Firehawk raises $150M at $1.4B valuation to build more rocket motors
Dallas-based rocket propulsion firm Firehawk has raised more than $150 million in a Series D round that values the company at more than $1.4 billion, money it will use to scale up U.S. production of rocket propellant, solid rocket motors and artillery motors, the company said on social media on Oct. 28. Private equity firm […]
Ukrainian drone maker Frontline Robotics flew its Linza bomber drone alongside German, Ukrainian and other unmanned air, ground and sea systems during Forward Edge 26, a two-week exercise in Germany hosted by Quantum Systems, the company said on social media. In one deployment, Quantum Systems’ Vector reconnaissance drone spotted simulated enemy drones along the route […]
Teledyne FLIR Defense has won a $48 million U.S. Army contract to fit Bulgaria’s new Stryker fleet with the same upgraded chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear reconnaissance sensor suite now going to U.S. Army units, the company announced on Oct. 26. U.S. Army Contracting Command at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, awarded the contract under a […]
Switzerland has narrowed its search for a second long-range air defense system to Israel’s Barak MX and the French-Italian SAMP/T NG, and will keep its delayed order for U.S. Patriot systems, the Swiss government decided on Oct. 28, Switzerland’s defense procurement agency armasuisse said. The Federal Council, Switzerland’s seven-member government, picked the two finalists after […]
Israeli company Smart Shooter has delivered the first batch of its SMASH Hopper MG remote weapon stations to an unnamed integrator in Asia, which is building them into a defense system for an Asian military to shoot down drones and engage ground targets, the company said on social media. Smart Shooter did not identify the […]
The British Army will buy a heavy wheeled recovery vehicle to tow and recover damaged Boxer armored vehicles in the field, after the Ministry of Defence dropped plans for a dedicated Boxer repair and recovery variant, Minister for Defence Readiness and Industry Luke Pollard told Parliament, UK Defence Journal reported. Pollard was answering Conservative lawmaker […]
Israel’s Defense Ministry Director General, retired Maj. Gen. Amir Baram, has visited Covenant, the startup behind the Anthem low-cost cruise missile, in a tour the ministry said focused on strengthening Israel’s munitions independence, expanding its production base and preserving the country’s qualitative and technological edge in the years ahead. The ministry said on social media […]
German defense startup ARX Robotics and Ukrainian manufacturer Roboneers have completed initial integration tests of Roboneers’ SABER remote weapon station on ARX’s GEREON unmanned ground vehicle, and plan to start fitting armed versions by the end of 2026, the companies announced on Oct. 29. The first SABER modules will be integrated in M2 and MK […]
Poland will soon hand Ukraine two more MiG-29 fighter jets as part of a new military aid package worth about €50 million (about $56 million), Polish daily Rzeczpospolita reported on Oct. 29, in a story quickly picked up by Ukrainian defense outlet Milarnyi. Reserve Lt. Gen. Dariusz Łukowski, director of the Polish Defense Ministry’s Strategy […]
Finland will buy the RGW110 heavy disposable anti-tank weapon from Germany’s Dynamit Nobel Defence to replace the APILAS launcher its soldiers have carried since the 1980s, the Finnish Army said on Oct. 28. The purchase is worth about €84.5 million (about $94 million) excluding value-added tax, and deliveries of the weapons, training equipment and instruction […]
Ukraine’s parliament has approved in a first reading a 2027 state budget that sets aside 4.885 trillion hryvnias (about $107.5 billion) for security and defense, equal to 43.8% of the country’s projected gross domestic product. The Verkhovna Rada passed draft budget No. 16000 on Oct. 28 with 239 votes in favor, 25 against and 26 […]
Belgium has started building a new maintenance center for its army’s armored vehicles in Rocourt, near Liège, where a joint venture of FN Herstal, John Cockerill Defense and Thales Belgium will repair and service the Belgian Land Component’s vehicles and their weapons under a 20-year deal. Belgian Defence Minister Theo Francken laid the foundation stone […]
Britain will lead development of three new sensor and effects packages for underwater drones under the AUKUS security partnership with the United States and Australia, with the systems due to be available across all three nations’ uncrewed underwater fleets from 2027, the UK Ministry of Defence said on Oct. 27. The three payloads are a […]
Ethiopia has taken delivery of its first 12 Russian Su-35 fighter jets and will also receive four batteries of the S-400 long-range air defense system, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said on social media on Oct. 28. Abiy said the jets arrived under an earlier agreement with the Russian government and a year ahead of the […]
Singapore-based BeeX used its ALPHA underwater drone to place explosive charges on a moored sea mine and a swinging steel target and then destroy both during a closed-door mine countermeasures demonstration in the United Kingdom, the company said on Oct. 27. The one-day event, held on Sept. 17 and hosted by British defense consultancy Copper […]
Austrian startup GuardAero showed its APS1 drone-defense system for military vehicles to Arnold Kammel, secretary general of Austria’s Ministry of Defence, during the Austrian Armed Forces’ National Day display at Vienna’s Heldenplatz on Oct. 26. The Graz-based company shared images of the presentation on social media, saying APS1 was shown as part of its research […]
The UK Ministry of Defence has hired Astroscale UK as prime contractor for LEDA, a new £15 million (about $20 million) military space program under which the company will build, launch and operate a spacecraft to study how satellites maneuvering close to other spacecraft could be used in orbital warfare, and how to counter them. […]
BAE Systems has completed the first live-fire test of its Adaptable Deck Launcher, a deck-mounted missile launcher that lets U.S. Navy and allied ships carry more Evolved SeaSparrow air defense missiles and reload them at sea with standard shipboard equipment. The company announced the test on Oct. 27 from China Lake, California, home of the […]
Lockheed Martin has broken ground on a factory expansion in Troy, Alabama, that will triple the space it uses to build the AGM-183A Air-Launched Rapid Response Weapon, the U.S. Air Force’s first hypersonic missile to enter production. The company held the groundbreaking for the expansion of its Building P-20 on Oct. 27, the day after […]
The Russian Pacific Fleet’s ballistic missile submarine Generalissimo Suvorov fired a Bulava intercontinental ballistic missile from beneath the Sea of Okhotsk on Oct. 28, sending it across the country to the Chizha test range in the Arkhangelsk region, the Russian Defense Ministry said. The ministry said the launch was carried out from a submerged position […]