🔥 Anduril and Raytheon successfully test Highly Loaded Grain rocket motor for air-to-air weapons

📬 In Today’s Defense Brief

🛩️ Navy may select next-gen fighter design as soon as this week Read More

🚀 Blue Origin wins $78.2 million contract to expand satellite processing infrastructure at Cape Canaveral Read More

🔥 Anduril and Raytheon successfully test Highly Loaded Grain rocket motor for air-to-air weapons Read More

🤖 Tycho AI raises $10M to advance UAV autonomy Read More

📈 Defense to ‘anchor’ exploding satellite market over next decade: NovaSpace Read More

🎱 Plus 18 other news stories you may like

📰 Full Breakdown

🛩️ Navy may select next-gen fighter design as soon as this week Read More

• The Navy’s F/A-XX program could name a winner as early as this week, according to two sources. Boeing and Northrop Grumman are competing to build the sixth-generation aircraft that will eventually replace Super Hornets and Growlers, while complementing the F-35 and a future Collaborative Combat Aircraft within the carrier air wing. OSD and Navy spokespeople declined substantive comment.

• The downselect has been politically charged across the White House, Pentagon, and Congress—especially after the Air Force chose Boeing for its future fighter, the F-47, in March. An announcement was rumored around the Navy’s 250th birthday celebrations aboard USS George H.W. Bush, attended by President Trump and CNO Adm. Daryl Caudle.

• A Boeing win would cement the company as DoD’s sixth-gen strike-fighter prime after setbacks on JSF and LRS-B; a Northrop victory would return the firm to prime fighter status for the first time since the F-14. Lockheed Martin was previously eliminated for submitting a non-compliant bid, per prior reporting.

🚀 Blue Origin wins $78.2 million contract to expand satellite processing infrastructure at Cape Canaveral Read More

• Space Systems Command awarded Blue Origin $78.2 million via a Commercial Solutions Opening to expand payload processing at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The three-year, cost-sharing partnership aims to relieve cleanroom bottlenecks that are constraining an otherwise growing launch cadence at the nation’s busiest spaceport.

• Satellite processing facilities handle final test, fueling, and integration before encapsulation. Officials say demand has outpaced capacity, especially with rideshare missions that add complex, payload-specific security and handling timelines. Blue Origin will build new infrastructure to serve multiple launch providers and support higher throughput.

• The award follows a similar $77.5 million CSO to Lockheed Martin’s Astrotech at Vandenberg, signaling a broader push to add processing capacity on both coasts. Blue Origin, which operates LC-36 and prepares New Glenn for its second launch, says the project will boost efficiency and enable a higher launch cadence for national security and commercial customers.

🔥 Anduril and Raytheon successfully test Highly Loaded Grain rocket motor for air-to-air weapons Read More

• Anduril and Raytheon completed a static-fire of an advanced solid rocket motor featuring a Highly Loaded Grain configuration, executed with Raytheon’s Advanced Technology team and AFRL’s Munitions Directorate. The test validated a heavywall SRM built by Anduril using HLG technology sourced from Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake.

• The HLG approach packs greater energetic propellant volume to boost specific impulse and overall motor performance—translating to extended weapon range and improved tactical options for air-to-air engagements. Raytheon provided technical oversight through development, design, and test execution phases leading to the successful firing.

• Anduril positioned the milestone within its broader push to rebuild U.S. solid-rocket-motor capacity. In August, the company opened a full-scale SRM production facility in Mississippi backed by more than $75 million in private investment, aiming to add scale, resiliency, and innovation to the allied propulsion industrial base.

🤖 Tycho AI raises $10M to advance UAV autonomy Read More

• Tycho AI closed a $10 million Series A led by FirstMark, with Pillar VC participating, to accelerate resilient autonomy for unmanned systems operating in GPS-denied and comms-contested environments. The company develops edge-executable AI that emphasizes reliability in the worst conditions rather than dependence on cloud connectivity.

• Its modular stack runs on low-SWaP hardware such as FPGAs and ASICs, combining visual-inertial odometry, sensor fusion, and machine learning for robust navigation and perception. Funds will scale engineering, flight testing, platform integrations, and government deployments, with additional applications in commercial sectors like agriculture.

• Retired SOCOM commander Gen. Richard D. Clarke joined the board, highlighting operational needs for autonomy that works where others fail. Tycho cites more than $5 million in defense awards to date, including AFWERX Direct-to-Phase II, a Strategic Capabilities Office Phase II, and a TACFI with AFRL.

📈 Defense to ‘anchor’ exploding satellite market over next decade: NovaSpace Read More

• NovaSpace forecasts more than 43,000 satellites launching between 2025 and 2034, driving a $665 billion manufacturing and launch market. While defense represents roughly nine percent of satellite volume, it accounts for 48 percent of total market value—positioning defense budgets as the sector’s economic anchor despite mega-constellations dominating counts.

• The report says only seven percent of manufacturing value is truly open competition, with about 70 percent “nationally captive” and the rest vertically integrated. That dynamic will push firms toward strategic partnerships across the supply chain to access closed or semi-closed opportunities.

• SpaceX is expected to retain near-monopoly status in Western heavy launch, with Starship potentially redefining logistics. DoD is already exploring Starship-enabled point-to-point delivery concepts, even as flight testing continues. NovaSpace also notes persistent catalog ambiguities around classified or unattributed objects on orbit.

🌏 Other Important News

✈️ Air

• Drones have changed the battlefield; counter-UAS systems must keep up Read More

• Shotguns return to relevance in drone warfare Read More

• Sikorsky Nomad drones officially launch Read More

• Pentagon nominee says AUKUS review continuing, can be made more sustainable Read More

• U.S. explores balloon-borne glide kits for long-range strike Read More

• Developing American-made propellants for long-range fires Read More

🛡️ Land

• General Dynamics XM30 passes CDR; prototypes on track for 2026 Read More

• Lockheed Martin patent shows hybrid VTOL drone-plane Read More

• Mack Defense receives order for 86 M917A3 Heavy Dump Trucks Read More

• South Korea unveils new “suicide drones” for tactical strikes Read More

• North Korea reveals air-defense system resembling Pantsir Read More

🚢 Sea

• Japan holds minelaying drills near Taiwan’s strategic islands Read More

🛰️ Space

• Golden Dome thrusts space-based interceptors back into spotlight Read More

🧠 C2, Networks & AI

• Echodyne named “Defense Disruptor” for metamaterial radar advances Read More

• Ukraine pairs homegrown UAVs with French AI for battlefield edge Read More

• “Blaze” precision munition hits target on first try Read More

• Federal shutdown deals blow to already hobbled U.S. cybersecurity agency Read More

🏭 Industry & Policy

• Defense sector investments driving growth across commercial and national programs Read More

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