Why the Pentagon Finally Admitted It Fielded Weapons in Orbit
Air Force Secretary Troy Meink revealed the Space Force operates on-orbit space control weapons as the service pushes a $71.2 billion budget against a frozen continuing resolution.
Latest
Super Hornets Will Keep Flying as Tankers Until Stingray Reaches the Fleet
The Navy has put Boeing's MQ-25A Stingray into low-rate production, a $562 million Lot 1 start that leaves Super Hornets doing tanker duty until 2029 to extend the carrier air wing's strike radius.
The Dry Dock Defueling Backlog Trapping 15 Nuclear Submarines at the Pier
A new GAO report finds the Navy will spend $3.1 billion keeping 15 retired attack submarines manned and fueled because public and private dry docks have no room to defuel them. The same yards already burned $3.4 billion on active boats that sat idle for a decade.
Boeing, Anduril, and Lockheed Martin Advance in the Race to Unburden Patriot
The Army selected Lockheed Martin and a Boeing-Anduril team for Phase 2 of its Second Interceptor competition, aiming to fill a critical mid-tier missile gap and preserve strategic Patriot stockpiles.
How Northrop Grumman Locked In a Decade of Laser Defense for U.S. Army Helicopters
The U.S. Army awarded Northrop Grumman a $4.84 billion contract for Common Infrared Countermeasure systems through 2035, cementing a sole-source transition from pyrotechnic flares to continuous laser jamming across its combat helicopter fleet.
Covenant Emerges From Stealth With $250 Million to Mass-Produce Tomahawk-Class Cruise Missiles
Covenant emerged from stealth with Anthem, a mid-six-figure cruise missile designed for serial production as Tomahawk and JASSM inventories have been burned down in Iran. The company is trying to fill the gap between affordable mass and strategic range before allied magazines define deterrence.
How Seven-Year Interceptor Commitments Are Breaking the Solid Rocket Motor Bottleneck
Lockheed Martin and L3Harris have locked in a seven-year propulsion deal to triple PAC-3 MSE interceptor output, pairing multiyear capital certainty with dual-source manufacturing to overcome a chronic missile bottleneck.
How the Navy Is Using a 2019 Missile Contract to Unclog Tomahawk Production
The Pentagon wants 1,000 Tomahawks a year to replenish spent stockpiles, but prime contractor Raytheon cannot scale output until General Dynamics delivers more titanium warhead cases from Alabama.
Israeli Defense Startup Aitan Raises $41 Million to Take Combat-Tested Drone Software Global
Israeli-founded Aitan is coming out of stealth with a $41 million round and a blunt argument: attritable drones are commodities, and the sovereign asset is the software that flies them together.
Why the Army's $863 Million Artillery Bet Is on $15,000 Screw-In Fuzes, Not Excalibur
The Army locked a five-year, $862.8 million IDIQ for Northrop Grumman's M1156 Precision Guidance Kit, the $15,000 screw-in fuze that turns stock 155mm shells into GPS-corrected rounds. The next variants are built for jammed battlefields, and the line already belongs to one producer.
Why the Air Force Is Rushing a $10 Million Drone to Replace the $50 Million Reaper
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.
AeroVironment Wins $465 Million to Put High-Energy Lasers Into Serial Production
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
Palantir and Anduril Secure $192 Million to Move Army Tactical AI into Production
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
The Army's $45 Billion Bradley Replacement Race Just Moved From Digital Twins to Steel
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 Navy's $90 Million Bet on Affordable Hypersonic Mass
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
Boeing's $131 Billion F-15 Lifeline Faces a Seven-Month Delivery Slip
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
Duke Robotics Is Tackling Multibillion-Dollar Markets - Could It Be the Next Big Drone Story? (NASDAQ: DUKR)
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
Can Nuclear Microreactors Power Army Bases by 2028?
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
Why the Pentagon Is Hunting for Sub-$750,000 Missile Interceptors
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's $500 Million Bet to Scale Defense Revenue Overnight
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
The F-35's $38 Billion Cooling Dilemma Won't See a Production Fix Until 2033
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
The Navy Killed the Program Anduril Built a Shipyard For. Seven Other Companies Won the One That Replaced It.
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.
Wall Street Wire
The Pentagon's Missile Shortage Just Became a Rare Earth Opportunity (NASDAQ: EMAT)
Evolution Metals & Technologies Corp. is one of the few U.S.-listed producers already making the non-China magnet supply the Department of War says it can no longer wait for.
Funding
Space Force Pays SpaceX Rivals $60 Million to Break Launch Vendor Lock-In
SpaceX won a $2.29 billion sole-source contract in May to build the backbone of the military's new orbital data network. In August, the Space Force awarded five competitors a combined $60 million and said it needs to avoid vendor lock-in.