Weekly News Update: Oct 27, 2023
20 - 27 Oct 2023
Good morning,
After weeks without leadership, the lower house of the U.S. Congress has finally elected a new Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson (R-LA). Of course, McCarthy has proven unable to give up the reins entirely and has approached Johnson to ask to be an “assistant speaker.” For his part, Johnson has pledged to support Israel first, and then give leftover scraps to Ukraine. Putin has a new pet in Europe, with Slovakia electing a new pro-Moscow government to join Hungary’s Orban. In the Middle East, Iran and its proxies launched a series of attacks against U.S. sites.
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
DoD hindering recruitment of tech-savvy workers, warfighters, according to new report (FdT)
Arctic Strategy calls for enhanced comms, sensing, and precision navigation & timing (DS)
Pentagon seeks generational change with first industrial base strategy (BD)
Air Force activates new electronic warfare units (C4)
Europe, Russia, the Arctic, NATO, and the war in Ukraine
New Slovak government pledges to end support to Ukraine (DN)
Italy preparing to protect subsea rare earth minerals in Mediterranean (DN)
New U.S. House Speaker pledges not to abandon Ukraine, but only after helping Israel first (AP)
Pentagon pivoting to rebuilding Ukraine’s industrial base: LaPlante (BD)
Erdogan endorses Sweden’s accession to NATO, Turkish ratification imminent (AP)
NATO adopts first-ever counter-drone doctrine for member nations (DN)
China, Korea, and Asia
Chinese fighter jet flies within 10 feet of U.S. bomber (AP)
China-U.S. military talks may have resumed (MT)
China says U.S. is a disrupter of peace in response to Pentagon report of Chinese military buildup (AP)
China officially sacks its defense minister, after months of speculation (DN)
China rushes to swap Western tech with domestic options as US cracks down (RT)
U.S. warns it will defend Philippines after Chinese vessels incidents (NT)
Middle East and Africa
Pentagon deploys 900 troops to the middle east, others prepare for possible future deployment (S&S)
Iran and Iranian proxies strike at U.S. presence in mid east, injuring dozens (NBC)
U.S. strikes Iran-linked sites in Syria after attacks on U.S. troops (MT)
U.S. may have asked Israel to delay ground ops in Gaza to allow time for more air defenses around U.S. sites (NYT)
U.S. agrees to send 2 Iron Dome batteries to Israel (DN)
Weapons flood West Bank, fueling fears of new war front with Israel (WSJ)
Sudan’s army, paramilitary rivals resume peace talks in Jeddah (AP)
U.S. formally concludes that military coup has taken place in Gabon (VOA)
U.S. Defense Industry News
Silicon Valley Defense Group, 63 companies lobby congress to approve $1B ‘Hedge Portfolio’ (C4)
Air Force confirms Boeing will get $90M per new F-15EX Eagle II jet (BD)
Boeing troubles mount, $2B cost for Air Force One weighs on profits (DN)
Northrop reports strong growth, expects ‘zero profit’ on B-21 contract (DN)
Raytheon, Rafael JV selects Arkansas for Iron Dome missile production (BD)
RTX sells off cybersecurity and intelligence business for $1.3B (C4)
X-Bow seeks to break Northrop-Aerojet duopoly on rocket motors (DO)
U.S. State Department clears $1B sale of Joint Air-to-Ground Missiles to the U.K. (DN)
Foreign Defense Industry News
Chile opens bidding for new wheeled armored vehicle (DN)
Airbus wins $1.3B deal to maintain, upgrade French A330s (DN)
Germany tests Hensoldt passive radar system for air defenses (DN)
Italy’s Leonardo teases new strategy, including massive JV in Europe (DN)
Airbus, Northrop collaborate for U.K.’s lucrative SKYNET satellite program (BD)
Space
Space Force sees SATCOM awards growing to $20B this fiscal year (C4)
Rocket Lab has received FAA approval to continue Electron flights (CNBC)
Japan award iSpace $80M to build a lunar lander by 2027 (SN)
Putin aims to have a Russian space station by 2027, unclear how that will happen as they can’t even maintain their module on the ISS (RT)
New agreement allows U.S. launches from Australian space ports (SN)
Nuclear Power & Weapons
Space Force plans $8B satellite architecture for nuclear command and control (SN)
Russia and Ukraine trade claims that the other targeted nuclear plants with drones (RT)(MwT)
AI, Energy, Robotics, and other Tech
New IBM microchip breakthrough may reshape the future of AI (DO)
Biden moves to embrace AI as national security tool in executive order (WSJ)
A&D-Focused Finance
United Launch Alliance is still available for an acquisition, but buyer beware, there’s a complicated corporate structure and plenty of cost over runs. On the upside, Vulcan might fly this year. (AT)
Boeing reported a higher-than-expected Q3 adjusted loss but beat revenue expectations; it expects to deliver fewer planes this year due to production flaws (CNBC)
Air France-KLM announced a new $1.4B financing agreement with Apollo Global (RT)
Capital A Berhad, the parent company of AirAsia, plans to list some of its business through a merger with Aetherium Acquisition Corp as part of a larger plan to raise $1B in debt and equity (FT)
Delta Air Lines sold about $875M in municipal bonds to finance the completion of its new terminal at LaGuardia Airport (BBG)
KKR is nearing a deal to invest $400M into Malaysian sub-sea cable company OMS Group (BBG)
Poland picked France's Vinci Airports and Australian IFM Global Infrastructure Fund as preferred investors in a planned aviation hub for Central and Eastern Europe; they may invest up to $1.9B (RT)
K2 Space, a Torrance, CA-based startup building large satellite buses, raised $7M in funding from Alpine Space Ventures (FN)
Astra stocks continue their downward march (PL)
Qosmosys, a lunar lander startup, announced it secured a staggering $100M in seed funding to help it bring its ZeusX lander to the Moon in just four years (PL)
Important Reads
Byrne Hobart dives into the benefits of investing into company swag for startups.
Lighter Side
Keep building!
Andrew