🔷 Saved Rounds 6.18.24

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 or wherever you get your content.

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In that Number

384

Norway and Denmark were approved to buy 384 AIM-120C-8 missiles for $2.1B.

By comparison, the US military plans to buy 457 AIM-120s this year (831 if you count the multi-year block buy)

Word of the Week

NIPRGPT: this is a portmanteau of NIPRNet (Non-classified Internet Protocol Router Network) and ChatGPT (Chat Generative Pre-trained Transformer)

What it Matters: The Air Force launched an experimental AI chatbot called NIPRGPT that operates on unclassified networks. Its freely available to users with a DoD Common Access Card

They Said It
“If another Osprey goes down, we’re done. This program is done.”

— Rep. Stephen Lynch expressing frustration over the V-22’s string of mishaps, urging to ground the Osprey until the new clutch is ready, rather than risk another fatal accident

New Podcast!

Mike and Jake host Palantir CTO Shyam Sankar to talk about software-defined warfare, defense modernization, and all the things we’d change to drive innovation to help the warfighter.

No topic was off limits—including the time when Palantir sued the Army.

Even though Shyam is a software tech executive, we spent most of the time talking about culture, leadership mentalities, history, and structure changes that are as relevant in the Pentagon as they are in any other industry.

Of course, no episode would be complete without some lively banter and spicy takes!

Check it out!

Spotify 
Apple
YouTube

In that Number

60,000+

Kayhan Space unveiled its Satcat space intelligence tool, a free service that tracks 60,000+ objects in orbit, from active satellites to drifting debris.

Zoom in

Did you know that only 2 companies—SpaceX and the United Launch Alliance—are eligible to fly National Security Space Launch missions? Blue Origin was just added to the contract to perform initial assessments and mission assurance and is likely to become the third. But there is still a long way to go.

Zoom in here to see how the Space Force plans to boost competition in this launch sector.

Saved Rounds

• MDA satellites (built by L3Harris and Northrop Grumman) tracked a hypersonic flight for the first time

• RapidFlight won a $10m AFWERX contract to develop and produce a customizable, autonomous, fixed-wing Group 2 drone with a 150-mile range that is 80% cheaper to produce

• Germany plans to bring back compulsory military service

• The Pentagon is pausing development of Advana—its default data analytics platform—to upgrade it for increased demand

• The Army is debating the path to buy long-range air-launched precision munitions

• RTX was eliminated from Space Force’s MEO missile warning/tracking program

• Anduril is investing $75m to expand its solid rocket motor (SRM) facility

• Anduril won a $19m Navy contract for SM-6 solid rocket motors

• Japan looks to revamp its defense industry after years of downsizing

• Roketsan (Turkish) converted an artillery rocket into a multi-payload device that can do jamming, intel collection, etc.

• Apex raised a $95m Series B funding round to accelerate production of larger satellite buses

• Kepler demoed optical inter-satellite links between a pair of data relay prototypes in low Earth orbit (LEO)

• Shield AI announced the integration of its edge autonomy onto new edge compute from Parry Labs—and flew it on Kratos’ MQM-178 Firejet

• Israel Aerospace Industries has unveiled a miniaturized jam-resistant satellite navigation system for airborne platforms and munitions

• Diehl Defence revealed details of its new IRIS-T SLX counter-air missile

• Finland sent advanced weapon prototypes to Ukraine for combat testing

• The Army’s Robotic Combat Vehicle (RCV) prototypes will fight with an opposing force in an upcoming exercise

• The Netherlands was approved to buy 174 extended-range AMRAAM-ER missiles

• Red Cat is acquiring FlightWave Aerospace Systems

• Lockheed Martin was tapped to upgrade guidance and sensors on 4 air-launched weapons programs (JASSM, LRASM, JAGM, and Hellfire)

• Greece may buy the US Army’s Precision Strike Missile (PrSM)

• Flex Force unveiled a new variant of its “Dronebuster” counter-drone system

• RTX landed a $677m Navy contract option for 7 more SPY-6 radars, bringing the total to 38 (plan is for 65 over the next decade)

• Aeronautics (a drone company) introduces a new loitering munition designed to work in concert with surveillance drones

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