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DISPATCH 03/26 · 25 Jul 2026
BATTLEPOLICY
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News Daily Brief
  1. Three Saronic Corsairs carried out the first US sea-drone combat strike, CENTCOM says CENTCOM named the platform behind the first combat strike by American sea drones: three Saronic-built Corsairs hit Iran's Bandar Abbas naval port on July 12. USA · Iran · Naval
  2. Germany funds 50,000 Auterion-guided Shrike drones for Ukraine Berlin is paying about 90 million euros to put Auterion's Skynode S terminal guidance on 50,000 of Skyfall's Shrike FPV drones, one of the largest known Western drone orders for Kyiv. Ukraine · Europe · Autonomy
  3. Helsing raises $1.8 billion, valuing the maker of Ukraine's HX-2 strike drones at $18 billion The largest round a European defense startup has ever raised lands with a heavily American investor syndicate, even as Helsing insists it stays European-owned and keeps arming Ukraine's front. Europe · Funding · Helsing
  4. Raytheon and Rheinmetall land the British Army's £2 billion AI training contract The UK's 15-year collective-training award puts a US prime and Germany's Rheinmetall inside the British Army's training pipeline; Rheinmetall's share alone is just under 1 billion euros. Europe · Policy · Omnia Training
  5. Shield AI's V-BAT is finding the targets for Ukraine's campaign to cut off Crimea A CBS News report from Kyiv details how Shield AI's V-BAT reconnaissance drone finds targets for the Ukrainian strike campaign that has hit dozens of Russian tankers and left Crimea rationing fuel. Ukraine · Autonomy · Shield AI
  6. Iran fires on US bases in four countries as CENTCOM hits 90 more targets Iran answered a second night of US strikes by firing on bases in four countries, aiming, by its own account, at a Patriot battery in Kuwait and an early-warning radar in Qatar. Iran · Air Defense · CENTCOM
  7. Kraken raises $175M at a $1bn valuation, days after airdropping a drone boat from an A400M A $175 million Series B makes Kraken Technology Group Europe's newest maritime-defence unicorn, a week after its uncrewed K3 SCOUT became the first drone boat parachuted into the sea from a transport aircraft. Europe · Naval · Kraken Technology Group
  8. Quantum Systems Sends Ukraine's National Guard Ten Ground Robots and Ten Driverless Trucks A week after its $1.2 billion raise, the Munich drone maker moves from the air onto the ground in Ukraine, fielding its Mandrill robot and autonomy-fitted Zetros trucks for combat validation with the National Guard. Ukraine · Autonomy · Quantum Systems
  9. Russia fields Volna Kupol Garant jammers against Ukraine's Starlink strike drones Russia has begun fielding Volna Kupol Garant jammers that blank Starlink over 20 square kilometers, the network most of Ukraine's long-range strike drones fly on, Reuters reports, but the complexes radiate a signature loud enough to become targets. Ukraine · Russia · Electronic Warfare
  10. Poland's PGZ to build Anduril's Barracuda-500M cruise missile in Bydgoszcz The July 6 agreement makes Poland the first European producer of Anduril's mass-production cruise missile, with thousands of rounds planned and a route to EU-funded sales under the SAFE scheme. Europe · Policy · Anduril
  11. Warren demands Pentagon AI contracts as Senate NDAA writes rules for military autonomy Sen. Elizabeth Warren gave the Pentagon and seven AI vendors until July 20 to open their classified-network AI agreements, weeks after Senate defense authorizers wrote human-judgment requirements and a nuclear-launch ban for military AI into their draft policy bill. USA · Policy · Pentagon
  12. US hits more than 80 Iranian targets after three tankers struck in the Strait of Hormuz CENTCOM's largest strike wave since June hit anti-ship missile sites and more than 60 IRGC fast boats after attacks on three tankers; Tehran answered at US bases in Bahrain and Kuwait, and the June ceasefire looks dead. Iran · USA · Naval
  13. Forterra says 105 of its robot ATVs have run 1,100 combat missions in Ukraine The first American autonomous ground vehicles in the war have driven 2,500 miles, hauled 777,440 pounds of cargo and evacuated 52 casualties since October, and the Ukrainian units running them want more, cheaper. Ukraine · USA · Autonomy
  14. Surtr raises $4.8M seed for counter-drone software already tested in Kyiv Ukraine's Brave1 pulled the months-old YC startup to Kyiv before it even held an export license, a measure of how much front-line demand now rides on the counter-drone integration layer. Ukraine · USA · Funding
  15. Ukraine's upgraded FP-1 drones hit Russia's largest refinery in the war's deepest strike Fire Point's new FP-1 variant flew roughly 3,000 kilometers to Omsk, closing out the last of Russia's 11 biggest gasoline producers still untouched. Ukraine · Russia · drones
  16. Ukraine's AI-guided midrange drones break Russian jamming, hitting 8 of 10 sorties After SpaceX cut Russian forces' unauthorized Starlink access, upgraded Ukrainian drones evade jamming and keep Russia's supply lines under fire deep behind the front. Ukraine · drones · Starlink
  17. AeroVironment wins a $500M homeland counter-drone contract, pushing Switchblade's maker into base defense The loitering-munition maker's entry into JIATF-401's Domestic Shield program turns a record quarter into a foothold in homeland counter-drone defense. USA · Air Defense · aerovironment
  18. Ukraine's drones strike Russia's Baltic oil ports as Kyiv takes a second mass barrage As Russia killed at least 10 people in its second mass strike on Kyiv in a week, Ukraine's long-range drones hit two of Russia's biggest Baltic oil-export terminals and blacked out the Black Sea Fleet's home port, pressing its campaign to choke Moscow's oil revenue. Ukraine · Russia · drones
  19. Ukraine asks nearly 40 countries for their Patriot stocks after Russia's deadliest Kyiv strike of 2026 Kyiv's defenses stopped 90 percent of the cruise missiles and drones in Russia's 11-hour barrage. The ballistic missiles that got through are a delivery problem: interceptors Ukraine already bought have not arrived. Ukraine · Russia · Air Defense
  20. Hegseth puts nearly every Pentagon drone program under one new office A June 29 memo hands a single "drone czar" directive and contracting authority over most US unmanned programs, from small quadcopters to sea robots, as Washington races to close a production gap it is losing on volume. USA · Autonomy · DRPM-UxS
  21. Russia mass-deploys an autonomous AI Molniya strike drone in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine's adviser says Stripped of its control antenna, the new Molniya runs on a camera and an onboard computer, defeating the jamming that is Ukraine's cheapest and most scalable defense. Ukraine · Russia · Autonomy
  22. Ukraine funds humanoid combat robots as its ground-robot war scales Kyiv opened a grant contest for domestic humanoid robots, extending a ground-robot buildout on track to contract 25,000 uncrewed vehicles in the first half of 2026. Ukraine · Autonomy · Brave1
  23. Quantum Systems raises $1.2 billion, doubling to an $8 billion valuation The Munich reconnaissance-drone maker more than doubled its valuation in under a year, and its co-CEO says the cash is for acquiring rivals in a crowded European market. Europe · Funding · Quantum Systems
  24. NATO's Palantir Maven Goes Fully Operational, Wiring AI Into Allied Targeting NATO's AI targeting software just cleared its last gate. It now runs on the alliance's classified network, and one US company owns the code. Europe · USA · Autonomy
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