The Defense Tech Reshaping Investment; House Appropriators Release Defense Spending Bill

INNOVATION

Wargaming for Improved Acquisition: What Does It Take?

A few months ago, I attended a panel discussion for a wargame simulating rapid industrial mobilization for armed conflict. Conducted by a leading university, with teams composed of former senior defense officials, the game probed how government and industry collaboration would play out given minimal coordination before the onset of a crisis.

On the panel, the defense leaders confessed how infrequently they engaged with industry in real life to plan for a national emergency.

INVESTMENT

ICEYE becomes a €10 billion test for defense tech valuations

ICEYE is no longer being valued like a promising space startup. It is being priced like critical infrastructure. The Finnish synthetic aperture radar satellite company said on June 9 that it raised EUR 450 million in a Series F round led by General Atlantic, valuing the business at more than EUR 10 billion. Including a secondary placement for existing shareholders, the total transaction is above EUR 1 billion.

Smarter, faster and more disruptive: the defense tech reshaping investment

In aerospace and defense, four technology areas are currently generating the greatest volume of near-term investment activity. AI, cybersecurity, hypersonic weapons and the space economy each present compelling opportunities – and risks that investors cannot afford to underestimate.

AI

Ukraine gets down to AI business

Ukraine is celebrated as a bottom-up laboratory for military innovation. The popular narrative casts its defence-tech scene as a landscape of decentralised, but inspired, chaos, where open-source coders develop battlefield analytics and those who like to tinker assemble FPV drones in makeshift frontline workshops. It’s fast, flat, and improvisational.

Military-Specific AI Tools Aim to Ease Admin Workload

GenAI.mil, the Pentagon’s main generative artificial intelligence platform, has more than 1 million users and access to some of the world’s biggest AI models like ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini. But a handful of startups, including one founded by an Air Force veteran, say there’s room for more military-focused AI tools too.

TECHNOLOGY

Leidos develops real-time SATCOM dashboard for US Department of War

The JMT dashboard is expected to cut command-level reporting and analysis time by up to 85%.

Harbinger unveils uncrewed hybrid-electric military vehicle platform

The new military vehicles are designed for autonomous operation and enable full teleoperation via Harbinger’s proprietary API.

POLICY

House Appropriators Release FY2027 Defense Spending Bill

Unlike in the UK, it’s Christmas in June for the US defense world.

Yesterday, the House Appropriations Committee released its $1T FY2027 defense spending bill—in line with the Pentagon’s request—and there’s a lot to get excited about for our friends in the startup world (and of course, the primes, too).

EUROPE

Orqa unveils hybrid tactical drone for jammed battlefields

Croatian drone manufacturer Orqa has announced the launch of their latest tactical drone, the MRM2-10AI, a hybrid Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) that supports both radio control and fiber optic connectivity.

Ukraine Offers Drone Defense Tech to Baltics

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrived in Tallinn on Tuesday with an unusual offer for his hosts: the very technology that keeps Russian drones out of Ukrainian skies. He met prime ministers of the Nordic and Baltic countries at a regional summit in Estonia — a gathering shadowed by months of awkward incidents involving Ukrainian drones that wandered into the region by mistake.

Quantum Systems Unveils New Mega-Drone, Teams Up with Airbus

Big day for Quantum Systems out at the Berlin Air Show.

SECURITY

China used websites to target security-clearance holders, officials say

The FBI and Justice Department seized 13 websites allegedly used by Chinese intelligence operatives to target current and former U.S. officials and military personnel with access to classified government information.