Less than three weeks into Trump’s second administration, Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency has descended on Washington. The organization—which doesn’t seem to be acting on legal authority—is shuttering USAID and encouraging career civil servants to leave the government. Some are calling it a “constitutional crisis.” Others are saying it’s Musk in “demon mode.” It likely won’t […]
Thought the AI mergers were over? Think again. Today, autonomous vehicle software developer Applied Intuition announced that it’s acquiring EpiSci, a software company that builds autonomous systems for everything from drones to surface vessels to fighter jets. Applied Intuition CTO and co-founder Peter Ludwig told Tectonic that the deal would enable the company to expand beyond ground-based […]
A week ago, the world woke up to the news that a seldom-heard-of Chinese startup had created an AI model—DeepSeek R1—that could rival ChatGPT at a fraction of the cost. US tech stocks plummeted: chipmaker Nvidia closed out last Monday down 17%, and over $1T was knocked off tech stocks overall. Turning point: Since then, the […]
Say hello to the drone war on drugs. This morning, unmanned surface vessel (USV) company Saildrone announced that 20 of its Voyager vessels will be deployed to monitor trafficking in the Pacific and Caribbean Oceans as part of Operation Southern Spear. The 10-meter-long sea drones, kitted out with new sensor suites, will be used (primarily) to keep […]
At the height of the Cold War in 1983, President Ronald Reagan proposed a space-based missile defense program called the Strategic Defense Initiative. He said it would protect the entire US from a nuclear attack, eventually making nuclear weapons obsolete. The plan was quickly dubbed “Star Wars” because it sounded like something out of a […]
Another day, another win for hypersonics. Startup defense manufacturer Castelion announced yesterday that it has raised $100M in debt and equity funding to build hypersonic missile systems. The round comprises $70M in Series A funding led by Lightspeed Venture Partners with participation from a16z, Lavrock Ventures, Cantos, First In, BlueYard Capital, and Interlagos, and $30M […]
Amidst the flurry of executive orders and appointments in the past week, a Ukraine-shaped elephant has lurked in the corner of the Oval Office. President Trump has long expressed doubt over US support for Ukraine, repeatedly saying he would end the war in a matter of days. So far, he’s failed to do so—but is […]
Pete Hegseth was sworn in as Secretary of Defense Friday, bringing an end to a months-long confirmation saga that featured everything from strip clubs to claims of alcohol abuse to allegations of sexual assault. The final senate vote to confirm the former Fox & Friends host split the Senate 50-50, mostly along party lines (Republicans […]
Just days after being licensed by the DoD’s Small Business Investment Company Critical Technologies (SBICCT) initiative, America’s Frontier Fund (AFF) announced it’s backing Venus Aerospace in its quest for hypersonic flight. Venus says the money from the Eric Schmidt and Peter Thiel-backed fund will help advance its VDR2 engine for use in high-speed capabilities from missiles to […]
When Raj Shah was tapped to launch the experimental Defense Innovation Unit (DIUx) in 2016, he could barely secure a budget. Raj was a former F-16 pilot and Wharton graduate. He knew that the kind of innovation that drove Silicon Valley could help close the yawning gaps he saw in US capabilities. But the rest […]
