🔷 Saved Rounds 4.14.26

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

21,500

Ukraine's defense forces executed 21,500 unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) missions during the first 3 months of this year.

This surge in operational tempo saw missions rise to 9,000 in March alone, with 167 different units deploying robotic platforms for combat, logistics, and casualty evacuation.

Zoom in

Anthropic recently revealed Mythos, AI capable of autonomously discovering thousands of zero-day vulnerabilities…and escaping secure sandboxes to post its own exploits online. To mitigate this threat, Anthropic rapidly launched a defensive coalition called Project Glasswing to prioritize private-sector access for infrastructure hardening.

Zoom in here to learn about the national security implications.

They Said It

“The government should speed up the process by pursuing a Liberty Ship model. Since the government owns the IP, you can have lots of vendors produce the Lucas simultaneously and then increase orders with the vendors who excel the most.” 

— Michael C. Horowitz, Former Pentagon Official and Senior Fellow at CFR, advocating for a mass-production strategy for the LUCAS drone.

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Saved Rounds

• Red Cat & Arastelle partnered to integrate tethered drones for persistent ISR

• The Marine Corps is seeking companies to support frontline kamikaze drones

• Theseus completed a 550 km test of its GPS-denied navigation system

• HawkEye 360 filed to go public

• The Air Force issued a request for portable drone-detecting acoustic sensors

• The UK launched an anti-fiber-optic drone program

• DIU issued a solicitation for a moving map for the Air Force's airlift fleet

• Terra Drone invested in Amazing Drones to launch the Terra A1 intercept platform

• BlackSky won a $99M IDIQ contract for next-generation space capabilities

• Firehawk launched a rocket motor facility in Oklahoma

• The Pentagon requested $20B for a strategic capital loan program

• Raytheon won a $708M contract for Small Diameter Bomb II production

• The Air Force plans for an affordable standoff cruise missile by 2033

• Israel announced a $750M PULS rocket artillery sale to Greece

• Anduril is developing hypersonic strike systems and air vehicles

• Red Cat & HADDY partnered to accelerate USV production using 3D printing

• Cummings Aerospace tested an anti-armor warhead for its Hellhound drone

• The AATC developed a new probe for the A-10C drogue air refueling capability

• Capella won a $48.9M SDA award for advanced tactical space communications

• EnduroSat & Shield Space partnered for rapid space defense missions

• Redwire opened a UK office to support Ministry of Defence programs

• Anduril won a $16.8M Army contract for Ghost-X drone hardware

• Textron won the first military order for 5 Cessna SkyCouriers from Belgium

• France tested MQ-9 Hellfire missiles to shoot down drones

• The Air Force tapped 14 companies for a $1.8B space domain awareness IDIQ

• Lockheed Martin won a $105M contract to support GPS ground systems

• Leidos & Defense Unicorns are testing software prototypes for Navy ships

• Arxis announced a $11.2B valuation target for its initial public offering

• Hybron raised a $25M seed round to scale high-speed carbon fiber manufacturing

• The Air Force awarded six companies a $200M R&D contract

• Talon Avionics unveiled the SECTR system for AI-driven drone interception

• Skydio won a $9M AFCENT contract for dock-based ISR drone systems

• Avalanche won a $5.2M DARPA contract to develop modular nuclear batteries

• South Korea unveiled the MUAV, a long-endurance reconnaissance platform

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