This Week in Dual-Use
NEWS
In UAS news, China apparently placed an order for almost a million lightweight kamikaze drones, to be delivered by 2026.
I recently came across this month-old news but haven’t seen anyone talk about it yet. As always with China, we don’t have a lot of information. But if this is true, what strikes me is the contrast with UAS adoption in the West.
This is an unprecedented scale of drone procurement.
China is focusing on mass production and attrition strategies, while Western militaries are still prioritizing high-cost, high-capability platforms. When they come online, one million kamikaze drones would completely change the calculus for a potential invasion of Taiwan.
For me this raises the question of whether the West is preparing for the right kind of war. The sheer scale of this order suggests that China sees drones not as a supplemental capability, but as central to its military doctrine.
In Baltic Sea news, NATO is deploying at least 20 unmanned surface vessels (USVs) as part of Baltic Sentry, an operation to protect critical undersea infrastructure.
This marks NATO’s first use of USVs for maritime surveillance and infrastructure protection.
The use of USVs for infrastructure protection feels like a natural progression, but it’s a big shift in how NATO thinks about maritime security. It’s good to see how quickly this technology is moving to operational deployment.
I’ll be interested to see how Russia responds. Will we see new grey zone tactics to counteract this?
In manufacturing news, Anduril announced the construction of Arsenal-1, a 5 million square foot manufacturing facility in central Ohio, creating 4,000 jobs in the area.
I don’t have a particularly contrarian take on this, except to note that it’s a bold bet for a company which isn’t at the scale of a defence prime (in 2024 it made $1bn in revenue, compared to Lockheed Martin’s $56bn).
Perhaps you have to act like a prime to become a prime. And perhaps this is a reflection of the optimistic mood in the US. Or Palmer Luckey’s relationship with Donald Trump
Either way, I like it. You can’t challenge incumbents without thinking big.
FUNDRAISING
Shield AI, a US-based developer of UAS and AI for military use, is reportedly raising $200m at a $5bn valuation.
SEEQC, a US-based developer of quantum computing systems which integrate classical and quantum technologies on a single chip, raised a $30m round.
Quantum Brilliance, a Germany and Australia-based developer of quantum computers which use synthetic diamonds, raised a $20m Series A round.
Stoke Space, a US-based developer of fully reusable rockets, raised a $260m Series C round.
Loft Orbital, a US-based provider of space infrastructure services, raised a $170m Series C round.
BforeAI, a US and France-based developer of cyber security technology which uses AI to predict and block cyberattacks, raised a $10m Series B round.
Egregious, a UK-based developer of AI safety technology, raised a $1m Pre-seed round.