🔷 Saved Rounds 1.27.26

Welcome to Tuesday's Saved Rounds, where we send out all the goodies we couldn't squeeze into our Sunday newsletter.

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In that Number

$49.1B

Venture capital defense tech deals surged to a record $49.1B in 2025.

Zoom in

Ukraine’s dissection of Russian Geran (Shahed copy) drones has exposed a critical reliance on Western technology, with teardowns revealing components sourced from Texas, Germany, and Switzerland.

Zoom in here to explore the parts database.

They Said It

“We need radically different outcomes in the defense industrial base. So we need radically different ideas on how to get there.” 

— Mike Cadenazzi, Assistant Secretary of War for Industrial Base Policy, urging for "unconstrained" disruptions to the Pentagon's procurement status quo

 ICYMI

Saved Rounds

• SIRBAI launched a new AI-driven autonomy product line for drones

• The DOE is giving 6 teams a chance to win $15M for developing a next-gen battery prototype with 4X the juice as current lithium-ion batteries

• GA-ASI & Calidus partnered to co-produce MQ-9B and Gambit drones in the UAE

• Aule Space raised a $2M pre-seed funding round for satellite life extension jetpacks

• Leonardo’s Proteus helicopter drone completed its maiden flight for the Royal Navy

• Ukraine & Germany paused Helsing drone orders following technical and jamming issues

• The Space Force cancelled its Resilient GPS satellite program

• Poland transferred 9 retired MiG-29 fighters to Ukraine

• Performance Marine (Qatari) unveiled the new USV

• The Navy raised the WEXMAC TITUS contract ceiling by $45B across 109 companies

• Gilmour Space secured a $145M investment to scale Australia's sovereign space capability

• Denmark retired its F-16 fleet after 46 years of military service

• The Navy plans to deploy 2 operational medium-sized drone boats this year

• UVision’s HERO-90 loitering munition was selected for the Army’s LASSO program

• Diffraqtion raised a $4.2M pre-seed round to develop quantum-enabled cameras for satellite imaging

• Barzan Holdings & EDGE Group formed a joint Qatari-Emirati defense firm

• Top Aces won a 10-year $488M contract from Germany for adversary air services

• Alva Industries launched TorqStudio, a platform for electric motor design and analysis

• Auria finalized its RFK and Kythera acquisitions to expand its satcom portfolio

• HII demoed its Odyssey autonomy collaborating ops between USVs and UUVs (drone boats and subs)

• General Atomics & Barzan Holdings partnered to develop battle management software

• Italy’s share of GCAP fighter development costs has tripled to $21.8B

• Bristow secured the first delivery slots for Electra’s hybrid-electric aircraft

• Hydrosat raised $60M in Series B funding to expand its thermal constellation

• The UAE awarded $403M in local drone contracts

• BAE, Leonardo, & Parker Meggitt were awarded the long-awaited $574M UK contract for Typhoon radar upgrades

• South Korea launched a $1.29B program for a bizjet electronic warfare aircraft

• Turkey is expected to receive 12 Eurofighter Typhoons from Qatar next month

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