🕵️ Spy chief Clayton named White House AI czar

President Trump named Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton as White House AI czar, two months after Clayton was sworn in as the nation's top intelligence official.
Clayton chairs a task force with 120 days to report on AI risks and opportunities, with Pentagon research chief Emil Michael among its three vice chairs.
The charter calls for plans to handle AI-enabled threats and streamline breach notifications, a shift for an administration that has kept a largely hands-off approach to AI governance.

The Army awarded startup Kaizen a five-year indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) agreement worth up to $49M for its application-layer software.
The first task order, worth $43M over five years, covers classified workflows, and the vehicle spans mission and enterprise applications above the Army's systems of record.
Kaizen entered defense six months ago, built the Pentagon's $15M counter-drone marketplace, and says another eight-figure Army contract will be announced within two weeks.

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European defense startups are forecast to raise a record $10.5B in 2026, roughly four times last year's $2.6B, according to Dealroom's State of Defence Tech report.
Mega rounds supplied more than 85% of the capital, led by Germany's Helsing and Quantum Systems, with drones and autonomous systems taking 74% of EU funding.
The US share of defense startup funding fell to 75%, its lowest ever, as NATO-wide venture funding heads toward a forecast $38.5B by year-end.

SRC won a $37M Other Transaction Agreement from the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center to develop and integrate its Ghost Mantis Gen 3 sensor.
The single multi-function aperture detects, tracks, and identifies missiles at extended ranges, and pairs with SRC's Agile Condor processor for onboard processing.
Ghost Mantis will go into the Large Aircraft Survivability System prototype, a threat-detection capability for the Mobility Air Force's high-value aircraft.

Northrop Grumman unveiled FORTITUDE, a grain-of-rice-sized gallium nitride (GaN) microchip the company says triples power output and improves signal quality 20-fold.
The chip covers kilohertz to 20 gigahertz, letting one device work across multiple radar and communications bands, and could replace dozens of components.
Northrop says it is made in onshore US facilities and could cut costly redesigns for next-generation radar, communications, and electronic warfare systems.

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