Weekly News Update: Sep 8, 2023
2 - 8 Sep 2023
Who said that short weeks are uneventful?
Elon has admitted to materially interfering in Ukraine’s ability to defend itself. Thousands of tech bros, influencers, and others were trapped in the desert after Burning Man, due to flooding. Conflict and violence is flaring up across Africa. Anduril has put the existing primes on notice, that it is coming for them, with its announcement of its latest acquisition. Japan hopes to be only the fifth nation to land on the moon. Hurricane Lee has accelerated from storm to Cat 5 hurricane faster than any other storm, ever. And Defense Tech goes mainstream with a mention in CNBC.
Oh, and my favorite time of year is rapidly approaching. The memes this week reflect my excitement for the spooky, the speculative, and the festive.
Read more about the issues surrounding aerospace and defense technology below.
Weekly News Round Up
Military
U.S. Defense modernization and innovation
Pentagon’s number 2 says ‘Replicator’ program needs no new money (DN)
Pentagon begins scrutinizing services’ ‘zero trust’ plans (BD)
Sluggish deployment of emerging tech hampers military, officials say (C4)
President, senator at odds over revival of Pentagon cost-cutting office (FdT)
The Air Force is developing new target drones to simulate 5th Gen threats (ASF)
Air Force general eyes more uses for drone wingmen (C4)
Army incentivizes large contractors ingesting smaller innovators’ tech (DN)
Army approves next phase for its sunk-cost riddled augmented reality system (AT)
Army scraps tank upgrade, unveils new modernization plan (DN)
Army cancels flight test of long-range hypersonic weapon (BBG)
Marines look to drug runners for inspiration of unmanned resupply boats (DN)
Space Force gets a new, crowd-sourced mission statement (Mil)
Europe, Russia, the Arctic, NATO, and the war in Ukraine
U.S. announces new $600M aid package for Ukraine (MT)
Prigozhin’s death left a vacuum, now there’s a high-stakes scramble to fill it (NYT)
Armenia to exercise with U.S. troops in sign of frustration with Russia (RT)
Germany is the ‘sick man of Europe’ - and it’s causing a shift to the right (CNBC)
China, Korea, and Asia
Chinese gate-crashers at US bases spark espionage concerns (WSJ)
China is investing in rapid-runway repair capabilities and training (DO)
China plans to launch a state-backed investment fund that will seek to raise up to $40B to back its semiconductor industry (RT)
U.S. lawmaker calls for ending Huawei, SMIC exports after chip breakthrough (RT)
Japan’s top court orders Okinawa to allow divisive government plan to build U.S. military runways (AP)
Middle East and Africa
At least 53 Burkina Faso soldiers, volunteers killed in clashes with rebels (AlJ)
Amnesty International: Eritrean troops committed war crimes in Ethiopia (AlJ)
Gabon military government appoints former opposition leader as interim PM (AlJ)
Attack on boat, army base in Mali kill at least 49 civilians, 15 soldiers (AlJ)
U.S. drone flights limited since Niger coup (VoA)
France reportedly negotiating possible withdrawal of troops from Niger (AlJ)
Activists claim at least 32 civilians killed in Sudan army attacks (AlJ)
U.S. Defense Industry News
ArmaLite secures $19M with $90M option for U.K.’s new rifle (DN)
Anduril acquires Blue Force Technologies, Group 5 unmanned aircraft maker (BD)
BAE Systems, Army ink $797M AMPV production deal (BD)
Boeing CFO signals fresh losses in Q3 for contractor’s defense sector (BD)
General Atomics LongShot drone for DARPA to start flight tests this year (BD)
Lockheed, RTX’s Javelin Joint Venture sign agreement with Polish PGZ to produce missiles in Poland (DN)
MAG Aerospace, SAS partner on $900M Space Force data-analytics contract (SN)
Primordial Labs continues to lead research in voice-controlled drones (DN)
RTX: Poland to be first international customer of new, LTAMDS air defense radar (DN)
Spirit AeroSystems sets $1B goal, with five new advance tech focus areas (DN)
Foreign Defense Industry News
Britain tests transport drone’s ability to land, take off from ship (C4)
Finland’s Patria latest defense manufacturer to eye production in Ukraine (DN)
French Dassault sees more opportunities for Rafale fighter sales in Mid East (DN)
German Hensoldt, Czech ERA fuse passive sensing tech in bid for German surveillance system deal (DN)
Korea Aerospace Industries, Airbus partner to develop Light Armed Helicopter for Korean army (DN)
Norway’s Kongsberg secures $2B deal with Poland for Naval Strike Missiles (DN)
Poland’s PGZ will jointly develop a surface-to-air missile with MBDA (DN)
Poland unveils HAASTA prototype for drone-on-drone warfare (BD)
Swedish firm Saab continues buying spree, acquires CrowdAI (DN)
Space
New details emerge about Musk’s decision to cut StarLink to Ukraine during critical battle (WP)
Japan launches H2-A rocket toward the Moon for attempted landing (WP)
OSIRIS-REx asteroid sample return mission begins approach to Earth (ST)
GAO confirms what we all know, Space Launch System is ‘unaffordable’ (CNN)
Redwire biprints human tissue in space (SN)
U.S. Space Force eyes partnerships for tactical satellite communications (C4)
TransAstra claims NASA small business contract for debris capture bag (SN)
Biden taps Mike Whitaker to lead FAA (WSJ)
L3HArris inks three-launch deal on Firefly’s Alpha rocket in 2026 (TC)
Nuclear Power & Weapons
IAEA report shows Iran slowing enrichment of near-weapons-grade uranium (AP)
Air Force test-launches unarmed nuclear missile with 3 warheads (AFT)
Nuclear energy, jet engines on agenda for Biden, Modi meeting (RT)
N. Korea says it has launched a new nuclear attack submarine (MT)
Air Force Research Lab released an ARA soliciting white papers for nuclear-related research (SAM)
Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, Energy, and other cool tech
3 ways DARPA aims to tame ‘strategic chaos’ with AI (BD)
A&D-Focused Finance
Pentagon’s strategic capital office finalizing investment framework (C4)
VC interest in Defense Tech grows (CB)
PhotonVentures, a Netherlands deep-tech VC, raised a $64M fund to invest in early-stage photonic chip startups and scale ups (FN)
German tank gearbox maker Renk is planning an IPO in September and could be valued at ~$2.7B (RT)
Japanese space robot startup Gitai raises $15M extension round (IWT)
PE firms Vista Equity Partners and Clearlake Capital, the owners of EagleView Technologies, are exploring a sale that could value the aerial imagery and data analytics services provider at $2B, including debt (RT)
Mission Control, a startup developing software for Earth, Moon, and Mars, raised a $3.3M seed round led by GreenSky Ventures (FN)
Important Reads
Michael Brown and Lorin Selby revisit the Hedge Strategy in light of DepSecDef Hick’s recent announcement of the Replicator program.
Matt Levine covered how Elon Musk borrowed ~$1B from SpaceX when he was purchasing Twitter.
The Information covered how Midjourney’s founder, David Holz, built an AI winner without raising venture capital.
Lighter Side
Keep building!
Andrew