BLUF: Start-Up Surge

Every week in the BLUF we cover what's changing in national security, the political movements, the budgets, the geostrategic challenges, and, often, the emerging trends inside a fast growing group of defense tech companies innovating at the edge.

Despite the hype and the flashy videos filling your LinkedIn feed, the technology that dominates the news cycle has been slow to reach warfighters on America's actual battlefields. Autonomous surface vessels from Saronic and long range one way attack drones like LUCAS remain, for now, the exception rather than the rule when it comes to actual combat operations.

A recent Wall Street Journal story traces that slow climb into operational use. After a decade of disruption and sweeping changes to acquisition and procurement policy, the Pentagon is now buying cutting edge technology from a growing number of venture backed defense startups in larger and larger quantities.

These aren't just the Andurils and Palantirs you already know, though they’re taking a lion's share, it’s actually hundreds of smaller companies supplying unique capabilities that are keeping American servicemembers a step ahead of the fight. The traditional primes still dominate, and for good reason, with their contracts having roughly doubled over the past two years to $372 billion. But over that same period the Pentagon pushed $122 billion to nontraditional start-ups looking to break in.

While the primes aren't going anywhere, neither are the new-entrants to the defense tech landscape. The future of military procurement will depend on finding the right blend between funding the exquisite systems our military knows and trusts from the traditional primes, and the beating heart of the cutting edge from a hungry new group of defense tech companies eager to make their mark and impact the mission. 

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