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🤖 Shield AI takes the controls on America's Iran war swarm drone

May 20, 2026

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5 min read

🤖 Shield AI takes the controls on America's Iran war swarm drone

Counter-drone contracts balloon, undersea autonomy partnerships take shape, and the CIA weighs in on Mythos.

Dallas Hartley
Dallas Hartley
📦 Armada raised $230M to build AI factories for the battlefield

May 19, 2026

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4 min read

📦 Armada raised $230M to build AI factories for the battlefield

Perennial Autonomy secures $500M in drone-hunting contracts, Armada closes $230M to scale battlefield AI, and Raytheon reinvents naval radar software.

Dallas Hartley
Dallas Hartley
🤖 Anduril's AI gets the mission to wire up Pacific air defense

May 18, 2026

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4 min read

🤖 Anduril's AI gets the mission to wire up Pacific air defense

Anduril's Lattice AI lands its first Pacific battle manager contract as the Army restructures its Indo-Pacific command and Space Force protects comms from jamming.

Dallas Hartley
Dallas Hartley
🤖 OpenAI launches Daybreak, a three-tiered GPT-5.5 program built for cyber defenders

May 15, 2026

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5 min read

🤖 OpenAI launches Daybreak, a three-tiered GPT-5.5 program built for cyber defenders

OpenAI's Daybreak program, CENTCOM's Iran assessment, and 24 British F-35s dispatched to the Middle East without enough spare parts.

Dallas Hartley
Dallas Hartley
💸 CNO warns Navy could run out of money by July

May 14, 2026

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5 min read

💸 CNO warns Navy could run out of money by July

From a Navy funding alarm on Capitol Hill to Britain's Hormuz commitment and a 10,000-missile procurement push.

Dallas Hartley
Dallas Hartley
💰 Anduril raises $5B, doubles its valuation to $61B in under a year

May 13, 2026

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5 min read

💰 Anduril raises $5B, doubles its valuation to $61B in under a year

Anduril doubles its valuation, the Navy officially budgets drone boats, and CBO prices Golden Dome at $1.2 trillion.

Dallas Hartley
Dallas Hartley
🤖 AI processed 20 billion tokens a day in Iran's air war

May 12, 2026

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4 min read

🤖 AI processed 20 billion tokens a day in Iran's air war

Maven's 20-billion-token Iran war performance, CYBERCOM's $138M AI request, and Anduril's new missile defense command contract for the Pacific.

Dallas Hartley
Dallas Hartley
🧨 Iran uranium retrieval operation risk rises as ceasefire sputters

May 11, 2026

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5 min read

🧨 Iran uranium retrieval operation risk rises as ceasefire sputters

BWXT locked in two naval nuclear contracts as U.S.-Iran ceasefire talks collapse and Trump and Netanyahu signal a possible ground operation for Iran's uranium.

Dallas Hartley
Dallas Hartley
💼 Deal Team Six is rewriting defense acquisition

May 9, 2026

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4 min read

💼 Deal Team Six is rewriting defense acquisition

Pentagon gets laser and microwave counter-drone systems at five installations, France's carrier enters the Hormuz theater, and F/A-XX is elevated to ACAT-1.

Dallas Hartley
Dallas Hartley
🎯 The Pentagon is building AI that aims your rifle

May 8, 2026

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5 min read

🎯 The Pentagon is building AI that aims your rifle

The Pentagon's AI vendor fallout intensifies, Navy forces disable Iranian tankers at Hormuz, and DIU releases specs for AI-assisted drone targeting down to the infantry squad level.

Dallas Hartley
Dallas Hartley
⚡ DARPA's whisper-quiet drone just flew

May 7, 2026

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5 min read

⚡ DARPA's whisper-quiet drone just flew

NGA is going AI-first with a new blueprint and rapid acquisition office, Ukraine's Raybird can now dodge interceptors mid-mission, and a Super Hornet used its gun to stop a blockade runner.

Dallas Hartley
Dallas Hartley
🌊 Iran blinks on Hormuz, but the deal isn't done

May 6, 2026

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5 min read

🌊 Iran blinks on Hormuz, but the deal isn't done

Iran's Revolutionary Guard says Hormuz is passable again, as Trump's Project Freedom pauses and deal talks continue, the 82nd Airborne runs the joint kill chain overhead, and Anduril lands the Golden Dome's space-based interceptor lead.

Dallas Hartley
Dallas Hartley
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