Brandon Tseng

Anduril’s Lattice for C2 played an integral part in Ex Valiant Shield and shows the pace at which we can provide joint C2 across modern and legacy systems, services and mission partners. This article talks through some of the key aspects of the exercise and how our Lattice for C2 system delivered crucial interoperability to our warfighters to enable them to achieve their mission. https://lnkd.in/eeFYTrx5

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🚀 Solid Rocket Motor (SRM) production is critical to our defense superiority and force posture. Lack of competition in the DIB - and lack of pure commercial play viability in the market segment - along with missing long term USG investments and contracting drag are among the reasons why we lack the manufacturing supply chain needed. Pleased to see the Pentagon and Congress tackling this problem creatively. The Summit Group DC has been following the SRM market and many of the new companies out there for the past 4-5 years. Let’s hope DOD picks more than 2 winners. We need it ALL online ASAP, but this is a great first step. Kudos Laura Taylor-Kale, PhD and the DOD team for tackling this difficult but necessary problem to solve. #DIB #defenseindustrialbase #rockets #missiles #warfighters #alliesandpartners

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As you know, I've been following the defense efforts in Ukraine rather closely for a long time, along with the role of tech therein, which has included many elements of automation, unmanned aerial vehicle tech, and the like. That's why it was such a privilege to get to talk to Josh Lospinoso, CEO at Shift5, about the power of automation tech in defense. Josh helped provide more insights into the cybersecurity updates his team helped provide for the MQ-9A Reaper, the UAV utilized by the U.S. Department of Defense, along with other insights. Shift5 collaborated with General Atomics Aeronautical Systems to add onboard cyber anomaly detection and predictive maintenance capabilities to the drone. This was an enlightening conversation and I'm curious to learn more as the field develops. #automation #defense #technology #drone #UAV #cybersecurity

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The highlights from the SASC FY25 NDAA Summary include: • $25B topline above FRA caps • Streamline Milestone A and B approvals • Strengthens Middle Tier of Acquisition authority • Reinforces the need to reform DoD budget and requirements processes • Increased approval thresholds for OTAs • UAS and C-UAS initiatives • AI and Emerging Tech #NDAA #FY25NDAA https://lnkd.in/gJmJ2wpv

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I see two very interesting takeaways from this article by Payload Research: (1) Classic Prime, and (2) Investors Beware. The first being a pet-peeve of mine. I've always had issue with mega-primes winning bids, then just outsourcing the entire project to a 3rd party. Like, what's the point. Why can't the funder just award the bid to the 3rd party directly and save programmatic costs. It's a silly system of buddying-up to legacy players for the sake of a lifeline and having "friends in the right places" that funding bodies continually reinforce by their award practices. The second being a cautionary tale of the result of the first takeaway. That is, the investors of such a 3rd party "startup" are screwed by the mega-prime via a preying tactic. If you're investing in a fast-growth startup, seeking large contracts and bid partnerships with a legacy mega-prime, tread carefully, as evident in the events that unfolded here with Lockheed and Terran. Also, don't SPAC, just don't. #opinion #space #acquisition #spac #investors #funding #prime #news #cautionary #tales https://lnkd.in/e57Pf-Tk

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The October issue of "Vectors for Safety" is available! See the latest edition of "Gene's Blog," a cognition article explaining our Executive Function, a link to the latest "Old Pilot Tips" video, and detailed analysis of three recent crashes. Vectors for Safety is sponsored by Avemco Insurance Company. https://bit.ly/3TYDcTj #pilots #flying #aviationsafety

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Is the proliferation of drones confusing customers? Industry experts have predicted that within the Defense & Military market alone that drone platforms will go from several hundred types to over 10,000 platforms satisfying diverse needs and following the “miniaturization” curve over the next 5-7 years. That is a strong statement for the drone Industry, although it also reinforces how difficult it will be for customers to distinguish and differentiate drone-related products and services. The key is continuing to look for those drone providers that focus on solving problems and designing their drone solutions to fit critical, applications requirements. EuroLink grew-up in the Technology field – with decades of experience learning and meeting the demands of mission-critical, program needs. This experience has been translated into EuroLink’s Beluga™ family of mini-drones – which was designed from the user perspective first, leveraged and applied lessons learned from the Aeronautical Industry and uniquely applied a Bio-inspired approach to support its design and breakthrough blade/propeller technology resulting in the “Silent Drone.” Here is a published article from Unmanned Systems Technology (UST) highlighting Beluga’s application for ISR target applications: https://lnkd.in/dZsgwNVQ Intriguing and supported by a challenging Roadmap to continue extending Beluga’s™ capabilities and providing advanced UAV, UGV and UUS products. Time to take a look at an emerging, Drone Leader that approaches things differently than the rest of the pack? Contact Andrea Lapiana at: [email protected] or Ed Hennessy at: [email protected] about your challenges and we will get you moving forward. #Aerospace #Defense #Innovation #Technology #UncrewedVehicles #sUAS #Drones #C4ISR #SituationalAwareness #PublicSafety #LawEnforcement #MedicalTransport #InfrastructureInspection

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Is the proliferation of drones confusing customers? Industry experts have predicted that within the Defense & Military market alone that drone platforms will go from several hundred types to over 10,000 platforms satisfying diverse needs and following the “miniaturization” curve over the next 5-7 years. That is a strong statement for the drone Industry, although it also reinforces how difficult it will be for customers to distinguish and differentiate drone-related products and services. The key is continuing to look for those drone providers that focus on solving problems and designing their drone solutions to fit critical, application requirements. Eurolink’s deep-experience translated into the Beluga™ family of mini-drones – which was designed from the user perspective first, leveraged and applied lessons learned from the Aeronautical Industry and uniquely applied a Bio-inspired approach to support its design and breakthrough blade/propeller technology resulting in the “Silent Drone.” This includes a unique water take-off/landing feature ideally suited for Maritime target applications. Here is a published article from Unmanned Systems Technology (UST) highlighting Beluga’s application for ISR target applications: https://lnkd.in/dZsgwNVQ Time to take a look at an emerging, Drone Leader that approaches things differently than the rest of the pack? Contact Pietro Lapiana at: [email protected] or Ed Hennessy at: [email protected] about your challenges and we will get you moving forward. #Aerospace #Defense #Innovation #Technology #UncrewedVehicles #sUAS #Drones #C4ISR #SituationalAwareness #PublicSafety #LawEnforcement #MedicalTransport #InfrastructureInspection

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I was directly involved in the DOD response to the several such efforts at the turn of the century. In the late 1990s, the Air Force Materiel Command (AFMC) initiated an effort to define a development roadmap for a manned military spaceplane. As a civilian aerospace engineer in the HQ AFMC/ST office, I was the deputy chair of the Technology Panel for this effort. The effort was an attempt to bridge the severe internal political divide between the space side of the Air Force, that strongly opposed any such manned military effort, and the air side—where I came from as having been the Project Engineer for the 1983-85 Transatmospheric Vehicle studies at WPAFB and the Chief Flight Systems Engineer in the NASP Joint Program Office—that had been working to this goal since the DynaSoar program of the late 1950s. The intransigence of the space side killed this effort. Around 2001, while in AFRL HQ at a staff member, I was requested to represent the air side of the Air Force (WPAFB) in working with NASA MSFC to plan the JOINT development of a prototype manned TSTO VTHL spaceplane (RLV). After six months, NASA killed this effort because it threatened the Space Shuttle. In late 2002, I was asked by HQ AF staff to informally review the final version of a new National Space Transportation Policy being prepared for President Bush's signature. It was in final multi-agency review. I had by then become recognized by HQ AF staff, due to my PA-review requests for papers and presentations on integrated space logistics (astrologistics) beginning around 1995. The draft addressed the need for such an integrated and practicable astrologistics capability. I responded that I wouldn't "change a word", as it was to have begun a dramatic and much needed step forward. (At that time the space side was pushing for that Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) as the much-needed advance in national spacefaring capabilities.) Just as the policy was about to arrive in the White House for signature, the Space Shuttle Columbia was lost. As happened after the loss of Challenger, the political wagons in the government circled to protect NASA and preserve the space shuttle/ISS and the proposed new policy was scrapped. As a "side benefit", the EELV also survived. America's current lack of effective and practicable true human spacefaring are entirely due to self-inflected wounds propagated since the mid-1990s.

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What do the following have in common? 🏛️ US Congress 👨‍🔬 Merlin Labs 🛩️ Safran ⛓️‍💥 Israeli Hostages 🚀 Boeing’s disastrous engineering ⚽️ and Soccer They’re all top news this week! Clearly, I’m behind schedule today and there’s a lot to dissect in the news. First, the House Appropriations Committee did its committee markup on the Defense Appropriations bill this week. Watch for a lot of interesting insights to come in the near future on that. Second, we’re continuing to see VC firms raising funds to focus on hard tech and defense tech. Hopefully, this will quickly translate into opening the spigot for startups, but that still remains muted—although there were some defense or defense-adjacent investments announced this week. More movement in the M&A sphere with Merlin Labs acquiring EpiSci and Italy finally approving French firm Safran’s acquisition of Eurofighter component maker Microtecnica. Geopolitically, Israel rescued four hostages captures on 7 Oct, at the cost of several hundred Palestinian lives. The US has proposed a ceasefire plan, now endorsed by the UN Security Council, although Hamas has asked for some amendments. Russia is floating part of its navy in the western hemisphere near Cuba and China may be attempting to probe Taiwanese naval defenses. In space, Boeing’s Starliner craft is stranded with its return date pushed to 22 June, amid multiple leaks from the spacecraft, just the latest in what feels like dozens of major engineering mishaps from one of the largest aerospace and defense companies. How have shareholders NOT demanded the heads of the entire board, yet. Finally, the UEFA European Championship 2024 kicks off today at 3:00pm Eastern at Munich’s Allianz Arena, where Germany is heavily favored to beat Scotland. Dive in to these and other issues surrounding aerospace and defense technology. #defense #defensetechnology #venturecapital #technology #news https://lnkd.in/erMZDUMQ

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Great Article. The Defense Industry is not the Defense Industry that Eisenhower warned us about 60+ years ago. And DoD approach is largely to blame, NOT greedy 'arms dealers'. I've experienced contract negotiations where we provided a product at well below 'market value', yet the focus was on how much profit was written into our price. Never mind that profit is what pays for innovation, pays for a contractor to go out on a limb to listen and provide a solution to what are 'known' defense shortfalls. Defense leaders have been screaming to get private capital to invest in the defense market, but why would they when their returns are capped at around 10%? Much better investment to buy real estate, invest in Google (27% returns), or Microsoft (44% return), or Apple (34%). Bottom line, you get what you pay for. If you cap returns, companies have less capital and less incentive to go beyond 'requirements' and provide cutting edge tech to our warfighter. They simply cannot afford it, and the contracting largesse of the DoD actually discourages it. It's like keeping gifted and talented kids moving through school at the same speed a the lowest common denominator.

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Vannevar Labs is aiming for $1 billion in revenue by 2030. 💰 They are one of the fastest-to-profitability defense tech stratups... ever. 🚀 And their founders, Brett Granberg and Nini Hamrick, are two of the most candid, caring, and driven in the industry. This week's #CrossingTheValley is an absolute masterclass in what separates innovation theater from mission-impact. Check it out wherever you get your podcasts, and read on for some top takeaways 👇 1. Peers are the real support network of a business school… not (necessarily) the professors. Outside of the Hacking for Defense ecosystem, Brett got an icy reception from professors when he spoke about dropping out of Stanford. One went so far as to say, “if you drop out, I’m not going to help you.” 2. You can fundraise with problems and users… you don't (necessarily) need product. The world was different in 2018… but the Vannevar team didn't have a prototype. They had a deep background and extensive network of end users because they chose to solve a problem that they had experienced personally their previous lives. This made it easy for them to pick up the phone and get together with users who understood the problem deeply. 3. The best "first" deal is the first (real) deal you can get. “Whatever you can get, the fastest you can possibly get it, is what you should go after.” But crucially (and this will stand out from the typical deftech startup), they deprioritized SBIR, innovation money, and anything that sounded like innovation money or research funds. If it wasn't real money, it wasn't an important enough problem. 4. "Selling" in defense isn’t about sales… it’s about solving a problem with a customer who lacks existing capability. Many of the areas the team focused on were new to the government; they didn’t have to focus on competitors, and they didn’t have to obsess over a business model - they had to figure out what it would take to make the problem go away, and then deliver. Check out the full case writeup on Frontdoordefense . substack . com for the complete list of lessons and some 🌶 quotes!

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🚀 Introducing the HTV-R: The Heart of the NYX Hypersonic Missile Defense Platform 🚀 HYPERIAN AEROSPACE is once again pushing boundaries with the HTV-R—the world’s first radar and command & control system with a built-in self-defense Direct Energy Multi-Cannon Weapon designed to neutralize incoming threats targeting its own platform. This revolutionary feature ensures continuous operation and unparalleled security, setting a new standard for missile defense systems. Why the HTV-R Stands Alone: 📡 Advanced Radar & Command & Control Precision The HTV-R provides the most precise, responsive targeting in the industry, tracking hypersonic threats in real time. With multi-band, multi-mode radar technology, it can detect, prioritize, and track a vast range of incoming missiles, aircraft, and drones faster than ever before. 🔆 Self-Defense Direct Energy Multi-Cannon Weapon HYPERIAN’s HTV-R is the only radar and command platform equipped with a self-defense weapon, capable of destroying threats before they reach the command center itself. This breakthrough innovation secures the critical command & control element that ensures the effectiveness of the entire missile defense system. 🚛 Mobility on Hyper Tactical Vehicles (HTV) Mounted on our highly versatile HTV, the HTV-R can be deployed rapidly and positioned in high-risk zones, offering unmatched flexibility and coverage. Without a robust radar and command & control platform, a missile defense system is rendered ineffective. The HTV-R, with its integrated self-defense and cutting-edge technology, guarantees that the NYX Hypersonic Missile Defense Platform is always ready to defend. Once again, HYPERIAN AEROSPACE is revolutionizing what’s possible—delivering the world’s fastest, most precise, and reliable missile defense command & control system. Want to see how HYPERIAN is transforming global security? Let’s connect! 🔗 https://HYPERIANAero.com #MissileDefense #RadarTechnology #Hypersonics #HYPERIANAerospace #NYXDefensePlatform #CommandAndControl #Innovation

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The rise of the commercial space industry has been likened to the Dot Com Boom of the mid 1980s. There is a lot of exuberance about the industry, and companies from large legacy defense contractors to startup microbusinesses are looking to cash in on the promise of space. From CubeSats to human spaceflight, space is a hot commodity right now and will be for the foreseeable future...https://lnkd.in/gyKmNbjV [Premium Content]

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In an effort to help space organizations get passed the ‘Valley of Death’ phase, SpaceWERX, the space innovation arm of AFWERX, has recently announced the nine recipients of its first funding opportunity. What do we mean by Valley of Death? "...a critical early phase where a company has started operations but hasn’t yet generated sufficient revenue to cover its expenses. You’re operating on borrowed time." I think this funding will be a major help for these recipients. Getting through this Valley of Death is typically a 3 phase process: 1. Concept Development. A business may have funds from the Small Business Administration to initialize research and develop a capability through engineering and design. 2. Prototype Development. They may acquire materials to contract and build mock-ups that advance the technology’s readiness level. 3. Commercialization. They have to bring this technology to commercial viability. Typically, the hardest part of the process is the transition from Phase 2 to Phase 3. Be sure to check out our blog if you want to learn more about this process: https://lnkd.in/daBdVHhx #ValleyOfDeath #SpaceNews #SpaceTech

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The Call for Papers is now available for download — abstracts are due Sept. 16, 2024! https://vtol.org/tvf2025 Technical papers are invited in the areas of autonomy-enabled VTOL aircraft systems and control station design. This includes civilian and military platforms of all sizes, ranging from micro vehicles (MAVs) and small uncrewed aircraft systems (UAS), through full-scale crewed aircraft, with the full range autonomy and associated enabling technologies, including fully autonomous, ground-controlled and optionally crewed aircraft, with combustion- or electric-powered propulsion. Papers addressing all aspects of operator interface design, including both the air vehicle and operator control stations are also invited.

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Eric Berger's new book (great excerpt by Ars Technica) gets to how deep the problem is inside NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Phil McAlister is a national hero and kudos to William. Gerstenmaier for doing the right thing. I love our national space agency, but the group-think by the old guard at NASA is a problem. China is coming. The only way to beat China is to better leverage commercial entrepreneurs. We can't beat China by beating them at being better at socialism (big government programs). NASA needs to be doubling down on commercial partnerships. Instead NASA is like a deer in the headlights. We need a new generation of leadership at NASA that has conviction on commercial partnerships is needed. This is not a nice-to-have ... it is critical to our long-term national security. https://lnkd.in/eCPSEgpp

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Get on it #spaceentrepreneurs. And for that matter, get on it if you would like to be a micro-donor. Times a-wasting... and the universe is expanding! To everyone else, please re-post this so we can get maximum visibility. #newspace #spaceeconomy

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