Weekly News Update: Sep 13, 2024
7 - 13 Sep 2024
Good morning,
It’s been a busy week. Jared Isaacman completed the first-ever commercial spacewalk for the SpaceX Polaris Dawn mission, even as Elon Musk announces that the next launch of Starship is ready, pending regulatory approval, and that he intends to launch to Mars in the next two years. Congress won’t pass a defense budget this month, and political gamesmanship risks approval of stopgap measures too.
Russia has begun a counterattack to Ukraine’s counterattack into the Kursk region of Russia. Russia is also stating that Western missiles being fired into Russia constitutes a ‘red line’, which is most likely just regular Russian saber rattling.
China and the US are reestablishing high-level military communications, even as Congress seeks to curb Chinese influence, hitting at technologies.
And there’s lots of defense-tech related finance news: two new funds, lots of fundraisers, and Palantir heading to the S&P500!
In other news, expect some big changes to Building our Defense starting next week, as I step back from regular work on the newsletter.
Strap in as we dive in to these and more of this week’s issues surrounding aerospace and defense technology.
Weekly News Round Up
Military
U.S. Defense modernization and innovation
Defense-minded legislators are wary of continuing resolution plan (TH)
Air Force integrating AMRAAM weapons onto first batch of CCA drones (DS)
Parallel tracks aim to improve current Army C2 while pursuing long-term options (DS)
Army to test out 30 new drones and launched effects (BD)
Army continues refinement of software acquisition plans after industry criticism (DS)
Army aiming for one more hypersonic weapon test by year’s end (DN)
US tanks lack protection against drone attacks; Ukraine has a MacGyver fix (TH)
Defense Tech Opportunities
DARPA PM wants you to prove him wrong by showing that you have quantum computing (BD)
The Space Security & Defense Program has issued an RFI on advanced space domain awareness capabilities (SAM)
Europe, Russia, the Arctic, NATO, and the war in Ukraine
Russia begins a counterattack against Ukrainian push into Kursk region (BBG)
US and UK pledge almost $1.5 billion to help Ukraine during diplomats’ visit to Kyiv (AP)
Russia cozies up to Iran for missiles amid more industrial shortfalls (DN)
Turkey advances plan for a national air-defense shield (DN)
Russian drones are violating NATO members’ airspace (AP)
Russia put SIM cards in its exploding one-way attack drones to use Ukraine's cellphone network for strikes (BI)
China, Korea, and Asia
North Korea fires short-range missiles in first launch in two months (RT)
US and Chinese military commanders speak by phone for the first time in years (NBC)
US House clears a largely bipartisan package of bills to counter China (AP)
Australia identifies 7 key areas in its Sovereign Defense Industry Priorities to support AUKUS Pillar II (TA)
Middle East and Africa
Iraqi banks used US-created system to funnel funds to Iran (WSJ)
Yemen’s Houthi rebels claim they shot down another US MQ-9 drone (BI)
RSF paramilitaries kill 31 in Sudanese city of Sennar, activists say (RT)
U.S. Defense Industry News
Anduril touts new, easy-to-build ‘Barracuda’ cruise missiles (DO)
Anduril and Performance Drone Works selected to provide drones to Army brigades (DN)
The UK Space Agency awarded Astroscale £1.95M ($2.5M) for work on deorbiting satellites (ST)
Boeing wants to build a quantum network in space (DN)
Factory workers walk out of Boeing’s Seattle plant, just the latest in firm’s struggles (BBG)
Navy awards BlueForge Alliance $950M to boost sub industrial base (BD)
Lockheed, Thales team to produce Aussie-made GMLRS munitions (BD)
Northrop sees opportunity to reenter NGAD competition (DO)
Oracle joins forces with Anduril to provide AI-powered solutions at tactical edge (AR)
Reliable Robotics secures $3.6M for uncrewed Air Force flight demos (TAC)
Space Force gives Sev1Tech $188M more for work on battle network (BD)
Foreign Defense Industry News
NATO’s DIANA picks 10 disruptors for Phase II accelerator effort (DS)
The EU needs a ‘Defense Industry Commissioner’ to compete with US (DN)
Defense industry worries EU-funded innovation may be put on the shelf (ETV)
Aussie GPS alternative firm Advanced Navigation wins $5.8M Hanwha contract (BD)
South Korea’s Hanwha Ocean dismisses size criticisms over Polish Orka submarine offer (BD)
BAE wins $4.1M from DARPA for the AI Reinforcements program to advance autonomous air combat capabilities (UKDJ)
Space
SpaceX’s Polaris Dawn mission succeeds with first commercial space walk (BBC)
The next Starship is ready to fly, regulators won’t let it: SpaceX (AT)
Eminent officials say NASA facilities some of the “worst” they’ve ever seen (AT)
Nuclear Power & Weapons
As costs soar, Air Force says it "neglected" Sentinel infrastructure (AX)
N. Korea gives first glimpse of weapons-grade Uranium factory (NYT)
Kronos Advanced Technologies and Yasheng Group join forces to develop nuclear batteries (YN)
AI, Robotics, & other Frontier Tech
Jam-resistant GPS elusive as M-code delays pile up: GAO (BD)
Quantum sensing could replace GPS (INC)
Watchdogs move to evaluate NGA’s Maven computer vision integration (DS)
Army eyeing new ground logistic robot dubbed MMET (BD)
AI exuberance masks broad weakness in tech sector (FT)
Commerce to propose rule requiring US industry to report on dual-use AI capabilities (NG)
OpenAI is in talks to raise a $6.5B equity and $5B debt round at a $150B valuation led by Thrive Capital (BBG)
OpenAI released o1, an AI model with 'reasoning' abilities (TV)
OpenAI, Nvidia execs to discuss AI infrastructure needs with US (BBG)
A&D-Focused Finance
Airbus Ventures has raised a $155M fourth fund to invest in space startups and the deep-tech ecosystem (CNBC)
Next Frontier Capital has raised a $102M fourth fund to invest in sectors including AI, deeptech, energy, and defense (CI)
Palantir will join the S&P 500 (CNBC)
GIC and Carlyle-backed aircraft maintenance firm StandardAero filed for a US IPO (RT)
Salesforce backs Second Front Systems at $750M valuation (FBS)
i-Space, the Chinese launch startup, raised $99M in Series C and C+ funding (PL)
Forterra, a self-driving technology startup for defense and industry, raised a $75M Series B led by Moore Strategic Ventures, XYZ Venture Capital, andHedosophia (PRN)
Strider Technologies, a provider of strategic intelligence, raised a $55M Series C led by Pelion Venture Partners (PRN)
Defense tech startup Darkhive raised a $21M Series A led by Ten Eleven Ventures (PRN)
Mesa Quantum secured a seed round of $3.7M led by J2 Ventures (PL)
Osavul, a 2-year-old Kyiv startup that uses AI to protect against disinformation, raised $3.1M, with investors 42CAP, u.ventures, and SMRK (TE)
Techstars has announced its Fall 2024 cohort of 12 startups with tech ranging from space launch to data processing to quantum communications (PL)
General Dynamics Information Technology acquires SOCOM-focused cybersecurity & AI company Iron EagleX for undisclosed amount (WT)
PE firm THL Partners agreed to acquire a majority stake in semiconductor software provider AMI at a $600M valuation (RT)
Investment firm MNC Capital increased its cash buyout offer for Vista Outdoor to $2.51B (RT)
Important Reads
Raj Shah and Christopher Kirchhoff outline how AI is changing warfare, and how we’re unprepared for it.
Amid the high-profile arrest of Pavel Durov, WSJ published a piece detailing how Telegram became criminals' favorite marketplace.
Jack Raines explored the success story of Raising Cane's founder Todd Graves, who defiantly proved that VC-backing is not the only way of getting rich as an entrepreneur.
German defense cyber innovation hub head Sven Weizenegger has penned a report on defense technology and innovation in the country for the Atlantic Council and Atlantik-Brüke.
Lighter Side
Keep building!
Andrew