Gen Sir Roly Walker: We are 'entering the Third Era of NATO'
Issue 28: An interview with Lendurai, dispatches from the RUSI Land Warfare Conference, and lots of startup news on the eve of NATO's Rapid Adoption Action Plan release
Good afternoon from the team at Resilience Media
Big investment news in the defence tech ecosystem this week, with giants Anduril and Helsing leading the way. We interviewed the founder of Lendurai, Siim Maivel, to talk about their recent round and future plans, which you can read in our Startup Watch section. Tallinn-based Lendurai is part of an important movement towards the Eastern Flank of NATO having its own technology to defend against Russian aggression.
People are gearing up for the much-anticipated NATO Summit next week, where the Alliance is expected to make announcements about the defence and national security tech ecosystem. One we’re watching very closely is the NATO Rapid Adoption Action Plan, which is all the more critical following the success of Operation Spider’s Web in Ukraine.
The Paris Air Show leaned heavily into defence tech this year. Meanwhile, at the RUSI Land Warfare Conference today in London, the Chief of General Staff, General Sir Roly Walker welcomed representatives of 54 nations and 17 Army chiefs. Gen Roly talked about a ‘Third Era’ of NATO that will focus on fighting war at scale and over time. He added that we need to ‘innovate in peacetime and scale in wartime,’ and that if we only fight from existing traditional platforms, we will lose.
He said that a tank takes months to build, and years to train people to use. Now it can be taken out by a drone, we need to rethink how we fight and include more unmanned and attritable systems to maintain an unfair advantage in battle. Look out for more on ‘TechCraft’ which is what happens when you combine fieldcraft with tech. Gen Roly also talked about what we have learned from Ukraine - there is a strip of land that is 1000km wide and 400km deep in which anything that is seen will be struck within seven minutes. That is the challenge for tech to address.
Elsewhere on Resilience Media this week, John Biggs has been following startup news. Shoot him a note if you’ve got a tip.
Pentagon Shifts Gears with ‘Project GI’ to Keep Pace with Ukraine’s Drone Innovation
Startup HavocAI Bets Big on Autonomous Naval Drones, Eyes 100-Foot Platform by Year’s End
3YOURMIND Joins EUDIS Accelerator to Advance Agile Defense Manufacturing Across Europe
We’ll be at NATO DIANA Demo Day in London tomorrow and the NATO Summit in The Hague next week. Let me know if you’re around to meet.
-Leslie, co-founder, Resilience Media
Estonian based dual-use tech start-up Lendurai recently raised a €5.57 million seed funding round to scale its autonomous solutions for UAVs operating in GPS- and radio-denied environments. Investment came from Expeditions Fund, HCVC, and Vsquared Ventures.
Sharing his thoughts on the future of Lendurai, and the motivation to build and adapt in the defence tech environment, co-founder and CEO Siim Maivel sat down with Resilience Media’s Fiona Alston. Read the full piece here.
MassChallenge is now accepting applications for its U.S. Early Stage Security & Resiliency Program, running from September to November 2025 in Boston.
The program is designed for startups working on dual-use innovations in areas such as:
Secure communications and infrastructure
Energy and power systems
Human health and performance
Resilient supply chains and logistics
Emergency response and humanitarian tech
Maritime and naval technologies
Startups will receive zero-equity support, mentorship, and curated access to the Mass Challenge defense network. Applications are open now through July 15, apply now!
Cambridge Risk Research Symposium
We are keen to promote the Cambridge Centre for Risk Studies 2025 Symposium, held on June 26 in Cambridge. This year they are exploring key trends in the climate transition, discussing how geopolitics is starting to dominate attention, and how radical trends in new technologies are changing businesses. Understanding risk is essential for people looking at defence, national security, and resilience.
The Symposium brings together multidisciplinary attendees including risk managers, underwriters, actuaries, academics, policymakers, civil servants and other business managers. It is free to attend. Sign up at: https://lnkd.in/eeAuPKYh
Europe
Europeans rush drone-based radar jammers in effort to supplant US tech
Investing
Rob Lacher: 'Defence is the most complex and most interesting space I've seen as a VC'
National Security
Tech execs enlist in Army Reserve for new innovation detachment
Startups
Anthropic Unlocks AI for Top-Secret Defense Data
Auterion and Taiwan’s NCSIST Announce Strategic Partnership to Power Next-Generation Defense Drones
France's Mistral launches Europe's first AI reasoning model
Pitting defense industry primes vs newcomers only helps America’s enemies