Welcome to Tuesday's Saved Rounds, where we send out all the goodies we couldn't squeeze into our Sunday newsletter.
In that Number
75% drop
Cartel drone incursions along the US-Mexico border have experienced a 75% drop in the past month after U.S. soldiers destroyed 11 drones with a high-energy laser during a 10-day stretch in late August.
Officials concede the cartels may have simply moved their routes.
Zoom in
The Navy pays shipyard vendors for hours worked, not work finished. So a contractor who spends $1M on robotic welding to cut $2M of labor loses money doing it. A Navy Admiral and shipyard commander does the math on the tyranny of shipyard cost-plus contracting.
Zoom in here to learn more about the economics and incentives underlying the nation’s shipyard crisis.
They Said It
“Heck yeah…but with a caveat.”
— Lt. Gen. Daniel Tulley, Air Mobility Command commander, on restarting C-17 production.
Boeing closed the production line in 2015 after 279 aircraft, but the Air Force is analyzing alternatives for next-generation airlift that could include restarting C-17 production with upgrades.
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Saved Rounds
Lockheed Martin started work on 4 more Vectis CCAs
ASELSAN demoed drone pods that locate, jam, and image enemy radars
XTEND partnered with Quantum Systems to plug XOS into MOSAIC UXS
Cambridge Aerospace filed to build a $32M rocket motor plant in Norfolk
Firehawk Aerospace is raising at a $1.25B valuation led by Rochefort
Rajant acquired The Bellwether Group
North Defence partnered with STARK to fit Cascade munitions on its vehicles
Quantum Systems unveiled its first maritime drones
Ondas acquired GATE and Bron
EDGE partnered with Safran to build solid rocket motors in Brazil
AEVEX won up to $92M for SkyRange hypersonic test telemetry
JIATF-401 awarded over $25M in C-UAS buys for SOUTHCOM
The Air Force is weighing new-build F-16s for the first time in 20 years
ACS opened a 191,000 sq ft plant to build counter-drone systems
The Air Force plans 500 CCAs by 2032, now named Vengeance and Fury
Anduril says Fury production cannot start without an FY27 budget
The Netherlands intends to buy Saab's GlobalEye AEW&C
Boeing was awarded $562M for the first 3 production MQ-25 Stingrays
HII won a five-year task order to advance Army airdrop tech
Alloyed is building a UK turbojet family of engines
BAE Systems unveiled Shadow, cheap electronic warfare for drones
AFSOC fired the AGM-190A Havoc Spear from an AC-130J in combat
V2X received $46M to build LRSO integration equipment for the B-52
Lockheed Martin tested pod-to-pod link between Legion IRST pods on 2 F-16s
The Air Force added $16.4M to Castelion's Blackbeard hypersonic contract
Lockheed Martin was awarded $1.2B for PrSM Inc 2 ship-killing seekers
Textron & Merlin unveiled an unmanned SkyCourier concept
Northrop Grumman quit SNC's team bidding on the Navy jet trainer
The Space Force named its GMTI constellation RRS-G, with Northrop as prime
General Dynamics partnered with ARX to pair Ajax with Hector robot scouts
The Pentagon handed its Top Drone competition to the USNDA to run
Peraso is pitching 60 GHz comm links for jam-resistant drones
Heaviside & RI were awarded $196M for Army EW sensors
The Army is looking for blood-carrying drones
Saildrone won a $10M Navy contract to map the Atlantic seafloor
Conti Kight JV won $75M to build a B-21 hangar at Whiteman AFB
MDA Space unveiled a 3-tier CHORUS software line ahead of its launch
The Army ordered 16 more UH-60Ms from Sikorsky ($234M)
South Korea approved a $2.4B buy of additional MH-60R Seahawks
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