🔷 Saved Rounds! 1.30.24

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

📺PODCAST: Check it out on YouTube or download the podcast on Spotify, Apple, Pandora, iHeartRadio, etc.

🎧 LOWDOWN: Something new for ‘24 we’re trying: we’re dropping short audio-only episodes each week to summarize all the intel crammed in our newsletters. We may keep it—or kill it—depending on feedback. Check it out using the links above.

They Said It
“Sometimes we have a tendency to over promise and under deliver. We need to flip that to where, when we’re intellectually honest, when we’re honest with ourselves from a technology capability, that we have an agreed upon sight picture of what it’s going to look like to deliver that capability.”

— Rear Adm. Fred Pyle, director of surface warfare requirements for the Navy, on the frustratingly slow pace of fielding directed energy weapons on ships

Zoom in

The Department of Defense is the world’s largest bureaucracy, with a mind-blowing labyrinth of processes, internal power plays, and competing interests. To be successful in the defense tech industry, the best solution does not win—the ability to navigate the process to sell it does.  

Zoom in here for a comical (and fantastic) breakdown of how things really work inside the Pentagon.

In that Number

3X

German drone maker Quantum Systems has recorded a 3X increase in deliveries to Ukraine, with its last order totaling 300 drones. Quantum is currently finalizing an agreement to create a spare parts plant in Ukraine.

Saved Rounds

• Albedo raised a $35m extended Series A round ($97m total) to develop the world’s first high-resolution VLEO platform—they envision a satellite constellation with 10-centimeter resolution

• Germany committed $1.3B on short-range air defense IRIS-T missile systems

• Electra surpassed 2,000 pre-orders for its electric short takeoff and landing (eSTOL) aircraft (dual-use, with Air Force R&D contracts)

• The Space Force awarded Lockheed Martin and Boeing $66m contracts each to design a new narrowband communications satellite

• OpenAI (maker of ChatGPT) removed its ban on military projects and announced it is now collaborating with the Pentagon on AI-based cybersecurity technology

• Aerovel’s Flexrotor VTOL drone now has a Heavy Fuel Engine (HFE), making it compatible with ship fuel and simplifying naval integration

• The Indian Army developed an AI chatbot to counter honey-trapping by spies on WhatsApp

• Georgia’s Air National Guard received its first of 8 C-130J-30 Super Hercules from Lockheed Martin

• Sweden is one step closer to becoming the 32nd member of NATO after Turkey’s government finally ratified Sweden’s membership

• SOCOM is looking for an AESA radar to equip special operations C-130s  

• General Atomics flew the new MQ-1C Gray Eagle 25M for the first time (US Army is buying them)

• Arlington Capital combined 3 businesses to form and unveil Keel, a new defense manufacturing company addressing pain points in shipbuilding

• Orbit Fab (refueling startup) and ClearSpace (in-space servicing specialist) announced a partnership for in-space refueling

• The Pentagon estimates the U.S. military buildup in the Middle East since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks on Israel will cost $1.6B, a bill the department is unable to pay due to the inability of Congress to pass a budget

• South Korea started production of an indigenous MQ-9-like drone

• Red6 and Lockheed Martin announced a partnership via the SBA’s Mentor-Protégé Program

• NATO signed contracts worth $1.2B to acquire over 200,000 155-mm artillery shells to replenish stockpiles sent to Ukraine

• The Air Force tested a drogue shoot upgrade for the T-7A ACES 5 ejection seat

• India’s Army is replacing its 3,300 mule transport fleet with logistics drones for last-mile delivery in the field

• HII won a $197m contract to help develop the Pentagon’s Joint Training Synthetic Environment

• A consortium began developing a semi-autonomous modular ship for European navies

• The Pentagon expects Ukraine to start employing F-16s by the end of the 2024

• The Heritage Foundation’s annual military assessment rated the US Air Force as ‘very weak’, its lowest possible mark

• Latvia is heading up a new drone coalition to equip Ukraine

• Milrem Robotics is providing 60 robotic combat vehicles to the UAE military

• Teledyne FLIR has a new cooled thermal gunsight that can see the shooter’s bullet in flight even without tracers

• Poland is close to buying MQ-9B SkyGuardian drones from General Atomics, after years of leasing

• The UAE is a step closer to sealing a $3B deal to buy MQ-9B SkyGuardian drones

• Australia and Japan are partnering to research autonomous systems for undersea warfare

• Taiwan begins extended one-year conscription in response to China

• Edge Group unveiled 3 new autonomous platforms, including a logistics autogyro that can transport 600 pounds 250 miles (pics)

• General Dynamics reported the highest backlog in its financial history ($93B!)

• Lockheed Martin projects a significantly higher economic benefit to the UK for the F-35 program than originally forecasted

• Booz Allen Ventures made its first space investment

• Latitude raised $30m for small launch vehicle development

• Rheinmetall BAE Systems Land (RBSL) shared imagery of the first British Army Challenger 3 tank prototype

• The Army refurbished 1,900 Stinger missiles once deemed “unserviceable.”

• Hungary is arming its Lynx infantry vehicles with Hero loitering munitions

• Hermeus is now building the first Quarterhorse flight-test vehicle, dubbed Mk 1 (Mk 0 was the ground test iron bird)

• Firefly’s Alpha rocket joined NRO’s launch provider pool

• Micross was awarded $49m by the Pentagon to revitalize advanced semiconductor packaging capabilities

• Blue Origin and SpaceX started work on cargo versions of crewed lunar landers

• NASA declared the end of the Ingenuity Mars helicopter mission after 72 flights

• Data Link Solutions, a joint venture between BAE and Rockwell Collins, was awarded a contract to provide small-sized Link 16 radios for airborne effects

• Latvia is set to increase its defense budget by 70% over the next 4 years, reaching $1.7B by 2028

🎁Earn Free Merch!🎁 

Hey. Don't keep us a secret!
Share the Merge = earn free swag. It's that simple.

You currently have 0 referrals, only 3 away from receiving Stickers.

Or copy and paste this link: https://themerge.co/subscribe?ref=PLACEHOLDER