🔥 V2X “Tempest” Shoot-and-Scoot Platform Aims to Hit Fast, Then Vanish

📬 In Today’s Defense Brief

🌊 China’s Undersea Sensor Web Aims to Make the Ocean “Transparent” Read More

🚀 Kratos Unveils Low-Cost “Ragnarök” Cruise Missile for XQ-58A Valkyrie Read More

⚛️ U.S. Army Launches JANUS Program to Field Next-Gen Nuclear Power Read More

🔥 “Tempest” Shoot-and-Scoot Platform Promises Rapid, Mobile Artillery Effects Read More

🔫 SIG Sauer Trims Nearly a Pound from Army’s M7 Rifle, Adds Lighter Carbine Variant Read More

🎱 Plus 10 other news stories you may like

📰 Full Breakdown

🌊 China’s ‘Transparent Ocean’ Kill-Web Aims to Leave Submarines Nowhere to Hide Read More

• China is knitting a five-layer, seabed-to-space architecture—satellites, surface relays, water-column gliders/AUVs, cabled seabed hubs, and a data-fusion “Deep Blue Brain”—to persistently detect and track submarines across Western Pacific chokepoints. Recent Sino-Russian drills near Vladivostok linked communications and shared ocean/air tracks in real time, showcasing how a mesh network can compress sensor-to-shooter timelines and erode allied undersea stealth.

• PLA theorists reject brittle “kill chains” in favor of a resilient “maritime adaptive kill web.” Studies cited include a space-guided strike model computing dozens of alternate paths and an algorithm that auto-reassembles broken chains by rerouting surviving nodes. Civil-military fusion is evident as academic seabed observatories, XLUUVs, long-endurance Haiyan gliders, and Blue Whale wave-gliders mature into operational trials.

• Power, comms, and reliability are focus areas: higher-energy batteries, metal-air cells, seabed docking, and ultra-low-power acoustic wake-ups keep nodes dormant until cued. Cross-domain buoys dynamically choose satellite/cellular/acoustic links to move data ashore. Analysts urge a “mesh-vs-mesh” allied response—deception/jamming, counter-UUV patrol boxes, interoperable comms, and rehearsed doctrine—prioritizing hot spots like Taiwan’s approaches, Luzon Strait, Malacca, and Guam.

🚀 Kratos’ Low-Cost “Ragnarök” Cruise Missile Extends Valkyrie’s Reach Read More

• Kratos unveiled Ragnarök, an air-launched cruise missile advertised with ~500 nautical miles of range and a 36 kg (80 lb) warhead. Displayed on the XQ-58A Valkyrie—internally and on a pylon—the carbon-composite, folding-wing design targets budget-constrained long-range strike, with unit prices cited at ~$150,000 in 100-round lots and claims that initial development phases are complete and production-ready.

• The pairing fits distributed, attritable strike concepts: unmanned CCAs push weapons forward while keeping crewed aircraft at standoff. Company leadership said the missile was built “for Valkyrie” and framed to meet real warfighter needs under fiscal realities. Reports have linked the Valkyrie to potential Marine Corps interest, aligning with Force Design 2030’s emphasis on longer-range precision fires.

• By sizing Ragnarök for Valkyrie carriage, Kratos seeks a low-cost, high-volume complement to premium standoff munitions. The concept leverages the XQ-58A’s payload flexibility to enable multi-axis saturation, expand target sets, and give small units access to meaningful strike distances without prohibitive munition costs or exquisite platform risk.

⚛️ Army’s JANUS Program Targets First Army-Regulated Reactor by Sept. 30, 2028 Read More

• Announced at AUSA, JANUS aims to deliver resilient, assured nuclear energy for installations and critical missions, guided by an executive order directing operation of an Army-regulated reactor at a U.S. base by September 30, 2028. The Army will partner closely with DOE while exercising its regulatory authorities to ensure rigorous safety, oversight, and transparency.

• JANUS adopts a commercially owned-and-operated model with milestone-based contracts via DIU, explicitly modeled on NASA’s COTS approach to accelerate “Nth-of-a-kind” deployment. The Army will provide technical oversight, including fuel-cycle support and supply-chain strengthening, to turn advanced microreactor concepts into fielded capability rather than slide-deck promises.

• Building on lessons from Project Pele, officials stress rapid delivery of real hardware to bolster mission assurance, readiness, and energy resilience. The initiative is positioned as both a defense capability and an industrial-base catalyst, aiming to harden critical infrastructure and sustain operations under grid stress, natural disasters, or adversary disruption.

🔥 V2X “Tempest” Shoot-and-Scoot Platform Aims to Hit Fast, Then Vanish Read More

• V2X’s Tempest is a modular mobile-fires vehicle pairing twin Longbow launchers with a precision radar to counter drones and low-flying aircraft. After firing, an automated “shoot-and-scoot” routine rapidly repositions the platform to evade counter-battery or retaliatory strikes, prioritizing survivability and minimal signature in contested airspace.

• Built largely from commercial components, Tempest emphasizes speed to field and affordability versus bespoke military builds. A trailer-mounted variant supports static defense of airfields or depots. Despite relying on a single tactical radar—with a potentially narrower field-of-view—V2X says the system can still detect, classify, and prosecute diverse aerial threats effectively.

• V2X is also showcasing a Gateway Mission Router to unify air-ground connectivity and spotlighting training partnerships—like Bell Textron support for Flight School Next—plus Warfighter Training Readiness upgrades. The broader package pitches Tempest as part of a networked ecosystem that fuses sensors, shooters, and training to accelerate force adoption.

🔫 SIG Sauer’s M7 Rifle Drops Nearly a Pound; New Carbine Variant Emerges Read More

• Responding to soldier feedback and public critiques, SIG trimmed the 6.8×51 mm M7 from ~8.3 lb to ~7.6 lb and developed a ~7.3 lb carbine. Weight savings come from a lighter upper, refined barrel profile, operating-system tweaks, and deletion of the folding-stock hinge—trading seldom-used folding capability for tangible mass reduction and improved handling.

• The updates arrive amid debate over weight, ammo load, and engagement distances versus the legacy M4A1. SIG maintains the NGSW family—M7, M250, and XM157 optic—offers superior range and terminal effect; critics highlight logistics and soldier load. The Army is assessing configurations and roles, including whether to field the carbine broadly or for specific formations.

• Parallel improvements to the belt-fed M250 include a hinged handguard, extended feed-tray top rail for optic placement, refined gas valve, and mounting updates, plus a shorter suppressor with a titanium heat shield to reduce burn risk and thermal bloom. The company expects iterative upgrades to continue as requirements and manufacturing processes evolve.

🌏 Other Important News

✈️ Air

• Boeing unveils tiltrotor-based collaborative rotorcraft concept (CxR) to team with Army helicopters Read More

• Joint counter-task force to arm Agile Combat Employment (ACE) Airmen for base defense Read More

• Boeing lands $2.7B in PAC-3 seeker contracts, ramping to 750/year Read More

• Hanwha eyes more U.S. shipyard acquisitions, plans Philadelphia expansion Read More

• Lockheed’s JAGM quad launcher targets higher salvo density and naval counter-drone roles Read More

• U.S. Army developing survivable tactical drone for contested airspace Read More

• South Korea debuts communication-relay drone for extending battlefield networks Read More

🧠 C2 & AI

• Army establishing new data organization to manage Next-Gen C2 environment Read More

• Army exploring faster, cheaper paths to develop and buy drones Read More

📰 Policy

• Defense outlets push back on new Pentagon media restrictions Read More

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