Saved Rounds 11.29.22

Knowledge Bombs

Here are the Knowledge Bombs we dropped in our Sunday newsletter :

• The Air Force’s F-35 crowd-sourced flight data initiative is finally getting the attention it deserves
• Bayraktar’s Kizilelma unmanned next gen fighter prototype completed maiden taxi trials—first flight in  2023
• Poland accepts German offer to deploy additional Patriot missile systems to defend itself
• Lockheed Martin’s new South Carolina production line completed its 1st Block 70 F-16
• Turkey begins assembling its TF-X homebuilt 5th generation fighter jet prototype
• China unveiled a new mobile gun/missile short-range air defense (SHORAD ) system
• The US is investigating how so many Western, Japanese, and Israeli components were found in Iranian drones that were recently downed in Ukraine
• DARPA selected several companies to begin building jetpack prototypes
• China is finally (and quickly) catching up in the development of fighter jet engines

Saved Rounds

Due to Thanksgiving in the US, it was a slow news week....but we still have some Saved Rounds we couldn’t squeeze into our Sunday newsletter :

• SandboxAQ, a cybersecurity startup that focuses on AI and quantum, won its first government contract (Air Force Phase I SBIR…we’re keeping tabs on this one)
• GKN Aerospace announced they are relocating their additive manufacturing operations from Tennessee to Texas (they specialize in 3D printing titamium structures using something called laser metal deposition with wire (LMD-w))
• SpaceX’s Starlink space-based broadband service is now available in high latitudes
• Raytheon successfully demoed its Robust Information Provisioning Layer (RIPL) software for the Air Force (C2 info-broker software that works in contested environments)
• Aerojet Rocketdyne plans to build a massive plant in Alabama to produce rocket motors
• China announced it plans to build a nuclear-powered moon base within six years
• Polaris’ subscale spaceplane demonstrator completed its first flight
• Viasat was awarded a $325m contract to continue providing satellite broadband equipment and networking services for SOCOM
• The FCC banned Chinese Huawei and ZTE telecommunications devices out of national security concerns