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- 🔷 Saved Rounds 4.29.25
🔷 Saved Rounds 4.29.25
Welcome to Tuesday's Saved Rounds, where we send out all the goodies we couldn't squeeze into our Sunday newsletter.
In that Number
200
The National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) revealed it has deployed more than 200 satellites into orbit over the past 2 years.
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They Said It
“80% of the capability, potentially, at 50% of the cost per unit aircraft.”
— Lockheed Martin CEO Jim Taiclet, on potentially adding 6th-gen tech from the company’s failed NGAD bids into the 5th-gen F-35
Zoom in
The P-51 Mustang is a legend—but one the US didn’t initially want.
Zoom in here to learn about how the US tried to kill the P-51 program and how it lived on through the bureaucracy and institutional aversion to become a legendary WWII fighter.
Hellhound
Check out our latest episode, a conversation with Cummings Aerospace on their Hellhound 3D-printed jet-powered kamikaze drones.
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Tweet of the Week
Saved Rounds
Leidos started mass production of IFPC Inc 2 Launcher for the Army (ground-based AIM-9X launchers)
RTX expects to take a $850M hit from tariffs in 2025, even with mitigations in place
Boeing is indefinitely pausing X-66 development (truss-brace fuel efficiency demonstrator)
SAIC won a $55M contract to serve as program integrator for SDA’s low Earth orbit satellite constellation
Lockheed acquired Amentum's Rapid Solutions business for $360M
Kopin was awarded a $7.5M contract to supply more microdisplays for military pilot Helmet Mounted Display Systems (HMDS)
Textron Systems was awarded a $100M software contract to update the Navy’s Mine Countermeasure USVs
Northrop Grumman incurred a $477M loss to accelerate B-21 production
Farcast secured a $2M investment from Lockheed Martin as part of an ongoing Series A extension round for its SATCOM user terminal tech
Modini was awarded a ~$6M UK contract to produce a one-way effector (OWE) drones
Dassault is still hopeful its Falcon 10X will be France’s next AEW&C platform
NATO reported that 22 of its 32 members hit the 2% GDP defense spending threshold in 2024
The Air Force completed its latest testing of Common Tactical Edge Network (CTEN) at Emerald Flag 25-1
The Air Force issued the RFI for bidding on the $20B TETRAS IDIQ contract recompete
Sentrycs & Xtend are partnering on a new drone defense solution
MIT researchers discovered a nano-material breakthrough for night vision
Poland flew its first domestically built AW149 helicopter
DIU is looking to expand with offices in Kentucky, Minnesota, and Montana
Katalyst Space acquired Atomos to boost in-space services
The Marine Corps surpassed 1,000 MQ-9A flight hours
Korean Air won a $675M deal to upgrade South Korea’s 36 UH-60P helo fleet
The Navy selected Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and Peraton as vendors for the $244M Space Command Relay Ground Station program
Japan conducted sea-based railgun tests
Spain is adding $10B to its defense budget to hit 2% GDP in 2025
Poland aims to 'get closer' to 5% GDP on defense spending
Firehawk Aerospace eyes a distributed network for 3D-printed rocket fuel
The Pentagon is looking to prototype open-source software for 5G and 6G networks
Rockwell Collins was tapped for KC-135 comm upgrades
EDGE pursues Brazil with its ANAVIA HT-100 autonomous helicopter
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