🚀 Castelion raises $1B at a $13B valuation

Castelion raised $1 billion in Series C financing at a $13 billion valuation, combining $800 million in equity with a $250 million committed revolving credit facility.

JPMorganChase's Strategic Investment Group, Andreessen Horowitz and funds managed by Carlyle co-led the equity round, with T. Rowe Price Associates joining as a new investor.

The money expands Blackbeard production at the 1,000-acre Project Ranger campus in New Mexico, with fielding targeted for 2027 after more than $500 million in military contracts.

The White House released a 24-page National Security Science and Technology Strategy naming undersea, space, and AI with autonomy as the top three military technology priorities.

The document calls for clear technological superiority undersea and in space but only competitive advantage in AI and autonomy, with air superiority and long-range strike a tier below.

It endorses low-cost expendable systems and traditional high-cost programs together, signaling where federal research funding concentrates for years.

Thermopylae Aerospace demonstrated its SPART foldable quadcopter interceptor at the Air Force's Game of Drones 26-2 event at Edwards Air Force Base, aimed at Class 2 threats.

The air-launched interceptor reaches 350 kilometers per hour, uses thermal guidance, and its partial-reuse design allows recovery after a missed engagement.

Evaluation runs more than four months, with founder Yehor Balytskyi targeting a Pentagon contract and cheaper mass production than conventional counter-drone systems.

Army Cyber Command stood up Task Force Lexington in April to build AI agents for developer, data engineer, host analyst and exploitation analyst work roles.

The command now runs 17 agentic mission elements and cyber protection mission elements scouring the Department of Defense Information Network daily, with humans still holding all risk decisions.

Lt. Gen. Christopher Eubank said the team deliberately avoided commercial frontier models, citing token costs and gaps in AI governance.

Peraton won a potential 10-year, $953 million contract to continue providing communications infrastructure to the Defense Information Systems Agency for data centers and hybrid cloud environments.

DISA received three proposals for this third Capacity Services Communications iteration, which emphasizes on-demand capability over a fixed equipment set.

Work runs a five-year base period with up to five option years, extending a program Peraton inherited from Perspecta in 2021.

Switzerland seeks $1.2 billion more for air defense — Read More

China's Fuxi humanoid mimics soldiers in high-risk zones — Read More

Elbit debuts mobile 25-meter tactical communications mast — Read More

Australia and Japan unveil Boobook high-energy laser — Read More

Marines push combat drone training down to fireteams — Read More

Regent flies Squire seaglider drone in Navy exercise — Read More

Supertorquer actuator swaps propellant for electromagnetic spacecraft control — Read More

Striveworks to build NGC2 AI layer at corps level — Read More

Pentagon review finds defense labs averaging 45 years old — Read More

Golden Dome office refused repeated CBO briefing requests — Read More

Defense tech firm Lyntris debuts on NYSE — Read More