🔷 Saved Rounds! 4.9.24

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

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They Said It
“We have more connectivity in our cars and on our cell phones than we do in the forward edge of the mobility platforms right now—and we have got to aggressively depart from that.”

— Air Force Gen. Mike Minihan, commander of Air Mobility Command

Zoom in

Deterrence is a weird thing. It works well…until it doesn’t. Knowing where that line is and how much investment in deterrence needs to be made is more art than science.

Zoom in here to learn more about how the Pentagon and Congress are trying to figure it out in the Pacific to deter China.

In that Number

52 years

The Royal Netherlands Air Force retired its 52-year-old Medium Power Radar (MPR) that has been in service since 1971. It’s being replaced by a Ground Master 400 Alpha (GM400α) radar from Thales.

Saved Rounds

• Varda Space Industries raises $90m to make drugs in space—its capsules double as hypersonic test beds (we interviewed the CEO last year; check it out!)

• Kanders & Company is acquiring L3Harris’s antenna business for $200m

• Italy retired its AMX attack jets after 35 years of service

• Kratos demoed XQ-58A doing electronic warfare for the Marine Corps

• The Pentagon a Commercial Space Integration Strategy

• L3Harris is eyeing creating a maritime version of its Vampire counter-drone system

• The Air Force is looking to add SATCOM to its KC-135 fleet

• Helicity Space received an investment from Lockheed Martin Ventures to advance its fusion engines

• The Army is evaluating additional 50-kilowatt platforms as it seeks to buy short-range air defense laser weapons

• Ultra unveiled its new ‘Archer’ troposcatter comms system for the US Army, a bridge between line-of-sight radios and SATCOM

• Nightwing is the name of the new company comprised of the cybersecurity and intelligence division RTX sold off

• Shield AI is acquiring Sentient Vision Systems and is establishing Shield AI Australia

• The Navy is removing the MQ-8C Fire Scout fleet from service ASAP, with plans to retire them all by 2026

• CopaSAT is seeing a surge in orders for its militarized Starshield satellite terminal

• The Air Force F-15’s new electronic warfare system (EPAWSS) completed operational testing

• Hensoldt completed its takeover of ESG, a German defense electronics firm

• TCOM, a defense aerostat and high-altitude balloon company, acquired Equinox, a multi-rotor drone company

• Boeing received the 1st US Navy P-8A Poseidon for Increment 3 Block 2 upgrades

• Hughes flat panel ESA user terminal was approved for commercial availability on the OneWeb LEO

• Network

• The UK expects short-term delays in F-35 deliveries due to software update problems

• Scout Space is developing a space domain awareness sensor aimed at the military market

• HawkEye 360 secured $40m in debt financing to advance its space-based RF data and analytics product line (it’s a Series D venture-backed company, so…?)

• The Pentagon’s only aerial spraying unit started equipment testing for the C-130J-30 Super Hercules

• Terran Orbital disclosed its revenue grew 44% in 2023 as it prepares to be bought by Lockheed Martin

• Lockheed Martin finished upgrading the British Army's LEAPP truck-mounted radar system with its SkyKeeper C2 software

• Palantir received a $9.8m contract to provide an electromagnetic battle management system prototype for the US Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA)

• GE Aerospace launched as a standalone company focused on aerospace and defense (it kept the ‘GE’ ticker symbol)

• Mitsubishi joins Starlab Space, the joint venture of Voyager Space and Airbus Defence and Space that is developing a commercial space station

• Lockheed Martin was awarded a $483m Army contract for more Hellfires and JAGMs (Joint-Air-to-Ground Missiles)

• MicroTau (Australia) was tapped by DoD to apply its sharkskin-inspired ‘riblet’ film to Air Force aircraft to test fuel efficiency improvement

• The Navy will experiment with using Epirus high-power microwave (HPM) weapons to disable outboard motors on small surface vessels

• Sweden ordered a $37m LITENING 5 target pod package for its Gripen fighters

• The Pentagon’s proposed 2025 budget includes $134m for commercial satcom—almost double from 2024’s budget

• The Army implemented multi-year buys of rockets and missiles

• AFRL is building an AI research center using a $4m grant

• Norway plans to double its military spending under a new long-term defense plan

• Boeing secured a $657m Navy contract mod for 2 more MQ-25 Stingray test aircraft

• Australia’s DefendTex in talks to buy Brazil’s missile-maker Avibras

• Ukraine’s latest drones are made from underground plastic pipes (pics!)

• The Navy is looking for its next hypersonic test bed (MACH-TB 2.0)

• Kratos demoed satellite internet tech for the Army using a software-defined virtual ground system

And finally…

• The Pentagon finally cleared the F-35 Lightning II…..to fly near lightning

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