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
80
Thales successfully neutralized 80 drones during recent trials of its RapidDestroyer directed-energy weapon. The AI-assisted system uses an upgraded four-panel effector to emit high-intensity radio waves that instantly fry drone electronic systems.
Zoom in
There is a lot going on with affordable mass using low-cost missiles and drones, but do you even know what it means? Don’t worry—no one does. It has no definition, and the lack of understanding could cripple these promising programs.
Zoom in here to learn about attrition, production, and consumption.
They Said It
“Everything we’re putting in orbit today, all of that was really envisioned in the early 2000s.”
— Space Force Col. Neil Barnas, highlighting the technological age gap in the current Global Positioning System (GPS) constellation
In that Number
40,000
Ukrainian company General Cherry’s drone struck nearly 40,000 Russian targets over the spring of 2026.
Saved Rounds
Boeing unveiled a bigger, better MQ-28 Ghost Bat drone
Diehl Defence unveiled its Cobra 600 jet-powered ‘missile taxi’ drone
Kratos is expanding to produce 3,000 attritable engines next year
Isar Aerospace closed a $290M Series D ahead of its next launch
ICEYE raised $1.1B Series F funding round for SAR satellite systems
Fire Point flight tested a cheap alternative to the Patriot missile
Saronic & Castelion will integrate a hypersonic onto a USV
Gallatin AI won an 18-month Army contract for contested logistics software
AEVEX delivered a $12.3M multi‑mission wildfire detection aircraft to Oregon
DARPA launched the ExPEDitions to build next-gen military batteries
AERO Vodochody (Czech jet maker) posted a 402% profit last year
Boeing exited the Navy's T-45 replacement competition
Shifters raised a $10.2M seed funding round for ground robotics
ARCYN Defense & Army DEVCOM partnered to develop counter-UAS tech
Ames National Laboratory is using AI to develop rare-earth-free magnets
The Pentagon received the first batch of drones from Drone Dominance
GA-ASI invested in 6 Dutch tech companies through its Blue Magic initiative
L3Harris installed robots at its new GMLRS rocket motor facility
BlackSky was awarded an NRO contract mod for its AROS satellites
Boeing completed the initial testing of the KC-46's RVS 2.0
Diehl Defence unveiled its new-generation IRIS-T air defense system
Cambridge Aerospace is in talks to raise $300M at a $3.5B valuation
Deliverance AI emerged from stealth (enterprise AI governance)
TEKEVER & Sapient Perception partnered on airborne ISR sensing
Raytheon announced a $100M expansion of its Portsmouth Patriot factory
SMARTSHOOTER won a $3.4M Marine Corps counter-drone contract
L3Harris secured a $106M Army contract for VAMPIRE counter-drone systems
Airbus launched the U145 autonomous helicopter cargo drone
The US approved a $842M JASSM-ER missile sale to Denmark
Kongsberg won a $240M Air Force contract for Joint Strike Missiles
Kongsberg completed the acquisition of Zone 5
SOCOM wants a synthetic data platform to improve drone computer vision
China tested an airborne electromagnetic system to track submarines
Intelsat & Viasat won Space Force contracts for the PTS-G SATCOM program
SAIC won a $192M Air Force contract for digital infrastructure
DEFCON AI secured a $115M Marine Corps contract for software integration
Quantum Systems unveiled its PULSE P19 aircraft for multi-role operations
Elbit & Diehl partnered to offer the SkyStriker kamikaze drone to Germany
Teledyne FLIR OEM launched its new Boson SX8 thermal camera module
Ondas Holdings is launching an autonomous defense C2 product
GA-ASI & INTEC Group signed an MOU for Gambit CCA integration
VisionWave acquired a majority stake in Foresight
MARTAC & Mystic Powerboats partnered to expand USV production
GlobalFoundries & Qualinx completed Europe's first sovereign defense chip flow
The Air Force released a draft RFP for the TETRAS III contract
SPARC AI completed a 43km GPS-denied drone targeting test in Australia
The Air Force equipped its entire C-17 fleet with 3D-printed fins
The US seized 13 Chinese websites that targeted security-clearance holders
Metis won a contract to supply Skyperion drone detection systems to a NATO ally
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