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NEWS In more undersea news, NATO announced the launch of Baltic Sentry, a new military activity to strengthen the protection of critical infrastructure. The initiative will enhance NATO’s military presence in the Baltic Sea and improve Allies’ ability to respond to destabilizing acts. This follows last week’s news that the Joint Expeditionary Force had launched Nordic Warden, a UK-led reaction system designed to monitor threats to undersea infrastructure and track Russia’s shadow fleet. I wonder whether it will be NATO or JEF which reacts to the next Russian shadow ship dragging its anchor. Or perhaps a coalition of both? In space news, China launched its Shijian-25 satellite to test on-orbit refueling and mission extension technologies. The spacecraft will be used for satellite fuel replenishment and life extension. While the mission may be focused on extending the lifetime of a civilian satellite, the capability could be used in the future to support military satellites through on-orbit servicing. The People’s Liberation Army is known to be working on the technology for on-orbit satellite refueling for both peacetime and wartime scenarios. This is a true dual-use capability. I don’t know of any other country developing this kind of on-orbit technology and it goes to show how China is thinking outside the box. The implications here are fascinating. On-orbit refueling could transform the economics of space operations - if you extend the life of satellites you don’t need to replace them as often. And satellites that can be refueled could stay operational during a conflict or even reposition themselves to avoid threats. This is a domain where civilian and military objectives are tightly intertwined. I’ll be interested to see how other nation states (or Elon Musk) respond to this kind of innovation. In drone news, drone racing is set to become an official British Army sport for the first time. The activity, which involves flying drones around a course at speed, is recognised as a sport by the World Air Sports Federation (FAI), but the Army had yet to do so. This seems curious but actually it’s a logical step. Drone racing isn’t just a recreational activity - it’s a way to hone skills in piloting First Person View (FPV) drones. As we’ve seen in many videos coming out of Ukraine, these now form part of modern military operations. It also follows a broader trend of militaries integrating consumer technology into their operations. I wonder whether this will become a standard approach globally or remain a niche experiment in the UK. FUNDRAISING Epirus, a US-based developer of directed-energy systems to counter drones and drone swarms, is in the market to raise $150-200m at a $1bn valuation, according to Bloomberg. Overland AI, a US-based developer of autonomous driving technology, primarily serving defense sector clients, raised a $32m Series A round. Intelex Vision, a UK-based developer of AI-powered video surveillance systems that monitor and analyze live footage to detect security threats in real-time, raised a £5.6m Series A round. SignPath, an Austria-based developer of cyber security technology which ensures code integrity from development to distribution, has raised a €5m Series A round. LetsData, a Ukraine-based developer of disinformation detection technology, raised a $1.6m pre-seed round.
JOBS 6 Degrees Capital is looking for a VC analyst/associate. Disruptive Industries is looking for a Senior Technical Intelligence Analyst. Alpine Eagle, a developer of counter-unmanned aerial systems (C-UAS), is looking for a variety of robotics and computer vision engineers.
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