Smack's $61M AI 🤖, China booster landing 🚀, Overland's robo-trucks 🚚

Smack raises $61M Series B to push tactical AI to the edge

Smack Technologies, which calls itself the first frontier AI lab for national security, raised a $61 million Series B led by Costanoa Ventures and First In. Founded in 2024 by former MARSOC operators, Smack builds fires-planning software and edge hardware for its Alpha autonomy platform, and has now raised over $90 million. The round rides Pentagon pressure to diversify AI vendors, turning frontier-model specialists into hot defense-software buys.

X-Bow wins ~$11M MDA award for a low-cost interceptor

X-Bow Systems won an approximately $11 million Missile Defense Agency contract to develop and flight-test its Low-Cost Interceptor, a follow-on SBIR Phase II effort run with Lockheed Martin. The Albuquerque solid-rocket-motor startup recently unveiled Buckler, a sub-$100,000 supersonic interceptor built to defeat Group 3 drones at scale. Non-dilutive MDA money flowing to a venture-backed motor maker shows the Pentagon betting on cheap interceptors to fix air defense's cost curve.

TTM Technologies to buy SDR maker Epiq for $1.1B

TTM Technologies agreed to acquire software-defined-radio maker Epiq Solutions for about $1.1 billion, adding RF sensing and electronic-warfare hardware to its printed-circuit and RF-component business. Epiq's SDR platforms are widely used across defense signals-intelligence and counter-drone systems, giving TTM a deeper foothold in the electromagnetic-spectrum fight. Consolidation in RF and EW is accelerating as spectrum dominance becomes a front-line priority against drones and peer jammers.

Overland AI wins $14.3M Navy deal to put autonomy on heavy trucks

Overland AI won a $14.3 million Navy contract to integrate its autonomy stack onto six commercial heavy-duty trucks for off-road driving in support of combat-engineer operations. The Seattle startup, the first ground-autonomy company to prime a US military production contract, is scaling its OverDrive stack from small robots to full-size logistics vehicles. Fielding autonomy on trucks soldiers already drive is a pragmatic path to uncrewed resupply in contested terrain.

BAE takes $169M Navy order for VLS launch canisters

BAE Systems Land & Armaments took a $169 million Navy modification to continue producing Vertical Launching System canisters and ancillary equipment for US and allied warships. The canisters house the interceptors and Tomahawks the Pentagon is now surging after the Iran war drained roughly a third of that stockpile. A nine-figure canister order underscores that missile-defense output is gated as much by launch hardware as by the interceptors themselves.

NRO moves HawkEye 360 from evaluation to operational RF intelligence

The National Reconnaissance Office awarded HawkEye 360 an operational contract under its Commercial Radio Frequency Capabilities Augmentation program, ending a multiyear evaluation phase. HawkEye's satellites geolocate radar, communications, and maritime emitters from orbit, adding an RF layer that complements optical and radar imaging. Moving commercial RF from pilot to operational buy signals the spy community now treats signals-geolocation smallsats as core collection, not an experiment.

China's LandSpace lands an orbital-class booster for the first time

China's LandSpace landed the first stage of its Zhuque-3 rocket after an August 18 orbital launch, a first for any Chinese vehicle. The 66-meter, methane-fueled rocket can loft roughly 18 tons to low orbit, putting it broadly on par with SpaceX's Falcon 9. A reusable Chinese heavy-lift booster starts to compress the launch-cost gap that has underpinned US advantages in responsive space access.

Pentagon floats routing defense loans through private fund managers

The Pentagon unveiled a National Security Fund Finance program that would route government loans through private investment-fund managers to critical-minerals and materials suppliers. Officials frame it as a way to close production gaps with China, which dominates rare-earth processing, by pulling private capital into the defense loan pipeline. Inserting fund managers between the government and borrowers is drawing scrutiny over fees and conflicts, even as the underlying capital need is real.

Aerospace Corp. dissects the Space Force's proposed 120% budget surge

A new Aerospace Corporation analysis breaks down the administration's proposed $71.3 billion Space Force budget, a 120% jump over fiscal 2026. Research and development would top $40 billion while procurement rises to $19 billion, with growth concentrated in missile warning, moving-target tracking, and classified programs. It would be the largest percentage increase for any service since 1952, and the classified tilt means much of the opportunity is invisible to outside investors.

UK defense-tech investor and builder GALLOS raised $50M from Ventura Capital and Aberdeen to back security and resilience startups.

The Navy cleared Block II upgrades for its E-2D Advanced Hawkeye fleet, extending airborne early-warning and battle-management reach.

Slingshot Aerospace added AI-powered mission tools to its Portal platform for tracking and characterizing objects in orbit.

HEO tapped Planet Labs to expand its non-Earth imaging network past 50 in-space sensors for tracking objects on orbit.

Payload breaks down the FY27 defense space budget, mapping where Space Force and NRO dollars are headed.