How speed and agility will win future wars, not just tech

📰 Centrepolis Client Spotlight: Swarm Defense We’re proud to see Swarm Defense, a Centrepolis Accelerator client, featured in The New York Times for their role in strengthening America’s defense manufacturing base. The article highlights how companies like Swarm Defense are helping reshape the national defense landscape — developing autonomous technologies that enhance mission readiness, resilience, and innovation within the U.S. industrial base. Their work reflects the growing impact of Michigan’s hardtech ecosystem in advancing next-generation defense and dual-use technologies. 🔗 Read the full feature here: https://lnkd.in/dthsDsMQ #DefenseTech #AutonomousSystems #Hardtech #ManufacturingInnovation #MichiganMade #CentrepolisAccelerator #InnovationEcosystem

We’re proud to see Swarm Defense, a Centrepolis Accelerator client, featured in The New York Times for their role in strengthening America’s defense manufacturing base. The article highlights how companies like Swarm Defense are helping reshape the national defense landscape — developing autonomous technologies that enhance mission readiness, resilience, and innovation within the U.S. industrial base. Their work reflects the growing impact of Michigan’s hardtech ecosystem in advancing next-generation defense and dual-use technologies. 🔗 Read the full feature here: https://lnkd.in/dthsDsMQ

💻✈️ When F-35s were grounded by software delays, John Parkes saw a deeper problem: the Pentagon’s struggle to update complex systems at speed. He founded Parry Labs to tackle it — building a modular operating system for “computers that move,” from drones to tanks to ships. In NextGen Defense’s Defense Disruptors, we speak with Parkes about making smart things smarter and bringing software agility to the battlefield.

CCAs, AI, and the Future of Defense: Why Software Will Matter More Than Steel For decades, national security strategies have relied on a small fleet of exquisite, standalone fighter jets. They remain powerful, but the future of airpower won’t be written by hardware alone. It will be written by Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCAs) and the AI and software that make them effective. Here’s what policymakers and defense leaders must weigh: Economics of Mass • A fifth-gen fighter: $80–100M+ per jet, and tens of thousands per flight hour. • A CCA: $5–15M, designed to be expendable and fielded in larger numbers. • In a high-intensity conflict, sustainable attrition matters. Losing one fighter is the equivalent of losing an entire squadron of CCAs. AI and Software > Hardware • Hardware gives us the airframe, but AI is what unlocks the mission : autonomy, sensor fusion, threat recognition, swarm coordination, and electronic warfare. • The decisive advantage won’t come from who builds the fastest jet, but from who codes the smartest algorithms and updates them in real time. • Future upgrades will be less about replacing platforms and more about pushing software updates at the speed of conflict. Operational Shifts • CCAs turn every manned jet into a force multiplier, extending reach, protection, and lethality. • Modular, software-defined payloads let CCAs pivot roles quickly : ISR today, strike tomorrow, electronic attack next week. • Adversaries can target a handful of fighters, but they cannot deter a distributed, networked swarm of human-machine teams. Strategic Imperative: This isn’t a choice between fighters and CCAs. It’s a choice between doubling down on a few exquisite platforms versus fielding affordable, adaptable, AI-driven mass. History shows wars are won not by the most advanced single platform, but by the force that scales faster, adapts quicker, and innovates smarter. The future of defense is clear: CCAs, powered by AI and software-first design, will define airpower. The question is whether we fund and integrate them before adversaries prove the point for us. Lockheed Martin ’s Skunkworks just introduced this CCA aircraft which will fly within 2 years https://lnkd.in/eBN6wNS9 #FutureWarfare #AutonomousSystems #ArtificialIntelligence #DefensePolicy #NationalSecurity #AerospaceDefense #NorthropGrumman #Skunkworks #lockheedmartin #Anduril #GeneralAtomics

Applied Intuition demonstrating how to get from 'zero' to a 'recce-strike capability' using our existing toolchain for the US Army. Some things to highlight: 1) Integration- Integration with 3rd party systems (In this example AEVEX's Atlas System) is defining how UK MOD intends to develop future software defined capabilities. 2) Behaviours- A capability test bed to iterate on feedback on observed swarming behaviours is crucial to future proofing. 3) Automated Target Recognition- there are many models in the market but the discerning buyer should find an organisation who has the scale and quality of data to train those models to a level of credible efficacy. 4) Heterogeneous teaming- The next big thing in unmanned warfare. Defence should stop talking about platforms and start talking about capabilities. The concept is akin to battlegrouping of unmanned systems and will define future warfare. 5) Terminal Guidance- Being able to deliver effect in non-permissive EW environments is no longer a 'nice to have'. Dstl, UK Ministry of Defence

🚨 BREAKING: Defense Tech Giant Auterion Just Raised $130M to Revolutionize Warfare While most of us were sleeping, the future of military technology just took a massive leap forward. Auterion, the company behind AI-powered drone swarms, just closed a staggering $130 million Series B round led by Bessemer Venture Partners. Here's what makes this game-changing: → Tens of thousands of AI strike kits already deployed in Ukraine → AuterionOS enables coordinated drone swarms across air, land, and sea → Largest deployment of autonomous military technology in the West → Pentagon contracts already secured and operational This isn't just another funding announcement. This is the moment autonomous warfare moved from science fiction to battlefield reality. The transformation from open-source drone software to major defense contractor happened in record time. What took traditional defense companies decades, Auterion achieved in years. The implications are staggering: • Real-time battlefield coordination • Reduced human risk in combat zones • Unprecedented tactical advantages • Complete paradigm shift in modern warfare At Stahl Metall, we understand the critical importance of precision engineering in defense applications. Our advanced metallurgy solutions support the aerospace and defense sectors with components that meet the most demanding specifications. The future of defense technology is autonomous, coordinated, and happening now. What are your thoughts on AI-powered military systems? Are we witnessing the dawn of a new era in warfare? #Stahl_Metall #DefenseTechnology #AutonomousSystems #MilitaryInnovation StahlMetall.com Disclosure: The images provided are for illustrative purposes only and do not represent actual products or scenarios.

Australian Army has been experimenting with AI, robotics and autonomous systems for some time. Valuable insights here from Chief of Army in discussion with Robbin Laird. ‘The choice is not between humans and machines, platforms and software, or innovation and tradition. It’s about creating new combinations that leverage the strengths of each while compensating for their limitations. In an era where the character of warfare changes weekly, the ability to combine and recombine capabilities rapidly may be the most important military skill of all.’

Missile Launchers were front and center at this year's Association of the United States Army - AUSA conference. Oshkosh Defense brought its X-MAV, part of its Family of Multi-Mission Autonomous Vehicles. Raytheon's booth had its DeepFires system on display. And the US Army was talking about its Common Autonomous Multi-Domain Launcher project. Tim Cahill, President of Missiles and Fire Control at Lockheed Martin, pointed to advances in autonomous systems, saying "We're clearly to a point where it's technologically feasible -- and reasonable -- to build an autonomous launcher and save the manpower." https://lnkd.in/eh7JS5sM #defenseindustry #AUSA #defensetech #defenseinnovation #autonomous #munitions

🚨 Defense News Digest – September 2025 This month’s highlights: - Army pivots its autonomy strategy, moving away from ISVs. - Air Force gears up for CCA Increment 2 contracts. - Pentagon launches its first “Top Drone” school. - DoD explores prize-based space interceptor prototypes. - Biometric tech expands rapidly at the border. 👉 Read the full digest here: https://lnkd.in/eW7yYktv #Defense #NationalSecurity #MilitaryInnovation #IDGA

Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering is using Technology Readiness Experimentation (T-REX) to test technologies in near-operational environments to reduce risk and fill gaps in the warfighter arsenal: https://lnkd.in/eakUns8S  #technology #warfighter #readiness