The business of defense, October 10

Raytheon-Rafael Protection Systems (R2S), the joint venture of RTX's Raytheon and Israel's Rafael, said Friday, Oct. 9, that it has delivered the first Tamir interceptors built at its plant in Camden, Arkansas.^1–2 Tamir is the interceptor for the Iron Dome Weapon System, and R2S says Camden is the first site outside Israel to make it.¹

The venture's first production contract supplies Israel. Announced in November 2025, the $1.25 billion direct commercial sales contract includes Tamir missiles, missile kits and test equipment. The companies put $33 million into the plant to support the Israel Missile Defense Organization's push to accelerate serial production of Iron Dome interceptors.² R2S didn't say how many interceptors it delivered, to whom, under which contract or at what production rate.¹

R2S says Camden is also planning to produce the U.S. variant of Tamir in support of the Marine Corps' Medium Range Intercept Capability (MRIC).¹ Last November, RTX said the site will produce that variant, SkyHunter, which it described as designed to counter threats including cruise missiles, aircraft, rockets, artillery and mortars.² R2S Chief Executive Jonathan Casey said domestic production gives the U.S. and its allies "another reliable, scalable source" for the interceptors.¹

The Department of War's Office of Strategic Capital announced on Thursday, Oct. 8, a conditional commitment to lend PsiQuantum up to $150 million to support its 140,000-square-foot hub in Milpitas, Calif. There, the photonic quantum computing company develops and validates the prototype systems behind its fault-tolerant architecture.^1–2 PsiQuantum said the financing would support its acquisition of test equipment, infrastructure for system assembly, integration and testing, and advanced cryogenic systems for its prototypes.²

PsiQuantum sits in Stage C, where government evaluators test whether a proposed utility-scale quantum computer can be built as designed and operated as intended.⁴ The department says the loan builds on the office's "ongoing collaboration" with the initiative.¹ In July, PsiQuantum said it was one of two companies in that stage.⁵ Four more organizations have since joined Microsoft and PsiQuantum there: Atom Computing, Diraq, IBM and IonQ.⁴ The department says their advancement represents about $200 million in new funding.³

The commitment follows a $125 million expanded DARPA agreement PsiQuantum announced in July and a $100 million CHIPS and Science Act award it finalized with the Commerce Department in September.^{2, 6} The loan would be paired with co-investment from PsiQuantum, the company said.² Neither announcement disclosed the loan's term, interest rate, any warrants or the size of that co-investment.^1–2

Microchip Technology said Friday, Oct. 9, that it has acquired VORAGO Technologies, a privately held Austin, Texas, provider of radiation-hardened and radiation-tolerant microcontrollers and microprocessors. The deal also brings Microchip HARDSIL, the patented hardening process VORAGO licenses. Microchip says HARDSIL can enhance the radiation tolerance of existing products without a redesign.¹

In January 2023, SkyWater Technology announced a partnership to move VORAGO's fabrication to its Category 1A Trusted Foundry, accredited by the Defense Microelectronics Activity.^3–4 SkyWater said HARDSIL would be available to SkyWater customers for new or existing designs, and that other semiconductor suppliers had used it under license.³ The process now belongs to a broadline chip supplier that already sells rad-hard parts for space, including the SAMRH71, an in-production rad-hard Arm Cortex-M7 microcontroller for aerospace applications.^{1, 5–6}

On the chip side, Microchip says VORAGO's family complements its existing aerospace and defense lines.¹ VORAGO announced in September 2024 that the Defense Logistics Agency had granted it Qualified Manufacturers List (QML) certification at class Q and V radiation hardness.⁸ Its flight heritage page lists a September 2025 Space Development Agency Tranche 1 launch among select missions, alongside NASA's Artemis II and Blue Origin's New Glenn flights.⁷

Kapta Space, a Seattle developer of spaceborne radar payloads, announced the $24 million round on Friday, Oct. 9, with Bison Ventures as co-lead. Kapta says the money will help it scale production to support multiple classified moving target indication (MTI) contracts it secured earlier this year. The round brings its total funding to $30 million.¹

The technology it wants to produce has a public research trail. In July 2023, DARPA funded a $1.7 million Direct to Phase II Small Business Innovation Research contract for a steerable X-band metasurface antenna.^2–3 The award's abstract set out to develop spaceborne radar imaging and MTI sensor technology.² USAspending lists the work, which ended in July 2025, as a "Space Metamaterial Electronically Scanned Array," matching the name of Kapta's MESA architecture.^{1, 3}

Conventional radar payloads, Kapta says, have been too costly and complex to deploy across large satellite constellations. MESA is designed to deliver advanced radar performance at significantly lower cost, power and manufacturing complexity than traditional active electronically scanned arrays, the company says.¹

Washington Harbour is a Washington, D.C., private investment firm whose investments run from growth equity to control buyouts. Mina Faltas, its founder and chief executive, said the firm believes MESA's combination of performance, cost and scalability will make Kapta "a foundational supplier to the next generation of U.S. and allied space architectures."¹

Aurelius, a private equity investor, completed its acquisition of Marshall Aerospace from Marshall Group on Thursday, Oct. 8.¹ Marshall Aerospace has supported the C-130 Hercules since 1966, and its work spans military maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO), applied aerospace engineering and multi-domain advanced manufacturing.^1–2

The seller has been breaking itself up.^{3, 5–6} Marshall Group sold Slingsby Advanced Composites to Swedish buyer Mangohojden and, in November 2025, Marshall Land Systems to Canadian investment firm Flowing River Capital.^5–6 The Hill Group and Homes England completed their purchase of about 700 acres from the group, including Cambridge City Airport.⁴ With its engineering businesses and land holdings sold, Marshall Group says its focus is now an investment portfolio for its shareholders.³

Aurelius gets a business that supports operators ranging from the Royal Norwegian Air Force to the U.S. Marine Corps, and works with manufacturers including Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Thales. Its recent contracts include a multi-year entry-into-service and sustainment agreement for 12 C-130J aircraft acquired by the Turkish Ministry of National Defence. Another is a 14-year Thales contract to produce sonar modules for the Royal Navy. Marshall Aerospace Chief Executive Bob Baxter said Aurelius has "the expertise and resources to back our next phase of growth."¹