📡 Shield AI buys radar maker Echodyne for $5.3B

Shield AI agreed to acquire Echodyne in a $5.3 billion deal, adding its Metamaterials Electronically Scanned Array (MESA) radars to Shield's autonomy and drone portfolio.

Echodyne radars track more than 1,000 objects at once, and the company won a $250M, 36-month counter-drone contract from task force JIATF-401 in September.

CEO Gary Steele said the deal anchors three business units in autonomy software, autonomous systems, and mission systems, giving Hivemind-piloted platforms their own sensing layer.

CISA, the FBI, and the Departments of Health and Human Services, Agriculture, and Transportation warned that attackers are targeting electronic temperature controls at grocery and cold storage sites.

The guidance follows suspected Iran-linked freezer failures at roughly six military commissaries since late August, though the federal notice names no responsible party.

Similar attacks hit French blood banks and European supermarkets, and agencies urged operators to pull controls off the public internet and separate them from business networks.

The Office of Strategic Capital (OSC) signed a $250M conditional loan commitment with 6K to scale nickel-manganese-cobalt (NMC) cathode production in Jackson, Tennessee.

The US makes less than 1% of its NMC cathode needs, and 6K's UniMelt microwave plasma process skips the precursor step dominated by foreign suppliers.

Funding requires a matching investment and due diligence, with about $250M in private capital expected to follow for batteries in drones and tactical communications.

Ukraine is starting negotiations with Pentagon leaders on a new Starshield contract because its current US-funded arrangement expires in mid-2027.

Chargé d'affaires Denys Sienik said Kyiv still has no explanation from the Pentagon, White House, or SpaceX for October's speed limits that disrupted drone and counter-drone missions.

Sienik said there is no effective alternative to the low-Earth orbit network, though Kyiv is weighing stopgap measures and other providers while talks proceed.

BAE Systems unveiled Sea Tridon at Euronaval 2026, a four-system naval protection family built on the Bofors 40mm gun and programmable 3P ammunition.

Configurations range from a containerized version for commercial and government vessels to Sea Trinity, a radar-directed close-in weapon system (CIWS) against missiles and drones.

Common training, logistics, and six-mode ammunition let navies scale protection across ship types on one support base, though BAE named no customers or pricing.

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