🔷 Saved Rounds! 2.13.24

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.

They Said It
“I’d say the government is absolutely a double-edged sword, mostly on the good edge, but not always.”

— Timur Davis, investment director at Munich Re Ventures, cautioning startups on chasing dollars in R&D programs like the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contracts instead of building a product.

Word of the Week

CRADA: a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement is used to share federally funded R&D with the private sector, permitting private company access to government facilities, and/or facilitating work together to develop something without exchanging any money.

Why it Matters: The Pentagon to ink a CRADA with OpenAI, maker of ChatGPT

Saved Rounds

• RTX received a $75m Army contract for 600 Coyote 2C drone interceptors

• Pratt & Whitney’s upgraded F-35 engines should arrive in 2029

• Brazil's state-owned bank announced it will no longer finance defense businesses, leading to industry backlash

• BAE revealed a new autonomous collaborative platform (ACP) design

• China's CH-7 stealth drone completed testing and is projected to be operational next year

• Boeing’s T-7A trainer jet faces a new delivery delay amid parts challenges

• L3Harris is in ‘mature’ talks to set up a regional HQ in Saudi Arabia

• The Army aims to produce 60,000 155mm shells per month by October

• NASA’s JPL is laying off 8% of its workforce due to budget uncertainties

• Russia’s Su-57 stealth fighter is set to get new engines

• Turkey selects Northrop Grumman for F-16 EW upgrades—the ALQ-257 Integrated Viper Electronic Warfare Suite (IVEWS)

• Saudi Arabia is buying MQ-9-esque WL-10 Chinese drones

• The Pentagon’s latest weapons test report deemed the Navy’s CMV-22B Osprey not operationally suitable

• Sweden may buy Lockheed Martin C-130Js

• Xwing performed autonomous cargo delivery during a recent Air Force exercise

• Poland is my buy $1.2B in tethered aerostats for elevated sensing

• Synthetaic raised $15m in Series B funding for using AI to analyze data from space and air sensors

• Boeing’s KC-46 wing refueling pods are delayed due to FAA certification issues

• Honeywell announced an $84m investment to expand its manufacturing facility in Kansas

• South Korea and Qatar are expanding military cooperation

• BlackSky won $50m in contracts to provide commercial space-based intelligence for Indonesia

• The Netherlands signed a $908m deal to buy JASSM-ER cruise missiles

• DIU awarded Anduril a contract to prototype new capabilities for the company’s submarine drone

• The Navy selected Anduril, Kongsberg, and Oceaneering International to deliver prototypes for the service’s submarine drone (LDUUV) program

• Bell sled-tested a high-speed folding rotor that will inform their X-plane for DARPA’s SPRINT High-Speed Vertical Takeoff and Landing (HSVTOL) program (video)

🎁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