#defense-technology

#defense-technology

Moscow's agents are building fake companies, recruiting middlemen and deploying cyber spies and hackers who are gathering information that could also be used to attack key infrastructure, they said.

Late last summer, the founders of a small company in Ukraine that made software to manage swarms of drones were weighing whether to work with Erik Prince, the founder of the mercenary firm Blackwater. "Erik Prince is fucking cruising around telling everybody that he's going to take them big time and he's best friends with Trump and Hegseth and all these people and he wants to invest," recalled an individual who spoke with the founders and advised them against collaboration. "You're bringing in a guy who's going to bring about the downfall of your company."

NATO's defense ministers committed to spending at least 2.5% of GDP on defense, with Poland, the Baltics, and Greece already running above 4%, and the alliance has set a target of 5% of GDP on defense spending by 2035. In 2025, all 32 NATO allies met or exceeded the 2% target for the first time, compared with only three in 2014.

The mood in the room, Marijan recalls, suddenly turned apprehensive. The most frightening part wasn't the premise it was that the Pentagon was already developing a version of this technology. That meeting was the first one held after the start of Project Maven, a US Department of Defense initiative using AI to analyze drone surveillance footage. And by late 2017, Maven had a major tech company on board: Google.

CEO Eric Brock told investors the strategy is to "build Ondas into a scaled global operating platform for unmanned and autonomous systems, serving defense, security, industrial and critical infrastructure markets." The market is paying attention: shares are up 972.04% over the past year, lifting the market cap to $5.26 billion.

Palantir Technologies and CEO Alex Karp released a 22-point manifesto in April, arguing that national service should be mandatory. The call comes amid Palantir's push for AI-powered weaponry and closer ties between Silicon Valley and the U.S. defense sector, Fortune reported. I don't understand why anybody would wanna support that, Rogan continued. That sounds crazy. Especially after this Iran war where everybody's like, Why the f*ck are we in Iran?' And if you signed up for that? That sounds nuts.

The US Department of Homeland Security, in collaboration with the Defense Research and Development Canada, is looking to send autonomous drones and vehicles along the US-Canada border this fall, testing which products can stream surveillance video and sensor data between the two countries using commercial 5G networks.

Anduril has raised $5 billion in its latest funding round, doubling its valuation to $61 billion.

Unlike many fictional gadgets seen in Bond movies, the SC3 was not a movie prop designed solely for visual appeal. It was engineered as a real-world concept capable of operating both on the water's surface and beneath it. The project reportedly attracted interest from the UK Special Boat Service and even DARPA because of its unconventional capabilities and military-style versatility before eventually making its way into the Bond universe.

The dataset reportedly contains more than 10 petabytes of sensitive information, including classified defense documents, missile schematics, and technical files, among others.

"If you capture them, you have a business, and if you don't, you have no business," Steckman said of these programs.

Department of War AI will not be woke. We're building war ready weapons and systems, not chatbots for an Ivy League faculty lounge. Later on, President Donald Trump lambasted Anthropic as a RADICAL LEFT, WOKE COMPANY.

KeyBanc lowered its price target to $295 from $330 and kept its Overweight rating after adjusting estimates post-earnings. The firm attributes the target reduction to recent changes to the SCAR program and timing in contract awards. Despite the revision, KeyBanc's broader conviction on AeroVironment is unchanged: the firm maintains that AeroVironment is positioned to capitalize on the proliferation of UAS/cUAS and increased government spending in defense and space-related programs.

Anthropic sought explicit contractual restrictions to prevent its AI from being used for mass domestic surveillance or fully autonomous weapons. The Pentagon, in contrast, insisted it must be able to deploy contractor technology for any lawful purpose. Negotiations broke down, the Department of Defense moved to terminate the contract, and it designated Anthropic a supply chain risk, effectively restricting many government agencies and defense contractors from working with the company.

If you have ever considered returning to Palantir, this is the week to do it. The world is demanding every last unit of creative energy we can muster. If you return, you will be on a plane day one and committing code that matters within hours of getting your...

The DoD's free GenAI.mil platform is the biggest overhang on the Ask Sage thesis. BigBear paid $250M for that acquisition, and if government agencies can get similar functionality for free, the return on that deal shrinks fast. Management needs to draw a clear line between what Ask Sage offers and what GenAI.mil does not.

xAI agreed to that 'all lawful use' standard, a move that paved the way for the deal while other tech giants were still caught in negotiations. This allows Grok to be used in high-stakes environments, including weapons development and intelligence analysis.

Code Metal, a Boston-based startup that uses AI to write code and translate it into other programming languages, just closed a $125 million Series B funding round from new and existing investors. The news comes just a few months after the startup raised $36 million in series A financing led by Accel. Code Metal is part of a new wave of startups aiming to modernize the tech industry by using AI to generate code and translate it across programming languages.

OPINION - Out with a "rules-based international order" and in with "U.S. core national interests", according to the U.S. National Security Strategy (NSS) of 2025. The NSS was not well-received by many of the 32 members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Indeed, saying good-bye to the U.S. as the guarantor of global order will be difficult for many of our allies and partners, who will be expected to contribute more to their own defense and security.

Tensions between Israel and Iran have heavily influenced Middle Eastern politics for decades. Both nations have invested greatly in military strength, advanced technology, and regional influence. As their rivalry continues to play out through conflicts, cyber operations, and strategic acts, questions often arise about which country holds the upper hand. Israel is known for its cutting-edge defense systems, well trained forces, and close ties with Western powers,

Top talent, ambitious founders, and serious capital are flooding into a mission that matters, delivering products and solutions that will send us to the moon, deploy unimaginably capable unmanned aerial devices, and redefine what's possible in modern warfare. It's an exciting moment-one full of possibility and potential. But here's the problem: while everyone is focused on the moonshots, we're overlooking the foundation.

Palmer Luckey says he learned the hard way that relying on Silicon Valley talent can be a trap. The founder of Oculus VR and Anduril Industries recalled how, after Facebook (now Meta) acquired Oculus in 2014, his other company's hiring funnel narrowed almost exclusively to Bay Area engineers. Many, he said, were "very mercenary-minded" and more interested in résumé building than mission.

Rocket Lab's second-quarter results showcase how the space systems business is driving its revenues, accounting for $97.9 million of $144.5 million total revenue.