🔷 Saved Rounds 12.2.25

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

📺 PODCAST: Check it out on YouTube or download the podcast on Spotify, Apple, or wherever you get your content.

In that Number

1 million

The Army's SkyFoundry program aims to field at least 1 million drones over the next few years through a combination of public-private partnerships and in-house manufacturing.

Zoom in

This week, Anduril Industries received negative press for its product development progress. On the eve of those stories going public, the company pre-emptively released its side of the story.

Zoom in here for Anduril’s take on how defense technology actually gets built.

 ICYMI

Book Alert!

Be Afraid of the Dark tells the untold story of one of the most fearsome and versatile fighter aircraft ever built: the F-15E Strike Eagle.

Part 1 of this definitive two-volume history traces the birth, development, and combat evolution of the U.S. Air Force’s premier multirole strike fighter - a jet designed to go anywhere, strike anything, and fight its way home - and covers the period of 1978-2002.

Use THEMERGE10PCT and get 20% off!

[offer expires 12/31/25]

Saved Rounds

• Bayraktar’s Kizilema CCA made a historic BVR air-to-air missile shot, shooting down an aerial target

• GKN Aerospace secured a $15.8M contract to develop a new jet-powered drone for Sweden

• China developed a stealth jet coating that reduces radar signals by 700x

• Dassault & Thales partnered to develop sovereign AI for manned and unmanned aircraft

• MBDA secured its first export contract for the SKY WARDEN C-UAV system

• DARPA's X-65 (plane that steers using bursts of air) is expected to fly in late 2027 (two-year delay)

• Oman signed a deal with Airbus for the nation’s first communication satellite

• The Navy identified four vendors to compete for COCO drone ISR services

• BEL & Safran partnered to manufacture HAMMER weapon systems in India

• Picogrid & Deepnight utilized AI for enhanced night vision security at military bases

• Vectrus won a $252M Air Force contract to support Iraqi F-16 jets

• Boeing was awarded a $4.6B Army contract for AH-64E Apache helicopters

• Enabled Intelligence won a $708M NGA contract for AI/ML data labeling services

• Praktika, Tecnove, & Escribano signed an MoU to produce armored vehicles in Spain

• Calidus & Safran partnered to develop advanced aerial delivery systems for the UAE military

• Fortem Technologies was approved to sell counter-drone systems directly to the US Army

• Leonardo introduced the Michelangelo Dome, an integrated multi-layered defense system

• Boeing secured a $2.4B Air Force contract for 15 KC-46A Pegasus tankers

• The Marine Corps legacy F/A-18 fleet is getting an Automatic Terrain Awareness and Warning System

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