Army Prepares Command, Control System for ‘Relentless’ Attacks; McNamara’s Lessons for the Drone Age

INNOVATION

Anduril is Bringing Gecko’s Robo-Inspectors into Arsenal-2

Two short days after Anduril unveiled the $3.7B, 2M-square-foot mega-factory, Gecko Robotics announced that their wall-crawling robots and critical infrastructure inspection software will be deployed at Arsenal-2 and Anduril’s parallel 160,000-square-foot protofactory in Orange County, CA, to ensure all of the components Anduril’s making for Virginia-class submarines are up to snuff.

Raytheon wins up to $6.3bn contract for SM-3 Block IB missiles

SM‑3 IB, a ship- and land-based interceptor, is designed to engage short- to intermediate-range ballistic missiles in midcourse flight.

Teledyne Has Another ‘Prism,’ This Time for AI-Powered Air-to-Ground Target Tracking

Prism A-ISR uses patented denoising, super-resolution tools, and electronic stabilization to improve image quality.

INVESTMENT

UAV surveillance firm Monopulse raises over €2M to further expand its NATO markets

The funding will allow for expansion of Monopulse’s production capacity, research and development, and to accelerate the company’s entry into additional markets, including Germany, France and the Netherlands.

AI

Shield AI picks sites for X-BAT production and flight testing

Newton, Kansas, will host flight testing and fleet sustainment while Des Moines, Washington, becomes the autonomous fighter's production centre.

SK Telecom Develops AI That Can Rehearse Battlefield Scenarios

The system combines battlefield data and digital simulations to help commanders assess scenarios and support tactical decisions.

TECHNOLOGY

First Brazilian-made Gripen E fighter completes maiden flight

After production flight test and acceptance, the aircraft will be delivered to the Brazilian Air Force and assigned to the First Air Defence Group.

Australia receives second HIMARS tranche two years ahead of schedule

The delivery adds to Australia’s 10th Fires Brigade and follows a A$2.3bn investment in HIMARS and PrSM.

SPACE

Army shifts hundreds of soldiers into robotics, space jobs

10 warrant officers were the first in the Army to graduate as the new 390A Robotics Technicians MOS, while hundreds joined the 40D space operations field.

EUROPE

Europe’s Space Defenses Fall Just Shy of Weaponization

ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher told reporters this week at the International Astronautical Congress in Turkey that “Europe does not deploy weapons in space,” warning that the use of weapons to damage adversarial spacecraft would ensure the spread of debris, and potentially make space unusable for all.

STARTUPS

US-Norwegian startup Heaviside launches Tyr loitering munition

The company is headquartered in L.A. but partners closely with Norwegian arms-maker Nammo, which provides the anti-tank warheads and a range for live-fire testing.

CHINA

How China and America Can Move from Competition to Stability

The American team thought it was signaling restraint. The Chinese team saw preparations for combat. In a closed-door Sino-American crisis simulation I helped organize in the 2010s — which the U.S. military funded as part of a long-term project — the Americans repositioned an aircraft carrier away from a maritime dispute between China and the Philippines, expecting the move to reassure Beijing. Instead, the Chinese participants became deeply alarmed.

They believed the carrier was now ideally positioned to launch combat operations while remaining less vulnerable to attack. The episode revealed how suspicion could turn an intended reassurance into an apparent threat. This danger becomes more intense when each side views the other primarily through the lens of strategic competition.

ARMY

The future of mechanized infantry is charging your phone

Army mechanized units are learning to move energy the way they move water and ammunition.

Army’s new command plans to streamline autonomous warfare acquisition

The Army is bringing futures back.

The service announced the creation of Futures and Autonomous Systems Command on Friday, a day after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced the creation of a new combatant command for autonomous warfare in a speech to troops.

Army Prepares its Command, Control System for ‘Relentless’ Attacks

After sprinting to conduct a series of experiments and exercises, the Army a little more than a year after kicking off its Next Generation Command and Control program is reporting positive results.

Project Convergence Capstone 6 — held at the National Training Center in Fort Irwin, California, over 10 days in July was the most recent tech demo to feature what the Army calls NGC2.

NAVY

VideoRay Tapped for US Navy’s Uncrewed Mine-Hunting Push

VideoRay is supporting an AEVEX-led team selected for a prototype contract following the US Navy and Defense Innovation Unit’s Mine Countermeasure Modernization Prize Challenge. AEVEX Maritime Systems, formerly BlackSea Technologies, was one of three awardees.

AIR FORCE

Long-Range Anti-Ship Missile Will Integrate onto B-52

The Air Force’s B-52 bomber may soon be able to carry up to 20 stealthy long-range anti-ship missiles to strike moving targets at sea, a key capability in a potential fight with China.

STRATEGY

McNamara’s Lessons for the Drone Age

Before Robert McNamara became US secretary of defense, he belonged to a generation of analysts who attempted to understand warfare through the lens of measurable flows.