Weekly Update
25 - 31 March 2023
Russia blackmails Belarus into hosting nukes. Global stockpiles of nukes increased in 2022. China and Russia continue cozying up, even as China bails out Belt-and-Road Initiative countries with $200B. Turkey approves Finland’s NATO bid. Tech leaders begin signing an open letter calling for a pause on AI development. The U.S. Air Force ends its ARRW Hypersonic Missile program.
Weekly News Round Up
Military
Europe, Russia, the Arctic, NATO, and the war in Ukraine
As Arctic thaws, U.S. appoints ambassador at large to region and increases military spending (NPR)
Russia test fires supersonic missiles in Sea of Japan (AlJ)
Russia to upgrade Moscow missile defenses this year (DN)
Russia blackmails Belarus into accepting nuclear weapons (RT)
NATO preps tech competition to solve real-world security issues (DN)
Germany finally sends Leopard tanks to Ukraine (BBC)
Turkey approves Finland’s accession to NATO; will join in coming weeks (BD)
Spanish PM Sanchez in Beijing to talk about Ukraine war with Xi (AlJ)
China, Korea, and Asia
U.S. Air Force secretary labels China’s rapid nuclear expansion most ‘disturbing’ threat he has seen (S&S)
China threatens retaliation over U.S. House Speaker meeting with Taiwan president (FT)
China announces areas of closer cooperation with Russian military (RT)
China spent $192B bailing out 'Belt and Road' countries from 2016-21 (RT)
Supply chain issues impede Chinese military jet engine production (DN)
Amid N. Korean ballistic missile tests and joint U.S. - S. Korea drills, U.S. air defenders test THAAD missile-defense system’s remote control (S&S)
Middle East and Africa
U.S. Senate votes to repeal Iraq war authorizations (MT)
U.S. Vice President in Africa; announces security aid amid Al Qaeda push (AlJ)
Iran and proxies have attacked U.S. military 83 times since 2021 (T&P)
U.S. Defense modernization and innovation
U.S. Army stands new Cross Functional Team focused on contested logistics (DN) U.S. Army plans test for combining new air defense capabilities (DN)
U.S. Missile Defense Agency prepares for ‘new frontier’ of electronic war (C4ISR)
U.S. Air Force test failed for hypersonic AGM-183A Air-launched Rapid Response Weapon (ARRW) (DN)…
… U.S. Air Force ends ARRW program after failed test (DN)
The Pentagon continues outreach to Silicon Valley (WSJ)
The U.S. Coast Guard seeks $1.6B more for modernization (NT)
U.S. Army seeks 6-fold production increase for 155mm artillery shells used in Ukraine (DN)
U.S. Navy and Marines reevaluation munition stockpiles due to Ukraine War (DO)
U.S. Air Force general: “Collaborative Combat Aircraft won’t always be tethered to manned systems” (ASF)
U.S. Air Force and Space Force want to expand cyber defenses through Cyber Resiliency Office (C4ISR)…
…so does the Navy (C4ISR)
U.S. Navy seeks new way of rearming ships (DN)
U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency wants to expand Stone Ghost network to include more foreign partners (C4ISR)
Next Project Convergence event set for Spring 2024, will include ballistic missile defense (BD)
U.S. Defense Industry News
General Dynamics unit puts short-range air defense on robotic vehicle (DN)
Raytheon Technologies returns to Army’s Precision Strike Missile program (DN)
BAE shuffles production facilities to make room for new vehicle line (DN)
AeroVironment upgrades Switchblade 300; now can fly for 20 minutes (BD)
Foreign Defense Industry News
Airbus demos in-flight autonomous guidance of target drone with tanker (C4ISR)
Airbus no longer pursuing an ~30% stake in Evidian, the spinoff of French IT firm Atos’ cybersecurity, cloud, and supercomputing businesses (BBG)
Canada proceeds with Boeing spy plane over Bombardier objections (DN)
UK tests 7 uncrewed systems for Heavy Lift Challenge future capabilities program (BD)
Saab signs agreements with UK and NATO to sell Carl-Gustaf anti-tank weapons (DN)
Sea trials begin for France’s second next-gen, nuke-powered submarine (DN)
Germany to buy 10x new PzH2000 howitzers to off-set Ukraine gifts (BD)
Emirati conglomerate Edge Group acquires majority stake in Estonia’s Milrem Robotics; tests EU rules (DN)
Singapore buys six combat vessels that can serve as drone motherships (DN)
Space
Space data is building quickly; U.S. Space Force seeks additional $187M to enhance management of it (BD)
U.S. Space Force selects 18 vendors to provide space data analytics (SN)
U.S. Space Command voices support for US Indo-Pacific Command’s $3.4B request (BD)
Middle Eastern countries ask U.S. for advice on establishing space forces (SN)
U.S. Space Force is building a virtual training ground for space conflict (DO)
U.S. Space Development Agency to launch first 10 satellites with SpaceX (BD)
Space companies Spire and Momentus got stock exchange delisting warnings (CNBC)
Isar Aerospace, a German satellite launch service startup, raised a $165M Series C led by 7 Industries, Bayern Kapital, Earlybird Venture Capital, and others (FN)
Satellite company SES is in talks to merge with rival Intelsat in a potential $10B deal (BBG)
Impact Observatory, an AI-powered global mapping and monitoring company, raised a $5.9M seed round led by Esri International (FN)
Industrials firm CNH agreed to buy Hemisphere GNSS, a high-performance satellite positioning technology company, for $175M (RT)
Nuclear Power & Weapons
In giant step back, U.S. and Russia stop sharing nuke data (AP)
Global stockpiles of nukes increased in 2022 (DW)
U.S. Dept of Energy released road map for scaling nuclear, hydrogen, and energy storage (Grist)
IAEA head says situation at Zaporizhzhia plant has worsened (PBS)
China, Russia respond to AUKUS with threat of arms race (NW)
Polish-U.S. nuclear cooperation expands to USNC microreactors (WNN)
Former U.S. Congresswoman: Global nuclear energy market is a geopolitical battleground (DN)
Stellarator fusion startup Type One Energy raised a $29M round led by Breakthrough Energy Ventures, TDK Ventures, and Doral Energy Tech (BW)
Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, Energy, and other cool tech
Elon Musk, Steve Wozniak and 1.3k others signed an open letter calling for a 6-month ban on giant AI experiments (TV)
U.S. semiconductor index hits highest in past year on hopes for industry turn (RT)
Metaverse hype has largely fizzled (WSJ)
CFTC sued crypto exchange Binance and founder CZ for broad compliance violations (CD)
Nvidia CTO believes 'crypto adds nothing useful to society' despite billions in mining sales (CS)
Computing software startup Strangeworks raised a $24M Series A led by Hitachi Ventures, IBM, and Raytheon Technologies (FN)
OQmented, an AR/MR display and 3D-sensing company, raised a $20M Series A led by Sharp2, Salvia, and Vsquared Ventures (FN)
Norsepower, a startup providing mechanical sails for large ships, raised a $30.4M Series C led by Mirova (FN)
Autonomous delivery and security robotics startup Neubility raised a $2.6M Series A extension at a $76.9M valuation from Samsung Venture Investment (TC)
3D printer maker Nano Dimension raised its offer to buy the stake it doesn’t already own in larger peer Stratesys to ~$1.2B (RT)
Lighter Side
But soon, Belarus will be part of Russia, so it’s okay, right?
Can we at least nominate the bear to be our new ambassador-at-large in the Arctic?
Keep building!
Andrew