🔷 Day of Infamy

In That Number

5.9%

The world's 100 largest arms producers reported a combined revenue increase of 5.9% last year, reaching a record $679 billion.

On the Radar

Electra Defense. Electra launched Electra Defense and unveiled the EL9, a dual-use, nine-passenger hybrid-electric ultra-Short Takeoff and Landing (ultra-STOL) aircraft. The EL9 can take off and land under 150 feet—that’s not a typo. They were previously awarded an $85m AFWERX contract and are partnered with Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works to accelerate commercialization.

• The Merge’s Take: There’s a massive gap in “Last Tactical Mile” logistics to make first-island chain concepts a reality (see ACE, EABO, etc.), and currently, there is no funded Pentagon program targeting the “1,000 lbs. over 1,000 miles” segment. A number of startups have emerged to fill the void, but Electra’s approach is unique in 2 ways: 1) it’s manned and 2) it’s using a wing-blown-lift approach. This video shows how short the take-off is.

Drone Dominance. The Pentagon unveiled its Drone Dominance Program (DDP), an iterative, high-dollar initiative to purchase 200,000+ small lethal consumable drones by 2027. The program, which uses "Gauntlet challenges" to test and select vendors, aims to place $1 billion in fixed-price orders, starting with a target of 30,000 units delivered by July 2026.

• The Merge’s Take: This is a refreshingly clear signal to the industry. Enough innovation theater, it’s delivery time—with 30,000+ drones every 6 months. Two things to keep an eye on: 1) the Pentagon will award 25 vendors contracts for Phase 1, but it’s unclear if there are even that many companies in the US that can deliver that scale on that timeline; and 2) it doesn’t explicitly say Group 1 quadcopters, which should leave the door open for Group 2 One-Way Attack (OWA) drones that can reach beyond the forward line of troops and have more applicability for the Indo-Pacific.

Memo Sabotage? A comparison between the leaked draft and the final version of Secretary of War Pete Hegseth’s acquisition reform memo reveals "striking" modifications by the bureaucracy. Key elements removed include mandates for time-fixed development, direct reporting authority to Portfolio Acquisition Executives (PAEs), a preference for Other Transactions Authority (OTAs), and the insertion of qualifiers ("where affordable and appropriate") into the final memo and the 45-page Acquisition Transformation Strategy.

• The Merge’s Take: Bureaucratic self-defense or a case of Hanlon’s Razor? Either way, expect this to unfold in the coming months as Congress weighs in with its final legislation.

NSS. The US released a new National Security Strategy, a typical precursor for new National Defense Strategy and National Military Strategy documents.

• The Merge’s Take: Typically, these documents are rearrangements of words from previous documents, filled with colorful language, ambitious concepts, and declarations that read less like a strategy and more like a vision. This one is none of that—it’s hard-nosed, no-fluff (and political) language that will surely get analyzed by think tanks, policy wonks, and talking heads in the coming weeks.

TRIVIA

On this day in 1941, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. What innovation allowed Japanese torpedoes to run effectively in Pearl Harbor’s shallow depths?

A) Retractable tail stabilizers
B) Wooden tail fins
C) Smaller warheads
D) Streamlined nose cones

They Said It

“This new task force sets the conditions for using innovation as a deterrent.” 

— Adm. Brad Cooper, CENTCOM Commander, commenting on the launch of Task Force Scorpion Strike, which will employ the US military’s first squadron of Shahed-like Low-cost Unmanned Combat Attack System (LUCAS) drones in the Middle East.

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Knowledge Bombs

• Northrop Grumman revealed a new Collaborative Combat Aircraft (video!)

• Castelion raised a $350M Series B to mass-produce hypersonic weapons

• Heven AeroTech raised a $100M Series B, reaching a $1B valuation for its hydrogen UAS

• Ursa Major test-fired a liquid-fueled hypersonic demonstrator (pic!)

• Shield AI & Sedaro partnered to put autonomy into space

• Teledyne FLIR won a $42M Marine Corps contract for reusable Rogue 1 loitering munitions

• Boeing delivered the first operational T-7

• Saronic announced a $300M investment to expand its Louisiana shipyard

• ElementUS Minerals received a $30M contract to show it can produce gallium and scandium from industrial waste

• Reditus Space raised a $7.1M seed round to advance its reusable space logistics platform

• SNC & Applied Intuition announced a partnership for autonomous air and missile defense

• Argentina receives its first 6 F-16s

• Brazil completed the first Gripen E live-fire test of the Meteor ramjet missile

• The F-35A is getting Meteor ramjet missiles

• Russia's Shahed-136 kamikaze drone was spotted with an air-to-air missile

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ANSWER
B. Wooden tail fins were added to Type 91 Mod 2 torpedoes to add buoyancy for the low altitude employment. A typical torpedo dove to 90 feet, but this addition (which broke away in the water) permitted the torpedoes to operate in the 45-foot waters.