Impulse = $308M 🚀, Navy taps 3 yards 🚢, Zipline eyes $20B 💸

Impulse Space adds $308M, taking its Series D to $808M

Impulse Space closed a $308 million Series D extension at a $5.6 billion valuation, taking the round to $808 million. 137 Ventures, DFJ Growth, Lux Capital and Valor Equity participated, and Impulse's Helios stage holds a National Security Space Launch Phase 3 Lane 1 position. Orbital transfer stopped being a service line and became launch infrastructure the Space Force buys directly.

Zipline is in talks to raise $1B at a $20B valuation

Bloomberg reported that drone delivery company Zipline is negotiating about $1 billion at a roughly $20 billion valuation, with Paradigm in talks to lead. That nearly triples the $7.6 billion Series H it closed in January, and prior backer Tiger Global is weighing participation. Zipline is a commercial logistics company, but its autonomous delivery network is the closest civilian analogue to contested resupply.

Viasat and Space42 commit up to $1B to the Equatys joint venture

Viasat and Space42 formally established Equatys, a shared satellite and ground infrastructure company for direct-to-device connectivity, committing up to $1 billion in equity. Each side puts in $400 million at formation pending regulatory approval, with Space42 adding $200 million later in a round open to outside investors. The first phase runs under 200 satellites scaling toward 2,800, spreading constellation capex across operators rather than one balance sheet.

Navy splits $280.5M in LCU 1700 prototype deals across three yards

The Navy issued competitive prototype Other Transaction agreements worth $280.5 million to Conrad Shipyard, Master Boat Builders and Saronic Technologies for Landing Craft Utility 1700 hulls. Each yard builds two or three prototypes and refines its production plan before high-rate work, with deliveries starting in late 2028. Funded by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, the award pays three non-incumbent yards, including autonomy startup Saronic, to compete on amphibious hulls.

CACI wins a CENTCOM award with a $1.5B ceiling

CACI received a one-year award with four option periods supporting US Central Command and its mission partners, carrying a $1.5 billion ceiling. The company expects to book $1.2 billion of the awarded value and will run its Apollo capability for planning, analysis and information integration across the AOR. Irregular warfare and information advantage work is where services contracting still concentrates, and CENTCOM has the live requirement.

AEVEX takes up to $92.2M to modernize hypersonic flight testing

AEVEX was selected for up to $92.2 million over three years supporting the Test Resource Management Center's SkyRange program. SkyRange converts retired RQ-4 Global Hawks into Range Hawk platforms carrying upward-looking sensors, replacing fixed and ship-based ranges with airborne telemetry relay. Test capacity, not missile design, is the bottleneck throttling every hypersonic program, and it is finally being bought as a service.

Space Force names its GMTI constellation RRS-G, with Northrop as prime

Lt. Gen. Gregory Gagnon revealed that the Space Force's ground moving target indicator constellation is called the Resilient Radar System-Ground, built by Northrop Grumman. Launches begin within two years, and the service stood up the 77th Surveillance Squadron last month as its first space-based sensing and tracking unit. The fiscal 2027 request carries $1.02 billion for GMTI procurement, moving a mission off aircraft and onto satellites.

Hanwha and Magnet Defense start building the H38 medium USV

Hanwha Defense USA begins construction next month on the H38, a 38-meter medium unmanned surface vessel derived from Magnet Defense's M48, with testing beginning early next year. CEO Michael Coulter said the Navy wants modular payloads spanning electronic warfare, communications relay and lethal effects on the same hull. The Navy's MUSV marketplace rewards production-ready platforms, and a Korean prime pairing with an American autonomy startup is the fastest route to one.

Hydrosat unveils Osiris, a higher-resolution thermal infrared constellation

Hydrosat unveiled Osiris, whose payload carries a long-wave infrared imager at 25-meter resolution across a 160 to 340 kilometer swath plus four visible near-infrared sensors. The first two satellites launch next year, improving on the VanZyl spacecraft now flying, and Hydrosat holds NASA, NRO and SpaceWERX awards. Thermal imaging sees troop movement and power use at night, which is why an agriculture-first sensor keeps winning intelligence contracts.

Caine says US formations must expect to be hunted by autonomous systems

Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine told the AFA conference that American formations must now assume they will be hunted by autonomous systems and jammed across the spectrum. He cited Ukraine, where AI-enabled computer vision keeps FPV drones on target through GPS denial, and put a new Russian recruit's life expectancy at 20 to 30 minutes. He also credited a Saronic Corsair vessel with recovering two downed Apache pilots near the Strait of Hormuz.

Germany and the US sign a shared munitions production pact

Pete Hegseth and Boris Pistorius signed an agreement making Germany an additional production hub for scarce American munitions when US firms are oversubscribed. MBDA's Schrobenhausen plant starts PAC-3 MSE interceptor production later this year, and both sides will study which Tomahawk components Germany could supply. Allied second-sourcing is the practical answer to a magazine problem no single industrial base can fix.

SPACECOM says it cannot yet target adversary space systems

Gen. Stephen Whiting told the AMOS conference that US Space Command lacks robust target folders and real-time battlespace awareness for engaging threats in orbit. He framed space control as proactive warfighting spanning kinetic and non-kinetic fires, and said space domain awareness is the bedrock the whole concept rests on. Two days after the Air Force confirmed on-orbit weapons exist, the combatant commander says the targeting chain behind them does not.

EnduroSat raised $205M co-led by Riot Ventures and Atreides to build a US factory and an EU defense hub.

R3 Lithium raised a $15M Series A with TDK Ventures to scale its Covington, Georgia lithium carbonate plant.

The Air Force's C3BM office is standing up a multi-award IDIQ called Megatron for the DAF Battle Network.

SDA is now a year behind on its orbital mesh network after trouble sourcing enough high-quality optical terminals.

Spain's Indra unveiled Squall, a low-cost cruise missile pitched for mass attacks in Europe's emerging strike mix.

Air Mobility Command is assessing whether Boeing could restart C-17 production as part of a future airlift vision.