🔷 Saved Rounds 3.10.26

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

We’ll have our next podcast episode out later this month, but here is a something to good to hold you over:📺 The Future Of GovCon: Drones as ammo: how low-cost highly-produced drones are changing the game on the battlefield.

In that Number

$4B

The global market for drone communication technologies is projected to grow from $2.67B in 2025 to over $4B by 2030, driven largely by the military's increasing reliance on uncrewed systems. This growth is fueled by a transition toward software-defined radios and the integration of 5G and satellite connectivity to support secure, long-range autonomous missions.

Zoom in

Despite the ban on most Chinese drone tech, motors are not banned, and that’s what most American drones use because they are 4X cheaper. A scrappy startup called Rival is attacking this by reverse-engineering the production process and growing in a very unique way: by building a community flywheel.

Zoom in here to learn more.

They Said It

“Not sure how they get to where they wanna be.” 

— Rep. Ken Calvert, Chairman of the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, expressing doubt regarding the administration’s proposed $1.5T (USD) defense budget for fiscal year 2027.

 ICYMI

Saved Rounds

• EDRONE's drone interceptors are entering service in Ukraine

• Mutable Tactics (UK start-up) raised $2.1M in pre-seed funding to develop AI for drone teaming

• Vast raised $500M to build a space station

• Sierra Space closed a $550M Series C funding round at an $8B valuation

• Switzerland reduced its F-35 fighter jet order from 36 to 30 due to rising costs

• Auterion is raising $200M at a $1.2B valuation

• BlackSky was awarded a $99M Air Force contract to develop a large optical imaging payload intended

• Austria's BEACONSAT is expected to launch as its first military satellite

• Singapore is buying 3 Gulfstream G550 Maritime Surveillance Aircraft

• Fire Point (Ukraine) demoed an indigenous short-range ballistic missile

• Airbus was tapped by the European Defence Agency to enhance its Capa-X drone

• Skyeton integrated a radiation sensor payload into its Raybird drone

• Near Earth Autonomy continues to mature its unmanned Black Hawk autonomy

• Lockheed Martin demoed the sensor-to-shooter capability of its Army Next Gen C2 prototype

• The UK announced a $668M package for national security space initiatives

• Turkey’s first airborne stand-off jammer aircraft broke cover

• Infinite Orbits acquired Lúnasa Space to expand autonomous navigation and UK operations

• AV announced a $30M investment to expand Albuquerque defense manufacturing ops

• AV won a $97M Army contract to develop a missile sensor testing environment

• General Dynamics won a $255M Navy contract for Trident II fire control

• DCS acquired ARCTOS to expand its aerospace and defense engineering capabilities

• Raytheon received a $183M Army contract for UAE Patriot missile support

• GM Defense won an $19M contract for 121 Infantry Squad Vehicles

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