Welcome to Tuesday's Saved Rounds, where we send out all the goodies we couldn't squeeze into our Sunday newsletter.
In that Number
1,000
A new White House policy directs federal agencies to expand spaceport infrastructure to support 1,000 rocket launches a year by 2030—a 6X increase from today.
Word of the Week
Smaller War Plants Commission: The Smaller War Plants Commission is a new joint initiative by the Department of War and the Small Business Administration.
Why It Matters: Named after its WWII-era predecessor that helped build the industrial base, the new commission’s purpose is to end America's dependence on foreign supply chains.
They Said It
“We shifted our whole mentality and went after commercial first. … [And] we’re going to be shifting to production next year.”
— Mark Saxon, Deputy Project Manager for Electromagnetic Warfare & Collection, discussing the Army’s pivot toward commercial-first, modular solutions for its long-range ground jammer TLS-EAB program.
The program started more than five years ago.
New Episode!
Mike sits down with Jenn Wilson, Head of Federal at Nominal, to talk about test and evaluation and how their software helps accelerate the process.
Check it out!
Saved Rounds
Saab unveiled a supersonic CCA to fly with Gripen E
Astro Mechanica may buy United jet engines to power data centers
India opened talks to join France's sixth-gen fighter program
Chariot Defense won a $7.6M DIU deal for hybrid power
The UK will share SCALP missile data with Ukraine
AeroVironment committed $100M to a new campus in California
Quantum-Systems opened an office in Huntsville, AL
Destinus won a Dutch deal for Hornet B2 naval interceptors
Li-S Energy delivered lithium-sulfur batteries to the Army for drone testing
Mara raised a $7M pre-seed for drone interceptors
The Army awarded $2.2B for micro-reactors across 5 nuclear vendors
The Army wants 8,000 short-range missiles a year from industry
Raytheon finished a $50M expansion to support NGJ-MB jammer production
SkyFi launched Rowan, an AI navigator across 300+ imagery sources
SiFly raised a $20M Series A for drone production
Bangladesh neared a $2.3B deal for 20 Chinese J-10CE fighters
L3Harris is adding Shield AI’s computer vision to its VAMPIRE systems
Innovaero is going public via IPO on Australia’s ASX
The Army set an 8hr 41min endurance record with a printed drone
The Marine Corps accepted its first Ancillary Surface Craft from Birdon
Cavok UAS built a containerized launcher for Skydart5 interceptors
Palladyne AI & Orkid paired SwarmOS autonomy with fixed-wing drones
Motorola Solutions closed its $1.5B D-Fend acquisition
The Aerospace Corp flew 4 DiskSats in low Earth orbit
Boeing tapped Kratos for turbojets to power its JDAM-LR cruise missile
Boeing won a $131B F-15 sustainment contract
Japan signed a mass-production deal with Terra Drone
Collins Aerospace finished altitude testing the new F-35 EPACS cooler
ICEYE incorporated an Indian subsidiary to build SAR satellites locally
Ursa Major is going public via a $2.3B SPAC merger
The Air Force moved to keep its 9 RQ-4s flying to 2033
Raytheon & Boeing received $766M for B-52 modernization
CesiumAstro acquired 1Aardvark, its third acquisition this year
Griffon Aerospace won a $133M IDIQ for target drones
The Army named 5 tech priorities for UGVS
SpaceX committed $100B to Louisiana for 10 Starship launch pads
Gremsy USA opened preorders on new UAS FLIR sensors
Navier completed military testing of its N30 Quanta-D hydrofoil
AV received a $51M Army order for more Switchblade drones
Northrop Grumman passed 500 flight hours on the F-16 IVEWS suite
Saab flew the twin-seat Gripen F for the first time
Q-CTRL ran a GPS-free quantum navigation trial in the Coral Sea
L3Harris & ARX Robotics demoed CORVUS-RAVEN on a robot vehicle
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