Investment

Valinor Raises $54M Series A

If there is one piece of advice that everyone seems to bandy about in the defense tech world, it’s “go fast.” And it seems at least one company has taken that seriously to heart. This morning, just a few months after emerging from stealth, new-age defense tech holding company Valinor announced that it’s raised a […]

Tech

Exclusive: Vatn Scoops Up Crewless Marine

It certainly seems like our friends in Rhode Island had some pretty ambitious New Year’s resolutions.  This morning, autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) company Vatn Systems announced in an exclusive release to Tectonic that it has acquired RI-based Crewless Marine to scale up its underwater acoustic sensing and processing capabilities.  Crewless will be fully folded into […]

Investment

Destinus Finalizes Acquisition of Daedalean for $225M

Well, if anyone thought 2026 was going to be a chill year, everyone and their mother is out to prove you wrong.  Yesterday, European drone giant Destinus announced that it’s finalized its acquisition of Swiss AI avionics company Daedalean for a cool CHF 180M ($225M).  Destinus said in a statement that Daedalean (say that five […]

Investment

Exclusive: Array Labs Raises $20M Series A

We love a cheeky raise to kick off the new year.  This morning, space-based radar company Array Labs announced in an exclusive release to Tectonic that it’s raised a $20M Series A led by Catapult Ventures, with participation from Washington Harbour Partners, Kompas VC, and others, including Y Combinator.  The startup—which builds powerful, more affordable […]

Pentagon

DoD Selects First FY26 APFIT Winners

Well, the Pentagon is certainly pushing up against the Christmas deadline. Yesterday, the DoD, sorry, DoW, announced over $400M in APFIT contracts using FY26 funds—the first of the year—bringing total contracts awarded by the nearly four-year-old program to over $1.4B.  While the DoD didn’t release names of the companies in this batch of projects—as per—a […]

Investment

Zerophase Scores $6.8M Seed Round

You know what sucks? When you’re flying a drone against Russian targets somewhere deep on the frontline and—suddenly—your comms line goes dark. It’s an experience that will be all too familiar to our Ukrainian military readers, and one that startup Zerophase is trying to make way less common. Late last week, the German data link […]

Tech

Anduril and Boeing Team Up on IFPC SRMs

To whoever thought this would be a slow news week in defense tech land, think again.  Yesterday, Anduril announced that it’s teaming up with teeny tiny startup Boeing to provide solid rocket motors for the prime as part of its bid for the U.S. Army’s Integrated Fires Protection Capability (IFPC) Increment 2 Second Interceptor competition.  […]

Tech

Say Hello to Lancea.AI

Guess the AI bubble for defense hasn’t popped quite yet. This week, a new company (well, Public Benefit Corporation) called Lancea.AI emerged from stealth, promising to use AI to drive effective strategic communication—especially in high-pressure situations, like intelligence and national security.  According to Lancea co-founder Greg Young, the company’s software is built for “adaptive influence.” […]

Europe

Quantum Systems and Frontline Team Up for Ukraine

In case you missed it, Germany-based drone company Quantum Systems is making some serious money moves.  Just two weeks after raising €180M at a cool €3B, the company announced yesterday that it’s launching a joint initiative with Ukrainian company Frontline Robotics called “Quantum Frontline Industries.”  The mash-up—part of a defense cooperation initiative formally launched during […]

Tech

Long Wall Unveils Cyclops Interceptor

The Golden Dome may be facing some serious price-tag questions, but it doesn’t look like that’s tamped down anyone’s interest in next-gen missile defense.  This morning, defense startup Long Wall—the artist formerly known as ABL Space Systems—announced that it’s building a “new, surface-launched, exoatmospheric interceptor to defeat missiles in the midcourse phase of flight,” called […]