Betting on Autonomous Aircraft; Erik Prince Launches New Startup With Swarmer

INNOVATION

New Power Solution Could Slash US Army Fuel Use Up to 60 Percent

Amphora uses software to optimize and manage energy from power sources already available on the battlefield.

Erik Prince Launches “Air Defense As a Service” Startup With Swarmer

Guess who’s back, back again? Erik’s back, tell a friend.

That’s right, folks. Erik Prince is back like he never left. This morning, the completely uncontroversial mercenary launched his latest venture, coming out of stealth with a new startup called Vectus that’s pitching a unique “air defense as a service” model.

Betting on Autonomous Aircraft

This exclusive Cogs of War interview is with Brandon Tseng, the co-founder and president of Shield AI and a former Navy SEAL, whose company builds the Hivemind autonomy software, the V-BAT and X-BAT aircraft, and Aechelon synthetic reality and simulation technologies. We asked Brandon about the bet at the center of his company — that the AI pilot matters more than the airframe — and about what a decade building autonomy for the Pentagon has taught him.

AI

UK gets its hands on Ukraine’s Avengers AI data

Landmark deal makes the UK into Ukraine's first international partner to share and collaborate on AI-based defence tech

Exclusive: Sandtable Wins $45.3M Army IDIQ for AI-Powered Mission Planning

Most of what the AI-for-defense nerds focus on is complex, finicky things like autonomous systems, command and control, and targeting. But AI can make a major difference in the more, erm, mundane stuff, too—pen-and-paper mission planning, wargaming, and decision-making. And luckily, bringing these day-to-day tasks into the AI era doesn’t inspire nearly as many conversations about whether we should let robots kill humans.

TECHNOLOGY

AI-enabled deception threatens future operations, raises chances of large conflict, says Special Operations leader

Faster intelligence gathering and analysis enabled by AI is allowing special operators to pull off missions that would have been impossible years ago, U.S. Special Operations Command leader Adm. Frank Bradley, said Wednesday. But malign actors empowered by simple AI tools are undermining military and civilian leaders’ confidence in digital information, he said. That credibility decay, raising doubt about what is and is not true, will affect not just operations but the ability of the United States to “generate that unity of effort” to deter or defend against adversarial attack, he said.

Shortage of engineers creates opportunities to advance in Ukrainian defense tech

The speed of innovation on the Ukrainian battlefield means frontline troops may need a new drone design within weeks — but the country’s defense industry faces a critical labor shortage that threatens to derail that pace.

Johns Hopkins APL-Developed Target-Tracking Tech Drives Critical Defense Systems

When it comes to national defense, technology can’t stand still.

For more than 15 years, a capability for tracking multiple moving targets has been powering critical sea, land, and air defense systems. Designed by the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland, and known as Precision Engagement of Moving Targets, or PEMT, the system uses an ingenious blend of innovations in data fusion; computational resource management; and intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, and targeting (ISR&T) and continues to meet evolving mission needs.

SPACE

Space transportation policy calls for integration with air traffic control modernization

The guidance directs the Transportation Department and other agencies to “implement a plan to integrate space launch and reentry management into airspace and traffic control modernization efforts.”

EUROPE

Saab Wins UK Contract to Sustain Giraffe 1X Radar Fleet

The UK’s Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S) has awarded Saab UK a 1.8-million-pound ($2.45-million) contract to provide logistics support for the multi-mission Giraffe 1X Radar.

Under the contract, Saab will provide equipment, training, helpdesk services, and spares support. Delivery is scheduled from July 2, 2026, to March 31, 2027, with an option to extend the contract through March 31, 2030.

DRONES

Ukraine targets Russian UAVs with new Alexa Spatium drone interceptor

The interceptor is primarily intended to target Russian kamikaze UAVs such as Geran-3, Geran-4, Geran-5, and Shahed-131.

RESEARCH

New Fellowship Puts STEM Students at Center of Austin’s Defense Tech Boom

The Clements Center’s Defense Technology Fellows Program welcomes its first cohort this fall, connecting students in engineering, science and mathematics to defense companies, military commands and research labs that surround the UT campus.

For Southern California, Defense Tech Is the Best Real Estate Offense

South Bay cities such as Torrance, Long Beach and El Segundo are drawing so many tenants and so much investment a spillover into other areas is inevitable

ARMY

Anduril redesigns tech for Army’s Soldier Borne Mission Command program

An Anduril executive provided an update on the SBMC effort.

NAVY

Navy establishes new defense industrial base office

Andrew Magliochetti, who previously served as the director of the Navy’s Office of Small Business Programs, will oversee the Office of the Defense Industrial Base.

AIR FORCE

Air Force ‘Closely Following’ Navy’s New Air-to-Air ‘Malice’ Missile

A new Navy missile could fill a long-range air-to-air need for the U.S. Air Force’s fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-generation fighters.

STRATEGY

The Risks of Downplaying China’s Military

China has spent years modifying civilian ferries to launch amphibious armored vehicles, developing specialized equipment to move forces ashore without conventional port facilities, hardening dozens of air bases, and rapidly expanding the missile forces that could be used to deter or defeat a U.S. intervention. Yet at the same time, a recurring line of analysis has argued that concerns about China’s military capabilities are overstated — and that an invasion of Taiwan remains beyond the reach of the People’s Liberation Army.