🔷 Saved Rounds 9.16.25

Welcome to Tuesday's Saved Rounds, where we send out all the goodies we couldn't squeeze into our Sunday newsletter.

📺 PODCAST: Like everyone in the universe, we have a podcast. Also, like everyone in the universe, we think our pod is pretty darn good. Judge for yourself: YouTube, Spotify, Apple, or wherever you get your content.

They Said It

“I knew going in, I’ve been in the government a while, and so I have a fairly good understanding of what’s going on, at least at a high level, and I knew there were readiness challenges within the department. I didn’t realize this is probably quite as big a challenge as it is.”

— Troy Meink, Secretary of the Air Force, reflecting on the scope of readiness challenges facing the Air Force since taking office

The Show!

NEW EPISODE: We dig into the origin story of how GPS-aided bombs came to be, with a very special guest who helped make it happen.

We cover the past, present, and future, with a ton of details we guarantee you’ve never heard before.

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Zoom in

Every pilot knows the most important part of any mission is the debrief. But how do you debrief an AI pilot after a Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) sortie?

Zoom in here to listen to podcast discussion.

 ICYMI

 Together with Curtiss-Wright

Trusted and Proven Space Instrumentation

Discover Space COTS

Saved Rounds

• HII unveiled the Romulus, a new family of autonomous unmanned surface vessels

• Lockheed Martin won a $133M Navy contract for hypersonic missile development

• 5 companies unveiled Project Orbion, the first AI-enabled digital twin of the Earth (Aechelon, Niantic Spatial, BlackSky, and Iceye)

• Raytheon UK completed its Paveway IV integration on the Eurofighter Typhoon

• The Navy is working on an Open Systems Management Plan (OSMP)

• SNC received its second Bombardier jet to be configured for the HADES ISR program

• Teledyne FLIR unveiled its autonomous SkyCarrier UAS platform

• ATAC won a $198M Marine Corps deal to support F-35 flight training

• General Atomics received a $14.1B contract for Air Force MQ-9 Reaper support

• Anduril proposed its Ghost Shark XLUUV to the Navy

• The Marine Corps finalized a contract with Palantir for the Maven Smart System

• AV announced plans for a new UK facility

• Airbus & TUSAŞ signed a deal to speed up the export of the Hürjet jet trainer to Spain

• Singapore ordered 4 Boeing P-8A Poseidon aircraft to replace its aging Fokker 50S fleet

• The Ukrainian Marine Corps introduced its new Barracuda USV, an autonomous drone boat with modular weapons

• FLANQ & CiS announced a partnership to develop a USV-launched UAV capability

• Trypillian secured a $5M investment to development an autonomous strike drone

• Picogrid won a $3.2M Air Force contract to employ an integration platform for autonomous systems

• Finland was approved to buy 400+ AIM-120D air-to-air missiles

• AV unveiled the Arkeus hyperspectral payload for its Jump20 drone

• Helsing & Systematic entered a partnership to deliver recon swarm capabilities for Europe

• Thales launched the Peregrine, an uncrewed rotary-wing system with the Royal Navy

• The UK announced a plan to mass-produce Ukrainian-made interceptor drones

• Apex raised $200M in a new funding round, achieving a billion-dollar valuation

• Boeing unveiled 3D-printed solar arrays, cutting satellite build time by 50%

• The Marine Corps issued new guidance on the integration of the Maven Smart System 

• The Air Force is looking for an atomic clock for GPS-denied drone coordination

• Spain's first SIRTAP UAV prototype is completed and slated for ground testing

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