NEWS

UK to mass produce explosives again

Thirteen British sites have apparently been identified for ‘energetics’ factories, as the government faces fresh calls to end its reliance on US munitions.

Although recent media coverage has understandably focused on the revolution in drone warfare, the requirement for artillery munitions has not gone away. And although the Ukrainian battlefield is saturated with drones of all types, both sides continue to use artillery. It is cheap and un-jammable.

The counter-insurgency campaigns of Iraq and Afghanistan used relatively little artillery. It wasn’t well-suited to prosecuting an enemy that hid within the local population. And so we forgot just how much of it is required for conventional warfare.

Then successive defence spending reviews made cuts to munitions production. It was easier to reduce the number of shells being made than to make a half a ship. Or two thirds of a tank.

But the prospect of great power conflict has changed the calculus. Artillery, it seems, will never be obsolete.

UK deploys anti-drone troops to Belgium

Britain is sending anti-drone equipment and personnel to Belgium after a spate of sightings near airports and military bases.

I wrote recently that the counter-drone market is probably a lot bigger than we think it is. Besides the obvious military use cases, it is likely that every airport, military base, stadium and site of critical infrastructure will need some kind of protection. I suspect that the Belgian authorities are googling C-UAS solutions as I write.

And while it’s not clear who was responsible, my sense is that this kind of grey zone warfare will increasingly be a feature of conflict.

During the Cold War the USSR invested heavily in the KGB - espionage was the sub-threshold activity of the time. Today Russia has disinformation farms, offensive cyber units and locally recruited sabotage teams.

US Air Force successfully tests wingman drone

A US Air Force F-22 Raptor pilot has for the first time directly controlled a General Atomics MQ-20 Avenger unmanned combat drone from the fighter’s cockpit during a live flight. The demonstration saw the pilot issue real-time commands via a tablet interface.

Although Anduril and Helsing both have their own wingman drones in development, this has always felt like a technology that traditional defence primes would dominate. That now seems to be true. The list of companies involved features no new defence tech startups.

Perhaps, in time, there will be different wingman drones for different missions. For the moment, this is a reminder that defence primes aren’t going anywhere. And partnership with them will be a feature of the new order.

FUNDRAISING

• CHAOS Industries, an American developer of drone and missile detection systems, raised a $510m Series D at a $4.5bn post-money valuation led by Valor Equity Partners.

• Forterra, an American developer of uncrewed ground vehicles (UGVs), raised a $188m Series C at a $1bn+ valuation led by Moore Strategic Ventures.

• Teradar, an American developer of a terahertz band sensor for autonomy, raised a $150m Series B led by Capricorn Investment Group (Lockheed Martin’s venture arm).

• Ursa Major, an American developer of hypersonic technology, raised a $100m Series E led by Eclipse.

• Sweet Security, an Israeli developer of technology to stop cloud attacks, raised a $75m Series B led by Evolution Equity Partners.

• Tenzai, an Israeli developer of AI for autonomous penetration testing, raised a $75m seed round co-led by Battery Ventures, Greylock Partners, and Lux Capital.

• Carbon, an American developer of additive manufacturing technology, raised a $60m round from existing investors.

• Hypersonix, an Australian developer of hydrogen-powered hypersonic technology, raised $46m round led by High Tor Capital.

• U-Space, a French satellite manufacturer, raised a €24m Series A led by Blast, Bpifrance, and Expansion.

• Red Queen Bio, an American developer of tools to identify and defend against biological threats, raised a $15m seed round led by OpenAI.

• Humanix, an American developer of AI to detect and stop social engineering attacks in real time, raised an $18m seed and Series A co-led by Acrew Capital and BoldStart Ventures.

• Endolith, an American developer of microbes and AI to extract copper and other critical minerals from low-grade and complex ores, raised a $13.5m seed round led by Squadra Ventures.

• Bone AI, a Korean/American developer of autonomous air, ground, and marine vehicles, raised a $12m seed round led by Third Prime.

• Extellis, an American developer of satellite technology to provide consistent, all-weather Earth observation, raised a $6.8m seed round led by Oval Park Capital.

• Vast, an American developer of commercial space station technology, raised an undisclosed amount from In-Q-Tel.

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