Weekly News Update: May 3, 2024
27 Apr - 3 May 2024
Good morning,
Congress has realized that the Air Force made a colossal mistake terminating the Defense Ventures Program (of which I’m an alumnus). It’s likely too late for them to turn the money and program back on. Instead, it will have to recreate a program that is similar. This only serves to further the gulf between DC and Silicon Valley.
The Pentagon is pushing hard on its efforts to rebuild the defense industrial base (DIB), but Congressman Wittman thinks it will take too long based on authorization and appropriation cycles. It’s worth noting that Wittman is one of the two founders of a congressional caucus focused on defense modernization, along with Building our Defense friend and subscriber, Rep Pat Ryan (D-NY). There’s a massive opportunity for a private company to jump start the work on rebuilding the DIB, leveraging modern technologies. Reach out directly to me if you are interested in supporting such a company.
While on the topic of rebuilding the industrial base, Designing America will be hosting the REINDUSTRIALIZE 2024 summit in June. If you haven’t requested an invite or offered to sponsor, time is running out! Join 500+ of the brightest minds at the intersection of technology and manufacturing for the two day summit. I’ll be there and I hope to see you as well!
Lastly, for companies building technologies for defense and dual-use applications, there’s some good news. So far in 2024, VC firms have raised over $1-billion in funds to deploy into defense and dual-use companies. What’s more, our friends at General Catalyst are nearing a close on a $6-billion fund which while not focused solely on defense, will include defense technology investments.
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
House lawmaker hopes to resuscitate DoD’s venture fellowship program (BD)
Congressman Wittman (R-VA) warns of ‘wasting a year’ with Pentagon’s industrial strategy (DN)
Defense Innovation Unit moves to ease commercial drone certifications (C4)
US needs better coordination, cheaper ways to counter drones: Officials (ASF)
Air Force cuts order of Grey Wolf helicopters, will keep Hueys longer (DN)
Allvin reveals details about Air Force’s new Integrated Capability Command (ASF)
Kendall: Air Force expects 100 CCA operational aircraft in next five years (ASF)
Army plans consolidation roadmap for loitering munitions and small drones (BD)
Boxer deployment delay highlights aging naval fleet, lack of repair capacity (DN)
Marine Corps opens new center to more rapidly get tech to operators (DN)
Marines test mixed reality ‘telemaintenance’ for battlefield repairs (MCT)
Marines’ tech chief unveils latest network, command-and-control effort (C4)
Defense Tech Opportunities
AFRL released an open BAA seeking next generation distributed AI-based command and control capabilities (SAM)
SSC released an RFI for space-based environmental monitoring capabilities (SAM)
Europe, Russia, the Arctic, NATO, and the war in Ukraine
Ukrainian Drone Attack Sets Major Russian Oil Refinery on Fire (BBG)
China firms go 'underground' on Russia payments as banks pull back (RT)
Russian electronic warfare systems foil another US precision-guided weapon (DO)
China, Korea, and Asia
China’s Huawei is secretly funding US research (BBG)
Chinese Aircraft Carrier Fujian Leaves for First Set of Sea Trials (USNI)
Chinese Spy Ships Stalk U.S., Philippine and French Warships in South China Sea (USNI)
Japan, US, Australia eye deal to promote defense R&D (S&S)
US, Japan to jointly develop interceptor to stop hypersonic glide-type missiles (AM)
S. Korea considers desire to join AUKUS tech-sharing deal (AP)
Middle East and Africa
Portuguese-flagged ship is hit far in Arabian Sea, raising concerns over Houthi rebel capabilities (AP)
US says it will return to Chad for talks to keep troops in the country (AP)
U.S. Defense Industry News
Astrobotic won $1.5M from two NASA SBIR contracts to advance its LiDAR tech (AB)
L3Harris lobbying DoD to create ‘resilience’ standard for communications (BD)
Boeing subsidiary Millennium wins $414M ‘FOO Fighter’ contract for SDA missile tracking (C4)
Another Boeing-involved whistleblower died (ST)
Flight Works signed a $5.7M AFRL contract to create a green refuelable ASCENT-based propulsion unit (FW)
Gravitics won a $1.7M SpaceWERX SBIR contract to create modules to use on commercial space stations (SN)
Ukraine comms struggles spur European hunger for L3Harris radios (DN)
Lynk Global signed a Defense Information Systems Agency contract to provide satellite-to-cell services to various US agencies (VS)
DARPA tests Northrop Grumman’s massive Manta Ray undersea drone (DS)
Parsons, Rafael team up on competition to defend Marine bases from small drones (BD)
Raytheon picks Spain’s Sener to make Patriot interceptor parts (DN)
Beleaguered startup Rebellion Defense scores target recognition deal with US Navy (TDP)
RTX gets new chief executive, deemphasizes space business (BD)
Sierra Nevada wins $13B contract to build Air Force ‘doomsday plane’ (DN)
Foreign Defense Industry News
Australia plans to double its navy fleet, can it? (DO)
China launches Pakistan’s Hangor submarine, despite engine row with Germany (DN)
France offers to buy strategic assets from struggling IT firm Atos (DN)
Japan hastens pursuit of unmanned ground vehicles for its military (C4)
Italy, France target land warfare in new industry partnership deal (DN)
Norway to add millions more to historic increase in defense spending announced last month (AP)
South Korea plans $4B in new weapons investments, including $583M of SM-3s (BD)
Switzerland seeks bids for medium range air defense systems (TDP)
Hensoldt UK to build radar tech for Britain’s new naval supply ships (DN)
UAE courts China for J-20 fighters as US snubs request for F-35s (DN)
Space
Space acquisitions chief wants more authority to blacklist contractors (C4)
Chinese satellites are breaking the US 'monopoly' on long-range targeting (DO)
China launches Chang'e 6 lunar probe, revving up space race with US (NBC)
Nuclear Power & Weapons
New US sanctions against Russia target weapons development, ban uranium imports for nuclear power (AP)
Russian space nuke could render low-Earth orbit unusable for a year (DO)
US official urges China, Russia to declare only humans, not AI, control nuclear weapons (RT)
US wary of China plans for floating nuclear power plans (WP)
Japan eyes high-level talks on U.S. nuclear umbrella: defense minister (NK)
AI, Robotics, & other Frontier Tech
AMD, Super Micro tumble as AI earnings fall short (RT)
AI fuels cloud computing boom for tech giants (RT)
A&D-Focused Finance
General Catalyst is close to raising $6B to invest in tech start-ups including defense and dual-use companies (FT)
Luxembourg-based satellite company SES announces agreement to buy Intelsat for $3.1Bn to compete with Starlink (BD)
Carlyle is working with JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley for a potential IPO or sale of aircraft maintenance services provider StandardAero at a ~$10B valuation, including debt (BBG)
Boeing raised $10B through a six-part bond sale that attracted $77B of orders (BBG)
French night-vision technology company Exosens is planning a Paris IPO potentially this month that could raise $322M-$429M (BBG)
Lockheed has rescinded its offer to buy Terran Orbital in an all-cash deal (SEC)
Godspeed Capital-Backed Special Aerospace Services Acquires Willbrook Solutions (WT)
Electric boat startup X Shore raised an $9.1M round from major existing shareholders (EU)
Danti’s natural language search engine for Earth data soars with $5M in new funding (TC)
Important Reads
Building our Defense’s good friend Shyam Sankar of Palantir and First Breakfast explains how and why making the defense primes more valuable is a good thing.
Business Insider released a list of the top 26 VCs in DefenseTech. Congratulations to the many subscribers and friends of Building our Defense that are on the list!
We put together a report of the state of DefenseTech funding so far in 2024. VCs are massing funds but haven’t turned on the spigots for deploying the capital, yet.
Lighter Side
Keep building!
Andrew