The War Zone
• Joseph Trevithick
General Atomics is working with Spirit Defense, a Boeing subsidiary, to help increase production of its FQ-42 collaborative combat aircraft as the U.S. Air Force seeks fighter drones over the next six years. The partnership points to an effort to build manufacturing capacity around the emerging uncrewed combat-aircraft requirement.
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General Atomics is working with Spirit Defense, a Boeing subsidiary, to help increase production of its FQ-42 collaborative combat aircraft as the U.S. Air Force seeks fighter drones over the next six years. The partnership points to an effort to build manufacturing capacity around the emerging uncrewed combat-aircraft requirement.
The Air Force wants artificial intelligence to review aerial refueling operations using video from cameras mounted on tankers, then provide crews with “hot wash” feedback. The initiative is aimed at strengthening crew capability through analysis of refueling performance.
The U.S. Space Force has awarded initial operational contracts for its Commercial Augmentation Space Reserve, while Kyiv is considering ICEYE- and Nokia-backed sovereign communications satellites after uncertainty over Ukraine’s Starshield access. Separate efforts target satellite links for UK drones and commercial satellite intelligence for wildfire response, underscoring expanding defense and public-service uses.
PhillipCapital upgraded SpaceX from sell to buy and tripled its price target to $250, implying about 70% upside, citing the potential of its AI business. Bernstein says Starlink’s improving profitability could support aggressive broadband pricing and competition with established U.S. telecom operators, despite slowing subscriber growth.
NASA has awarded U.S. physical artificial intelligence company AstraQua a $1.275 million Phase II contract to develop AstraSense for electric and hybrid-electric aircraft, including advanced air mobility applications. The award supports development of technology intended to let autonomous aircraft “feel pain.”
SpaceX is partnering with more than 130 companies, including Apollo Global Management, Nvidia, Snowflake, Databricks and Bain, to deploy and improve its Grok AI systems. The network is intended to bolster business adoption of Grok, extending SpaceX’s AI efforts beyond its own products and operations.
High activity
Europe’s €15.6 billion Iris2 constellation depends on shared public-private delivery, while ESA’s Space Rider prototype failed to deploy its parachute in a drop test. In parallel, ClearSpace won the UK’s first national active-debris-removal mission and agreed to work with Eutelsat on GEO life extension; Aerospacelab and KAI signed an MoU for South Korea’s K-LEO constellation.
Bengaluru-based OXG Space raised ₹17 crore in a round led by Aum Ventures’ India Innovation Fund II to build a satellite connectivity network in orbit. Separately, U.S. startup Atombeam raised $18.3 million to accelerate adoption of networking software for satellite, defense and commercial links, taking its total funding to $55 million.
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