🧠 Lockheed Tests F-35 with AI to Rapidly ID Unknown Combat Contacts

📬 In Today’s Defense Brief

🚀 Ursa Major Unleashes "HAVOC" With New Affordable Hypersonic Missile

📡 Aalyria Secures $100M Series B to Scale Laser Comms & AI Orchestration

🦅 GA-ASI Enhances MQ-9B with Long-Range Standoff Weapons Capabilities

⚔️ Air Force Drone Wingmen Begin Flight Testing with Inert Weapons

🧠 Lockheed Tests F-35 with AI to Rapidly ID Unknown Combat Contacts

🎱 Plus 25 other news stories you may like

📰 Full Breakdown

🚀 Ursa Major Unleashes "HAVOC" With New Affordable Hypersonic Missile — Read More

• Aerospace startup Ursa Major has officially unveiled "HAVOC," a new hypersonic missile system designed to provide the U.S. military with an affordable, mass-producible alternative to existing high-cost hypersonic weapons. The system is powered by the company's Draper liquid rocket engine, which offers unique "deep throttling" capabilities that allow the missile to maneuver unpredictably and restart throughout various flight phases to confuse and bypass modern enemy air defense systems.

• CEO Chris Spagnoletti emphasized that HAVOC is engineered for scalability and rapid production, with an aggressive target price of under $3 million per unit. By operating at the upper limits of the atmosphere, the missile avoids the extreme thermal stresses that require expensive protective materials, further lowering costs. This modular approach allows the HAVOC core to be integrated with various solid rocket boosters for launch from fighters, bombers, or vertical launch systems.

• The company plans to conduct maturity growth missions over the next 14 months, culminating in a boosted hypersonic test flight that could lead to fielding before the end of the decade. As the primary manufacturer of the engine and airframe, Ursa Major aims to produce 90 percent of the system in-house, revitalizing the defense industrial base by delivering a tactical, storable, and maneuverable liquid-fueled capability that bridges the gap between traditional rockets and scramjets.

📡 Aalyria Secures $100M Series B to Scale Laser Comms & AI Orchestration — Read More

• Space communications startup Aalyria, originally spun out of Google's Alphabet, has successfully closed a $100 million Series B funding round, pushing the company’s valuation to approximately $1.3 billion. The investment was led by Battery Ventures and J2 Ventures, with participation from several strategic partners. These funds are earmarked to accelerate the global deployment of Aalyria’s core technologies: the Spacetime software orchestration platform and Tightbeam free-space optical laser terminals.

• Spacetime acts as an AI-powered "brain" for complex networks, maintaining a real-time digital twin of moving assets across land, sea, air, and space to optimize directional link routing. When paired with Tightbeam—a high-capacity laser communication terminal—the system enables resilient, high-speed connectivity that is significantly harder to jam or intercept than traditional radio frequency links. This capability is increasingly vital as proliferated LEO constellations require seamless, low-latency data relay across dynamic environments.

• The new capital will support a planned one-third increase in the company's workforce and the expansion of manufacturing operations at its Livermore, California headquarters. Aalyria has already established significant partnerships with organizations such as NASA, the European Space Agency, and Telesat, which intends to integrate Spacetime into its Lightspeed constellation. This funding positions Aalyria as a key player in the Pentagon's push for hybrid government-commercial mesh architectures for secure theater-wide communications.

🦅 GA-ASI Enhances MQ-9B with Long-Range Standoff Weapons Capabilities — Read More

• General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GA-ASI) is actively evolving its flagship MQ-9B SkyGuardian and SeaGuardian platforms to accommodate a new generation of long-range standoff precision weapons. Engineers are currently refining the aircraft’s payload capacity, stability, and software to integrate heavyweight munitions like the Lockheed Martin JASSM, LRASM, and the Kongsberg Joint Strike Missile. This development aims to give the turboprop UAV a credible strike role from outside a hostile power’s weapons engagement zone.

• The shift toward long-range strike is driven by increasing demand from naval and air warfighters operating in the expansive Western Pacific, where holding targets at risk from great distances is an operational necessity. GA-ASI’s performance analytics indicate that the MQ-9B can carry these heavy weapons for extended periods while maintaining its signature 40-plus-hour endurance. The company plans to conduct the first flight tests involving at least one of these new long-range weapons as early as 2026.

• By transforming the MQ-9B into a standoff launch platform, GA-ASI is expanding its mission set beyond traditional ISR and maritime domain awareness. In a typical mission profile, the drone could launch from a remote base, loiter safely in a holding pattern, and release a coordinated strike in tandem with crewed assets. This evolution reinforces the MQ-9B’s position as a versatile, cost-effective force multiplier capable of operating within modern, high-threat "system-of-systems" architectures globally.

⚔️ Air Force Drone Wingmen Begin Flight Testing with Inert Weapons — Read More

• The U.S. Air Force has achieved a major milestone in its Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) program, beginning captive-carry flight tests with inert missiles attached to autonomous prototypes. During the AFA Warfare Symposium, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Kenneth Wilsbach revealed that the Anduril YFQ-44A Fury has already flown with training versions of the AIM-120 AMRAAM. These tests are vital for validating the aerodynamic performance, structural integrity, and safe separation characteristics of the uncrewed "wingman" aircraft.

• While the current phase involves inert munitions, the service expects to move toward live-fire testing later this year. The Air Force is following a rigorous developmental test program identical to that of crewed fighters to ensure the autonomous systems can safely handle external stores before operational employment. Importantly, officials stressed that throughout testing and eventual deployment, a human operator will retain final authority over weapons-release decisions, in accordance with established legal and ethical frameworks.

• The CCA program is moving significantly faster than traditional acquisition cycles, transitioning from concept to armed flight in just 16 months. Both Anduril and General Atomics are competing for a production decision expected in fiscal year 2026. These autonomous drones are designed to fly alongside F-35s and future sixth-generation fighters, acting as force multipliers that can sense, strike, and shield in highly contested environments without putting human aircrews at excessive risk.

🧠 Lockheed Tests F-35 with AI to Rapidly ID Unknown Combat Contacts — Read More

• Lockheed Martin has successfully flight-tested a new artificial intelligence capability, known as Project Overwatch, integrated directly into the F-35’s information fusion system. During tests at Nellis Air Force Base, a tactical AI model independently generated Combat Identifications on the pilot's display by resolving ambiguities among various electronic emitters. This marks the first time such a model has been used in flight to autonomously distinguish and label unknown radio-frequency sources for a human pilot.

• A key highlight of the demonstration was the "same-cycle" retraining of the AI model. Back on the ground, engineers used automated tools to label new emitters discovered during flight, retrained the model within minutes, and reloaded it onto the aircraft for the very next sortie. This rapid software iteration allows the F-35 to maintain a tactical edge against evolving electronic threats that might otherwise take months for traditional intelligence cycles to analyze and counter through standard mission data file updates.

• Project Overwatch was developed by Lockheed Martin as an internal research initiative to bring "sixth-generation" processing speeds to the fifth-generation F-35 platform. By automating the identification of complex sensor data, the system reduces the pilot's cognitive load, allowing them to focus on decision-making rather than data interpretation. Lockheed plans to continue expanding the model’s training library, pitching it as a critical upgrade for the global F-35 fleet to ensure survivability in signal-dense combat zones.

🌏 Other Important News

✈️ Air

• Northrop Grumman and USAF agree to B-21 Raider production acceleration with $4.5B in reconciliation funding — Read More

• Air Force ramps up B-21 manufacturing capacity, eyeing first deliveries by 2027 — Read More

• Anduril and General Atomics prototypes start inert captive-carry weapons testing for CCA program — Read More

• Doomsday plane contract highlights the strategic rise of mid-tier defense primes — Read More

• PBS Aerospace enters subcontract with Zone 5 for turbojet engine manufacturing — Read More

• U.K. researchers develop light atomic clocks for navigation in GPS-denied zones — Read More

🛡️ Land

• U.S. and Romanian forces conduct joint battlefield training to bolster interoperability — Read More

• U.S. Army integrates new robotic arm technology for field-deployed drone maintenance — Read More

• Greece eyes Achilles air defense system for enhanced short-range protection — Read More

• ParaZero’s DefendAir drone target system aims to improve counter-UAS training — Read More

• Counter-drone system returns to the field with upgraded detection algorithms — Read More

🌊 Sea

• Austal nabs $2.8 billion contract to build eight LST-100 landing craft for Australia — Read More

• U.S. Navy explores new offensive capabilities with advanced Attack Surface Vessels — Read More

• French carrier strike group deploys to North Atlantic and Baltic for regional security — Read More

• U.S. conduct strikes in Eastern Pacific and Caribbean targeting smuggling operations, 6 killed — Read More

• How METOC Marines provide critical meteorology and oceanography support for operations — Read More

🛰️ Space

• SDA taps AST SpaceMobile to demo commercial satellite links directly to military radios — Read More

• Lockheed Martin official: GPS IIIF will significantly change calculus for adversaries seeking to jam signals — Read More

• Axelspace to provide Japan’s defense ministry with new ISR satellite capabilities — Read More

• DAF shakes up space acquisition leadership; Purdy transitions to senior advisor role — Read More

☢️ Nuclear & Policy

• U.S. Intelligence reports China conducted 2020 explosive nuclear test while revamping arsenal — Read More

• BWXT reports strong Q4 earnings despite decrease in government operations — Read More

• GAO report flags tracking gaps in military installation costs related to natural disasters — Read More

• Pentagon reconciliation revealed: A deep dive into the $152 billion FY26 plan — Read More

• Pentagon flags significant risks of potential major operation against Iran — Read More

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