🛰️ US acknowledges weapons in orbit for the first time

Swarm Aero unveiled Gamera, a Group 5 uncrewed aircraft carrying more than 2,800 pounds across seven hardpoints, including JASSM-ER and LRASM.

The 72-foot-wingspan design claims 9,000 nautical miles of range and what the company calls 10X lower cost-per-effect than legacy platforms like the MQ-9.

Gamera is aimed at the Air Force's Massed Modular Aircraft program, with Swarm's Legion autonomy suite already adopted by the Defense Innovation Unit.

The Army awarded Lockheed Martin a $1.2 billion early operational capability production contract for Precision Strike Missile Increment 2, with work running through September 2031.

Increment 2 adds a multi-mode seeker that lets the missile engage moving maritime and relocatable land targets rather than pre-set coordinates.

Fired from existing HIMARS and M270A2 launchers, the weapon gives Army artillery formations a land-based anti-ship role without any new launch platform.

Air Force Secretary Troy Meink said the United States now has on-orbit space control weapons, the first public acknowledgment of offensive American capabilities in orbit.

Meink offered no details during his keynote at the Air, Space and Cyber Conference, and declined to elaborate during questions afterward.

A Space Force spokesperson said space control spans kinetic and non-kinetic means to disrupt, degrade, or destroy adversary capabilities, and that operations comply with the Outer Space Treaty.

German firm Quantum Systems introduced Seavex, an unmanned surface vessel able to operate for up to two months carrying surveillance and counter-drone radars.

Companion UUV Subvex works to 6,000 meters, running four days under power or resting passively on the seabed for weeks of undersea listening.

Both plug into the company's MOSAIC UXS architecture alongside air and ground systems, with sea trials ahead following the Portugal debut at a NATO exercise.

Anduril executives said the YFQ-44A Fury flew in formation with F-35s during a July exercise with the Air Force's Experimental Operations Unit at Creech.

The fighters were not controlling Fury; executives said live "quarterback integration" flight tests are coming within weeks or months.

Airframe assembly has begun at Anduril's Arsenal plant, with production aircraft due early next year and unit cost stated at well below $20 million.

Mach Industries closed a $600 million continuation of its Series C at a $3.7 billion valuation, backed by Ribbit, Infinite, Bedrock, and Sequoia.

The capital funds long-range strike and counter-drone platforms plus expanded manufacturing capacity at the company's 115,000-square-foot Huntington Beach facility.

Mach is the aircraft integrator for the Defense Innovation Unit's RIMES program, working with Whisper Aero on a new aircraft called Atlas.

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