Drones
After losing at least 45 MQ-9 Reapers in 2026 combat operations, the Air Force is accelerating its Massed Modular Aircraft program to field low-cost attritable drones within three years.
Funding
The U.S. Army awarded AeroVironment a $464.8 million agreement for the Enduring High Energy Laser program, marking the first series-production contract for a laser weapon system in U.S. military history.
Partnerships
The U.S. Army awarded Palantir and Anduril a combined $192 million in delivery orders for the TITAN mobile intelligence ground station, marking a pivotal transition from experimental prototypes to fielded production hardware.
Companies
General Dynamics Land Systems delivered its first physical XM30 Wolf prototype to Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland in late August 2026. The milestone advances a head-to-head $45 billion competition against American Rheinmetall to replace the M2 Bradley.
Naval
The U.S. Navy awarded Castelion an $89,997,162 firm-fixed-price order to take Blackbeard to Early Operational Capability. The buy tests whether a Mach 5 strike weapon can be produced cheaply enough for the fleet to field it in numbers.
Aerospace
The Pentagon set an eye-popping $131.2 billion ceiling on Boeing's F-15 line through 2037, even as delivery delays officially breached the fighter's operational baseline and pushed full readiness to 2028.
Wall Street Wire
AeroVironment, Red Cat and Ondas turned drone stocks into one of the market's favorite themes. Duke Robotics just arrived on Nasdaq, and it is already executing on two distinct multi-billion-dollar opportunities.
Funding
Project Janus aims to shield major power-projection bases from domestic grid failure using commercial microreactors, but officials warned that private capital must carry the bulk of the cost.
Macro
Facing soaring cost-per-shot asymmetry, the military is funding a wave of clean-sheet interceptors and hypersonic strike weapons engineered from scratch for affordable mass.
Management
Joby Aviation is paying about $500 million to acquire Resonant Sciences, a Dayton defense shop that already books more than $100 million in annual revenue. The deal turns a decade of small Air Force pilots into a scaled, cleared defense franchise.
Aerospace
A 2023 GAO report found the F-35's overtasked cooling system is adding $38 billion in engine maintenance costs. Collins Aerospace just tested a candidate fix, but the program isn't expected to pick a solution or begin production until 2033.
Naval
Anduril spent tens of millions revamping a Seattle shipyard for a Navy autonomous-vessel program. The Navy canceled that program, and named Huntington Ingalls, Leidos, and five others to build the one that replaced it.