🔷 Saved Rounds 4.1.25

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

84 days

Saab and Sweden have developed and evaluated a counter-unmanned aerial system (UAS) in a record 84 days.

Zoom in

Taiwan recently received pressure to increase its defense budget to 10% of GDP to defend itself better—but that’s not the problem.

Zoom in here to learn how Taiwan’s biggest limitation in defense isn’t spending—it’s delayed decisions and deliveries of US defense tech.

They Said It

“This is a little bit a moment of truth for Europe.”

— MBDA CEO Eric Béranger on aggressive spending as European militaries race to arm themselves amid a deepening rift with the US

 ICYMI

Saved Rounds

• Turkey test-fired its first SOM-J cruise missile from an F-16 (originally designed to fit inside their F-35 fleet)

• Overland AI unveiled ‘Spark,’ a bolt-on product to make a military vehicle fully autonomous

• Booz Allen introduced ‘Brilliant Swarms' satellite concept for missile defense

• HII was tapped by the Army to develop a high-energy laser (HEL) weapon to shoot down drones

• The Air Force is looking for alternatives for the B-52 RTX AESA radar upgrade

• Sweden plans to boost its defense spending by $30B to 3.5% of GDP by 2030

• Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) announced they are using Shield AI’s software to develop indigenous autonomy

• France purchased 3 E-2D Advanced Hawkeye, making it the second international customer (Japan is the other)

• Mach Industries & Heven Drones are partnering on defense production (Heven’s hydrogen fuel cell-powered drones produced by Mach Industries)

• Distributed Spectrum raised a $25M Series A fund to advance its autonomous RF characterization software

• The Air Force may need to extend the service life of the KC-135 tanker fleet due to KC-46 delays

• Outbound Aerospace flew its 22ft wingspan, 300lb Blended Wing Body drone test bed for the first time

• Collins Aerospace announced 160 layoffs in Cedar Rapids, Iowa

• General Electric secured a contract worth up to $5B for F110-129 engines for F-15 and F-16 foreign military sales

• T2S acquired Blue Marble Communications to expand space technology capabilities

• Northrop Grumman won a $24.9M Navy contract to develop an autonomous undersea sensing capability

• Anduril is opening a factory and R&D facility in the UK

• Pangea Aerospace raised a $25M Series A round for its advanced rocket engines for use in launch vehicles and spacecraft

• Boeing & Airbus both plan to build new airliners from lightweight thermoplastics—not aluminum

• Navy Super Hornets are now carrying RTX StormBreaker glide bombs in combat

• The Bell-Boeing JV was awarded a $590M contract for 5 CMV-22B Osprey

• The Air Force tested the Angry Kitten electronic warfare (EW) pod on a C-130 with promising results, opening the door for larger RCS platforms like the A-10

• BlueHalo successfully fired its low-cost FE-1 Freedom Eagle counter-drone missile for the first time (IG pic)

• Boeing landed a $240M Army contract for 5 more MH-47G Block II Chinooks

• Draper was awarded a $308M Navy contract for navigation systems and analysis for the Conventional Prompt Strike (CPS) hypersonic missile program

• Hanwha (South Korea) bought a 9.9% stake in Australia’s Austal shipbuilding company

• Kongsberg launched the ARVAKER I satellite for maritime surveillance for Norway, marking its entrance into the space industry as both a satellite operator and service provider

• QinetiQ demonstrated Australia’s first laser defense technology

• Primoco UAV secured historic military and civilian certifications to fly its Group 3 drone in Europe

• The Pentagon to propose Advana, the department’s massive data analytics platform, as a formal program of record

• Boeing’s MQ-28 Ghost Bat may execute a live fire air-to-air test event later this year

• The Army tested a multi-drone launcher with an eye on mass production

• BlueHalo demoed advancements in space-based laser comms

• Airbus revealed a missile-equipped version of its Do-DT25 target drone

• Bell proposed its 505 Jet Ranger X light helicopter for the Army’s “Flight School Next” program

• Maxar launched Raptor, a visual-based navigation system for drones based on its satellite imagery

• Bombardier supplied 2 Challenger 650 biz jets for Australian ISR Ops

• L3Harris expects to deliver the MC-55A Peregrine ISR jets to Australia this year

• The University of Arizona was tapped by the Army to explore 3D-printing hypersonics

• HII reaches over 700 REMUS underwater drones

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