent military cyber service to fix ‘alarming’ problems (DS)
Undersecretary of Defense for Policy and Building our Defense subscriber, Ms. Alexandra “Sasha” Baker to step down this spring (DN)
Pentagon lays out defense industrial base cybersecurity strategy (DN)
Study: Army artillery needs more range, mobility, and autonomy (DN)
Army’s fresh look at watercraft includes unmanned options (DN)
Army’s new all-domain sensing team to wrangle sensor architecture (DN)
Army leaning into launched effects for modernized battlefield (DN)
CNO Franchetti focused on growing industrial base (USNI)
Navy preps hypersonic weapon test this spring (DN)

Defense Tech Opportunities

SDA is seeking studies on using orbital tugs for defunct satellites (SAM)
NRO released their FY25 Directors Innovation Initiative BAA focused on cutting edge R&D technologies (NRO)
DARPA intends to establish ‘blanket purchase agreements’ with commercial accelerators to that can connect the agency to developing technology (SAM)
DIU is leading a prize challenge with AUKUS Pillar II seeking electromagnetic targeting solutions (DIU)

Europe, Russia, the Arctic, NATO, and the war in Ukraine

Attack drones at heart of ‘military partnership’ between Russia, Iran (DN)
Islamic State of Khorasan attacks Moscow theater; Russia blames Ukraine (AP)
Death toll in the Moscow concert hall attack rises to 143, while 80 others remain hospitalized (AP)
Ukraine ramps up spending on homemade weapons to help repel Russia (C4)
Poland demands explanation from Russia after a missile enters its airspace during attack on Ukraine (AP)
Ukraine sea drones strike four Russian ships in Black Sea (FRB)
Washington approves $228 million in US military aid to the three Baltic states (AP)
Russian oil shortages force the country to import from Belarus (RT)

China, Korea, and Asia

China built a mock-up of Taiwan's government facilities at a desert training site, satellite images show (BI)
New US sanctions target North Korean military finances (RT)
House speaker picks China panel leader to replace Gallagher (DN)
US, Japan plan biggest upgrade of security pact in 60 years (FT)
More Chinese companies to be added to US import ban list (WSJ)
China banned Intel and AMD chips in government computers (FT)
Congress approves $300M for Taiwan aid, $4B package remains stalled (FdT)
Taiwan's navy chief to visit U.S. next week (RT)

Middle East and Africa

Israel agrees to reschedule delegation to discuss Rafah operation (TH)
Gallup: Majority of Americans now oppose Israeli action in Gaza (AX)
Boko Haram kills 7 soldiers in explosion in Chad (AP)

U.S. Defense Industry News

Boeing CEO to step down amid larger leadership shakeup (NYT)
Air Force selects Lockheed Martin to build radars for combat training (S&S)
Army inks Iron Fist buy from Elbit Systems for Bradley fleet, after years of budget delays (BD)
BAE demos platform that gives Army AMPVs turret system options (DN)
BAE Systems secures $318M contract for support of Army’s M109 guns (DB)
Navy buys 17 Super Hornets in $1.1B deal with Boeing (USNI)
Amid faltering domestic program, Taiwan orders more MQ-9B drones From General Atomics (DN)
Hermeus unveils Quarterhorse drone as company moves towards hypersonic flight (BD)
In Orbit won a $1.8M AFWERX contract to develop a new spacecraft docking system (SN)
Katalyst joins DARPA to demonstrate the upgrade economy in orbit (PL)
Air Force to add 5 new Compass Call electronic attack aircraft in 2025, in boost to L3Harris, BAE, and Gulfstream (MT)
Lockheed secures $440M modification contract for F-35 logistics and support (YF)
Northrop passes the buck, blames Sentinel cost overruns on Air Force as test flight is delayed 2 more years (TH)
Orbit Fab ships first satellite refueling ports to Space Force (C4)
Saab to expand US footprint with new munitions facility (DN)
Pentagon inks dozens of cloud contract orders from the likes of Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Oracle (C4)

Foreign Defense Industry News

UK lawmakers, defense chief clash over looming defense spending cuts (DN)
UK’s Evolve Dynamics supports Ukrainian armed forces in drone tech race (RT)
Canada’s ban on Israeli arms sales baffles industry (DN)
Eurodrone program bags $108M in fresh EU subsidies (C4)
GMV wins $85M from ESA for precision navigation and timing (PNT) constellation (VS)
Patria, Kongsberg team up to fasten weapons on Nordic troop rides (DN)
French defense minister attacks industry over production rates, threatens requisitioning (BD)
France will soon deliver 78 howitzers to Ukraine (AP)
Sevmash completes upgrades to build Russia’s next-gen nuclear subs (DN)
Pakistan unveils aircraft and rocket programs, parades military tech (DN)
Pakistan may have bought a Chinese spy ship (DN)
Taiwan commissions 2 new navy ships as safeguards against China (AP)

Space Force to upgrade sensors for in-orbit testing, training (C4)
Advancing in space, China poses growing threat, USSF leaders warn (ASF)
Experiments show that life could exist on Venus (Sp)

Nuclear Power & Weapons

United Kingdom reveals ‘sovereign’ nuclear warhead name: Astraea (BD)
DoE continues to advance studies in plasma fusion (PHYS)

AI, Robotics, & other Frontier Tech

OMB issues guidance: every federal agency must hire a chief AI officer (TV)
Pentagon tested generative AI to draft supply plans in wargame (BD)
US joins Austria, Bahrain, Canada, & Portugal to co-lead global push for safer military AI (BD)
Israel’s Axon Vision CEO talks AI in ground combat in Gaza (BD)
There may be a new king of large language models, Claude-3 (AT)
AI startup Anthropic received a $2.75B investment from Amazon, bringing Amazon's stake to $4B (WSJ)

A&D-Focused Finance

Matter Venture Partners raises $300M first fund to invest in hard tech (TC)
TurbineOne, a govtech startup simplifying ML, raised a $15M Series A led by Bessemer Venture Partners (BW)
Military infrastructure startup Picogrid raised a $12M seed round led by Initialized Capital (TC)
Ingersoll Rand agrees to buy space tech company ILC Dover for $2.3Bn (SN)
French builder Vinci and Spain’s state-controlled airport manager Aena SMEare competing to acquire Edinburgh Airport from Global Infrastructure Partners, which is seeking over $3.8B (BBG)
Honeywell International agreed to buy Italian aircraft component developer Civitanavi Systems for an equity value of $217M (BBG)

Important Reads

We discussed one of the bureaucratic barriers to widespread adoption of attritable mass, as well as how to overcome it, earlier this week
WSJ published interesting insights into the problematic growth of US’s $27T Treasury debt.
Tabby Kinder offers a profile of Palmer Luckey, as his leading Defense Tech company Anduril looks to achieve $1B in annual revenue by 2026.