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NEWS In Chinese aerospace news, Pakistan appeared to have shot down an Indian fighter jet using Chinese-made J-10C Vigorous Dragon warplanes. There is some debate as to whether this was a French-made Dassault Rafale or not. Pakistan claims that it was. This is the first time that modern Chinese fighter jets have been used against their Western equivalents. If they did indeed bring down one of India’s Rafales, that would be a major coup. The Rafale is perhaps the most successful French arms export and considered to be one of the most capable aircraft in its class. But even if no Rafale was shot down, this has been a useful proving ground for China. Just as British and American tanks have been tested in Ukraine, Chinese air assets have now been tested over Kashmir. It also appears that China was able to try out its "system of systems" approach to warfare, which views modern conflict as a contest between opposing operational systems rather than just individual units or weapons. Meanwhile India has fielded a smörgåsbord of defence technology. Its French-made Rafale fighter jets must coordinate with Russian air defence stations and Israeli airborne early warning and control aircraft. I can’t imagine those are easy to integrate. This feels a bit like the early smartphone wars: the iPhone was beautiful hardware, but the real breakthrough was iOS as a tightly integrated operating system. If China is moving towards an “iOS for war” then its military export story could become very compelling. In quantum computing and space news, IonQ, an American quantum computing company, announced the acquisition of Capella Space, an American satellite and radar technology company. IonQ’s share price rose on the news. The synergies between a satellite company and a quantum computing company are not immediately obvious. However, it appears that IonQ plans to launch a “global space-to-space and space-to-ground satellite quantum key distribution (QKD) network”. Essentially, it is looking to enable next-generation secure communications via satellite. A few years ago quantum computing was something academics did in university laboratories. Now publicly listed quantum companies are making land grabs across different technological sectors and putting quantum technology in space. This is typically what happens when foundational technologies mature and reach sideways into adjacent stacks. That feels a bit premature for quantum, but IonQ is clearly setting out its intentions. It will be interesting to see if the other big quantum companies adopt a similar approach. In underwater news, Helsing, a German defence-tech company, unveiled Lura and SG-1 Fathom, which together form an underwater surveillance capability. Lura deploys on SG-1 Fathom and apparently has a large acoustic model which enables it to detect very quiet acoustic signatures. Helsing follows its American counterpart, Anduril, in branching out from aerial drones to the subsurface battlespace. That makes sense. Both companies want to own the future of autonomous warfare and autonomy applies across air, land and sea. What is undecided is who will own the European market for underwater autonomy. The two companies have taken subtly different approaches. Anduril has developed (and acquired) a full suite of subsurface capability, whereas Helsing, a new market entrant, is initially looking to deliver surveillance capability. As yet, there is no dominant company in Europe in this space. And Helsing and Anduril are not the only two looking to win the market. While they have raised the most money, there are many early-stage startups moving quickly to overtake them. The question is whether their early mover advantage will convert into market share. And also whether one dominant company will emerge, instead of many smaller ones serving their national markets. FUNDRAISING Classiq, an Isreal-based startup that helps companies build and scale quantum computing applications, raised a $110m Series C round, led by Entrée Capital. X-Bow, a nine-year-old Albuquerque startup that develops solid-rocket motors for defense and space customers, raised a $105m Series B round, led by Lockheed Martin. Tekever, a Portuguese-based developer of large unmanned aerial systems (UAS), raised €70m Series B round, led by Baillie Gifford and the NATO Innovation Fund.
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