🔷 Saved Rounds! 1.9.24

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

📺YOUTUBE: Don’t miss our exclusive interview with defense titan Norm Augustine, the first CEO of Lockheed Martin. Watch it on YouTube or download the podcast on choice. Spotify, Apple, Pandora, iHeartRadio, etc.

🎧 LOWDOWN: Something new for ‘24 we’re trying: we just dropped a short audio-only episode that summarizes the intel crammed in our weekly newsletters. We may keep it—or kill it—depending on feedback. Check it out using the links above.

They Said It
“The order volume will enable MBDA to set up a production facility for Patriot missiles in Germany.”

— Thomas Gottschild, managing director at MBDA Germany, on the announcement of a $5.5B order for 1,000 Patriot missiles from a European coalition involveing Germany, the Netherlands, Spain and Romania.

If you’re confused why a European company is building a US weapon: thank the Cold War. The contract is going to COMLOG, a joint venture between MBDA Germany and RTX (Raytheon) established in 1987 to store and maintain Patriot missiles in Europe. Now they are going to start building them.

Zoom in

There’s been lots of talk about China and the Indo-Pacific. But, the “Indo” has been lacking in recent conversations.

Zoom in here to learn why the Indian Ocean could be China's Achilles' heel in a war with Taiwan.

In that Number

157

The Army plans on cutting 157 UH-50 Blackhawk helicopters from it’s active-duty fleet, a 7.5% reduction of the service’s total H-60 fleet

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Saved Rounds

• PZL Mielec produced its 100th Polish-built Black Hawk helicopter

• HawkEye 360 acquires Maxar’s RF Solutions business unit to expand their space-based signals intelligence

• General Atomics was tapped by SOCOM to modify MQ-1C and MQ-9 drones for special operations

• Canada ordered 11 MQ-9B drones

• BAE is restarting production of titanium parts for M777 howitzers under a $50m Army contract

• Patria was tapped to provide indiguouness maintenance and service for Finland’s F-35 fleet

• Japan and the US signed an agreement to collaborate on AI for ‘Loyal Wingman’ CCA drones

• Boeing's delivered the first of 6 'Orca' 80-ton drone submarines to the Navy

• Palantir was awarded a 1-year $115m extension by the Army for its Vantage data platform (the short-term extension on the company’s second largest contract had mixed reviews)

• RTX received a $408m Air Force contract to operationalize a HACM-based hypersonic weapon for Australia

• The Army is deciding whether to rapidly field an upscaled ‘launched effect’ based on Anduril’s Altius 700 prototype (first test-fire was last month, from a H-60 Blackhawk)

• South Korea’s air force received its first TA-50 Block 2 fighter jet trainer

• Nigeria is buying Bell AH-1Z Viper attack helicopters

• RTX received a $345m Air Force contract to build 1,500+ StormBreaker networked glide weapons

• Firehawk received a SBIR Phase III contract to advance its novel hybrid rocket motor tech (think HIMARS, Javelin, Stinger missile motors)

• Aurora Flight Sciences begins building the X-65 drone for DARPA (flies without ailerons or any exterior-moving parts)

• Japan will dispatch solar-powered flying 5G stations in 2025

• Kinetic Engine Systems was established; this new business aims to be a supplier of aerospace engine components for commercial and defense markets

• Mali received more Bayraktar TB2 drones

• Aerojet Rocketdyne is extending upgrades to its rocket motor facility to support the Army’s GMLRS demands

• Turkey approves plans for an aircraft carrier

• MBRYONICS selected as the laser communication terminal provider for DARPA’s Space-BACN program (connects incompatible satellite constellations)

• SAIC was awarded a $63m contract to support Navy hypersonic weapon programs

• Maxar is providing Precision3D data of the Indo-Pacific region to the NGA (see what it looks like!)

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