Air Force picks Anduril, GA-ASI for fighter-class drone production
Air Force awards Anduril and General Atomics production contracts for 150+ collaborative combat aircraft, locking out legacy primes from the hardware market and accelerating autonomous wingman deployment by four months.
Georgia parts maker wins $76.5M in B-1 bomber wing contracts
Top Flight Aerostructures landed two competitive DLA contracts worth up to $76.5M to build wing components for the B-1 fleet, signaling growing reliance on non-prime suppliers for strategic bomber sustainment.
NRL laser demo collapses two defense missions into one platform
NRL demonstrated a single laser system that transmits power wirelessly and switches to counter-drone defense without interruption, collapsing two separate logistics and defense functions onto one Boeing-integrated platform.
French startup brings U.S. carbon nanotube production online in 12 months
NAWAH inaugurated a $10M vertically-aligned carbon nanotube factory in Ohio, establishing first U.S. industrial-scale production of a material that reinforces aircraft and defense composites.
Pentagon picks Viasat, Intelsat to build military SATCOM swarm
U.S. Space Force awards $437.7M to Viasat and Intelsat for first production mini-GEO satellites, signaling shift from monolithic AEHF constellation to proliferated commercial architecture.
GA-ASI's MQ-9B flies as unmanned radar, threatening AWACS economics
General Atomics and Saab flew an MQ-9B drone equipped with airborne early warning radar for the first time, positioning unmanned platforms to displace billion-dollar manned AWACS aircraft for allied air forces.
Navy locks $196M into maritime ISR backbone as Indo-Pacific demand surges
Navy sustainment contract extends MQ-4C Triton operations through 2027, securing persistent surveillance infrastructure for distributed Indo-Pacific sensor network at operational scale.
Saronic Wins $392M Navy Contract for Autonomous Surface Vessels
Texas startup Saronic Technologies secured a $392M+ Navy production contract for autonomous maritime drones by mid-2031, marking the largest scale-up yet for a non-traditional vendor in undersea autonomy.
Darkhive wins $49.7M Army contract, closes $30M Series B from RTX Ventures
San Antonio startup Darkhive secures largest-ever APFIT award for tactical edge command software, backed by $30M Series B led by RTX Ventures, signaling mega-prime confidence in commercial autonomy platforms.
Boeing locks 20,000 tonnes of carbon removal from six suppliers across four countries
Boeing procured 20,000 tonnes of durable carbon removal through Supercritical by screening 200+ projects against 118-point quality framework, signaling how major emitters are front-running 2028 SBTi mandates and reshaping the CDR market.
Reliable Robotics raises $160M to fly uncrewed cargo this summer
Reliable Robotics secured $160M in Series C funding to accelerate FAA certification and launch commercial autonomous cargo flights from Albuquerque this summer, with Boeing and RTX now backing the startup's dual-use civil and military strategy.
Air Force Warfighters Fly Anduril's Fury Drone From Laptop, No Base Required
Combat crews from the Air Force's Experimental Operations Unit flew Anduril's YFQ-44A Fury collaborative combat aircraft from a simulated forward operating base using only a ruggedized laptop, marking the first time warfighters—not engineers—operated the semiautonomous drone without fixed infrastructure.
Viasat-3 F3 launches April 27: constellation complete, recovery uncertain
Viasat confirmed April 27 Falcon Heavy launch of ViaSat-3 F3 from Cape Canaveral, completing its three-satellite GEO constellation with >1 Tbps capacity over Asia-Pacific—but the company's financial and technical recovery depends on flawless execution of in-orbit testing by late summer.
Boeing targets 26 satellites in 2026, unveils Resolute mid-class bus
Boeing and Millennium Space Systems announced 26 satellite deliveries for 2026—a 6.5× jump from 2025—alongside a new Resolute bus platform, timed to Space Force production demands and $1.8B Andromeda contract awards.
USA Rare Earth commissions first U.S. NdFeB magnet line, 600 metric tons by 2026
USA Rare Earth began shipping sintered neodymium magnets from its Stillwater, Oklahoma facility in Q2 2026, the first commercial-scale domestic production line backed by $1.3B+ federal funding — directly confronting China's 90% global supply monopoly.
Artemis II Crew Breaks Apollo 13 Record, Splashes Down Tomorrow
NASA's Artemis II crew surpassed the 1970 Apollo 13 distance record at 248,655 miles on April 6; splashdown off San Diego occurs April 10, marking the first crewed deep-space flight in 54 years and gating readiness for lunar landing.
Artemis II breaks Apollo 13 record as four astronauts reach lunar flyby
NASA's Artemis II crew will surpass Apollo 13's distance record tomorrow at 1:56 p.m. EDT, reaching 252,757 miles from Earth. The mission is the first crewed translunar injection since 1972 and the highest-stakes systems test before lunar landing attempts.
Artemis II Crew Boards for Moon Launch Today; Heat Shield Untested at Reentry
NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, plus Canadian Jeremy Hansen, are boarding Orion for a crewed lunar flyby launch at 6:24 p.m. EDT today—the first humans beyond low Earth orbit in 54 years, and the first real test of a redesigned heat shield that failed post-flight analysis on the uncrewed Artemis I.
Shield AI Raises $2B at $12.7B Valuation After Air Force CCA Win
Shield AI's $2 billion raise at a $12.7 billion valuation — anchored by its U.S. Air Force Collaborative Combat Aircraft selection — marks the maturation of autonomous AI pilot software as a standalone, platform-agnostic defense asset.