BLUF:
Several of Europe’s exoskeleton developers have gone bankrupt due to slow adoption and expensive R&D. Those that survive often get by with government and military backing, while trying to get beyond limited use cases to provide broader support for soldier capabilities. The drone threat limits troop mobility, forcing designers to rethink applications like carrying backpacks over long distances.
Belgian firearms manufacturer FN hopes reduced maintenance requirements with its new .50-caliber M3M Endurance machine gun will encourage infantry adoption. The standard M3’s fire rate is useful against drones, but it’s mainly used by helicopter crews accustomed to preventive maintenance.
Defence Innovation Network Finland, or DEFINE, is looking for mature miltech startups in Finland and across NATO to validate new technologies with the alliance, including AI and command-and-control systems.
The Arsenal and FTI Consulting event, In Conversation: what Ukraine means for European defense
Ukraine has become a testing ground for military innovation, compressing development cycles that once took years. As Europe races to rebuild readiness and industrial capacity, what lessons should it take?
The Arsenal and FTI Consulting invite you to an "In Conversation with" event in Brussels with Tim Mak, CEO of The Arsenal, and Dr. Beatriz Cózar Murillo, Brussels Aerospace & Defense Lead at FTI Consulting. They'll examine how the battlefield is evolving, which technologies matter most, and how partnerships between Ukrainian and European companies can turn frontline innovation into industrial scale.
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Exoskeletons lighten the load
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1. FN pushes infantry adoption and C-UAS with revamped M3 machine gun
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Andro Mathewson has been appointed to head of research and intelligence at German drone firm STARK. He was previously responsible for strategy and operations.
U.S. defense giant RTX has appointed Magdalena Trzpil-Halota head of government relations for Poland.
NATO’s Defence Industry, Innovation and Armaments Division is looking for policy experts to work on defense industrial capacity at its Brussels headquarters. The application deadline is next Monday (October 19).
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Bifrost Defence is building a new European defense company across land, sea and air. The company develops hardware around urgent military needs, validates it closely with end users, and then industrializes the products that work through shared engineering, manufacturing and defense sales infrastructure.
They currently have four product lines, including UGVs, low-cost USVs, mobile military infrastructure and aerostat systems, with production already running in Ukraine and Estonia.
Bifrost Defence is raising €10 million to expand European production capacity, accelerate serial manufacturing and bring our next generation of products into NATO markets.
As the company’s CEO, Nicholas MacGowan von Holstein, puts it: “Europe does not need more defense prototypes. It needs companies that can turn battlefield requirements into products and manufacture them at scale.”
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Send your pitch to [email protected].
Drones have again sunk a cargo ship in NATO waters, off the coast of Bulgaria. Bulgarian Prime Minister Rumen Radev has summoned the Russian ambassador, the BBC reports.
Norwegian defense prime Kongsberg will invest €45 million in a counter-drone systems factory in Poland, the company announced.
Britain is open to having Germany join the Global Combat Air Program (GCAP) next-gen military jet project, Prime Minister Andy Burnham said, according to Reuters.
European officials say the United States is threatening to cut off Ukrainian access to American arms and intelligence, unless Kyiv stops attacks on Russian oil refineries, the Financial Times reports.
Danish-Lithuanian dronemaker Monopulse has raised €2 million to produce electronic warfare-resistant drones, Tech EU reports.
France’s air force is becoming more open about its quarterly nuclear weapons exercises, Politico reports.
NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Europe, General Alexus Grynkewich of the U.S. Air Force, said the alliance would destroy “anything and everything” Russia throws at it in the event Moscow was “foolish enough” to attack, Reuters reports.
CORRECTION: An earlier version of the BLUF incorrectly summarized the impact drone warfare is having on exoskeleton designs. We apologize for this error.
