Tuesday, August 18, 2026
Raytheon $22.9B Tomahawk 🎯, Terra $52M seed 💸, NODA $100M win 🤖
Funding & Deals
Terra Industries closes $52M seed to build defense factories for the Global South
2 min readNigerian defense-tech startup Terra Industries added $18 million to close a $52 million seed — Africa's largest — led by Joe Lonsdale's 8VC with Silent Ventures and Nova Global. Opening a first London office, Terra builds autonomous drones, interceptors, and unmanned ground vehicles, and targets $100 million in contracts, including a federal deal, by year-end. US-VC-backed defense manufacturing scaling across the Global South is a new export vector for American dual-use capital.
NODA AI wins $100M to scale autonomy orchestration across the Joint Force
2 min readAustin-based NODA AI, founded by Marine Corps veterans, won a $100 million Department of War contract to scale its autonomous mission-command software across the Joint Force. The award follows a $10 million July deal to build NODA's MAESTRO software orchestrating the LUCAS attack-drone program, and comes after a strategic investment from Booz Allen. A 10x jump from a $10M pilot to a $100M contract in weeks shows how fast the Pentagon is buying software to make drones fight as one.
Contracts & Programs
Navy awards Raytheon $22.9B seven-year deal to surge Tomahawk output
2 min readThe US Navy awarded RTX's Raytheon a $22.9 billion, seven-year contract to accelerate Tomahawk cruise-missile production to more than 1,000 missiles a year. The deal firms up a February framework and lands as the Pentagon rebuilds stockpiles drained by the Iran war, which has depleted nearly a third of US Tomahawks. An unprecedented seven-year, multibillion-dollar munitions commitment is the clearest signal yet that magazine depth, not new platforms, is the Pentagon's binding constraint.
Elroy Air lands $46M Army contract for Chaparral autonomous cargo drone
2 min readThe Army awarded Elroy Air a $46 million contract tied to its Chaparral hybrid-electric VTOL, an autonomous drone that carries 300-plus-pound payloads into contested logistics zones. It is the startup's largest government award yet and follows July tests of three unattended delivery modes, plus a deal for Kratos to mass-produce the aircraft in Sacramento. With Elroy heading to public markets via a roughly $1 billion SPAC, a $46M Army buy shows autonomous resupply moving from demo toward fielded capability.
Tech & Launches
Anduril redesigns its tech for the Army's Soldier Borne Mission Command
2 min readAnduril is reworking the hardware and software behind the Army's Soldier Borne Mission Command program, the heads-up situational-awareness system it inherited from Microsoft's IVAS effort. The redesign aims for a lighter, more modular device after earlier IVAS goggles drew soldier complaints about weight, field of view, and reliability. Owning a marquee soldier-systems program is Anduril's deepest push into wearable command tech, and a test of whether a software-first prime can fix hardware the Army nearly cancelled.
Air Force tests competing ground-control prototypes for its CCA drones
2 min readThe Air Force has begun testing competing prototype ground-control systems for its Collaborative Combat Aircraft, the autonomous drones meant to fly alongside crewed fighters. The control station lets a single operator manage multiple CCAs, and its maturity is now pacing the program as much as the General Atomics and Anduril airframes themselves. Autonomy is won or lost at the human-control layer, so early ground-station testing is a quiet but real gate for whether CCAs reach the flight line on schedule.
Policy & Budget
Trump orders the Pentagon to scale back military exercises with South Korea
2 min readPresident Trump ordered the Pentagon to cut back joint military exercises with South Korea, calling the drills "costly" and "hostile" toward North Korea. The move reverses decades of allied readiness practice and lands as Seoul weighs its own defense buildup, unsettling a cornerstone of US posture in the Indo-Pacific. For allied-facing defense suppliers, a lighter US exercise tempo could soften near-term demand even as it pushes partners toward greater self-reliance and indigenous programs.
Pentagon probes 30 US universities for potential ties to adversaries
2 min readThe Department of War opened reviews of 30 US academic institutions over potential ties to foreign adversaries, scrutinizing research funding and partnerships that could leak sensitive technology. The probe reflects a hardening research-security posture as the Pentagon tries to keep defense-funded science from flowing to China and other competitors. For dual-use startups spun out of university labs, tighter scrutiny of academic ties adds diligence friction, and raises the bar on where early research talent and IP originate.