KNDS and EOS are widening the remote weapons supply chain. Their teaming deal points to fresh integration work around exportable, ITAR-free lethality packages.
Babcock is reshaping how smaller suppliers enter defence programmes today. Its SME charter targets contracting friction, test access, and payment discipline across the UK industrial base.
The Air Force is withholding fresh tanker orders from Boeing. That turns the KC-46’s unresolved boom, vision, and quality defects into a production test for a programme the service still expects to anchor US tanker recapitalisation.
Cyber defence now depends on securing machines, identities, and code. A new threat intelligence report warns that agentic AI is accelerating cyber risk for defence contractors and the wider industrial base around them.
Integrated air defence is becoming a software and manufacturing contest. Leonardo’s Michelangelo programme is now moving toward a Ukraine test, turning a new multi-domain air defence concept into an early industrial and operational proving ground.
Thermal concealment is moving from specialist gear into wider procurement. The US Marine Corps is seeking a multispectral overgarment that can reduce visual and infrared detection while still meeting strict requirements on weight, durability, and field usability.
Anduril is expanding deeper into space defence manufacturing capability now. The ExoAnalytic acquisition adds a global tracking network, missile-sensing expertise, and a 130-person engineering team as the company pushes into space domain awareness and infrared satellite payloads.
Britain is formalising hybrid fleet procurement with a 20-boat order. Kraken’s Project Beehive win gives the Royal Navy near-term operational testbeds and a broader industrial platform for serial USV assembly, autonomy integration, and support.
Britain is rebuilding naval anchor manufacturing through a Midlands contract. Solid Swivel will supply anchors, chain cables, and fittings for more than 30 Royal Navy vessels, including six 12.5-tonne units for the Queen Elizabeth-class carriers.
Romania and Ukraine have formalised plans for joint drone production. The agreement could move Ukrainian defence manufacturing into Romania under SAFE-backed financing, giving Bucharest a direct role in scaling combat-proven systems inside the EU and NATO industrial base.