Australia arms Ghost Shark with mines and drones, the Navy lifts Gecko Robotics deal to $300 million, and more - Defense AI Brief #63

In this edition, covering 19 to 23 October:

• Australia will equip Anduril's autonomous Ghost Shark submarines with up to 12 sea mines and Altius aerial drones.
• The US Navy raised the ceiling of Gecko Robotics' AI ship maintenance contract from $71 million to $300 million.
• Several current and former Google DeepMind staff told the BBC they are leaving or considering leaving over Google's classified US military work.

Drones and uncrewed vehicles

Australia will equip its autonomous Ghost Shark submarines, built by Anduril, with up to 12 sea mines, special forces equipment and Altius aerial drones, after secret trials. Germany told Boeing it will not directly buy the MQ-28 Ghost Bat for its collaborative combat aircraft program; the aircraft could still compete in a wider selection, but Germany's 2029 target may slip to the early 2030s. Ghost Shark · Ghost Bat

Helsing and Destinus agreed a commercial partnership to offer joint systems to NATO and allied forces, and Helsing will take part in Destinus' latest funding round, which Bloomberg reported at a valuation of about $6.7 billion. Destinus also completed its purchase of Delft based Perciv AI, whose radar software tracks objects and navigates when satellite positioning is unavailable. Helsing and Destinus · Perciv AI

Portuguese drone maker Beyond Vision raised more than €28 million to expand production, and Israeli autonomous aviation software company High Lander reached $30 million in total funding with more from EDGE Group. Spanish shipbuilder Navantia and Multiverse Computing signed a memorandum on AI for naval defence, including mission planning and C4I systems. Beyond Vision · High Lander · Navantia

Contracts

The US Navy raised the five year ceiling of Gecko Robotics' AI inspection and repair contract from $71 million to $300 million, extending it from 18 Pacific Fleet ships to the Atlantic Surface Fleet. The Navy also awarded Applied Intuition $25 million to put its Intelligent Perception System, which combines camera and infrared data, on five Arleigh Burke class destroyers. Gecko Robotics · Applied Intuition

The Defense Logistics Agency awarded Leidos a potential $95 million, five year contract to add AI automation to the Pentagon's Enterprise Logistics Management System, which tracks more than 80 million government property items. The Marine Corps told units across its commands to give authorized personnel Maven Smart System accounts, under licensing that took effect on 1 October. Leidos · Marine Corps

Funding

Boston based ASI raised $325 million in a Series C led by Spark Capital at a $3 billion valuation for AI that runs infrastructure in transportation, energy, defense and logistics. Seattle based Watchtower Labs came out of stealth with $35 million in seed funding led by Shield Capital and Conviction for AI and simulation tools for military planners. ASI · Watchtower Labs

Software for soldiers and staff

The Army is piloting Artificial Intelligence Assisted Maintenance, which digitizes about 7,500 maintenance manuals and helps soldiers troubleshoot, file paperwork and order parts; about 4,000 soldiers have tested it, and limited access to government hardware is slowing the rollout. A Pentagon pilot using AI and simpler workflows cut average Army civilian hiring time from 161 days to 47. AIAM · Hiring pilot

Oversight, ethics and pushback

Several current and former Google DeepMind employees told the BBC they are leaving or considering leaving over contracts that let Google's AI support classified US military work, citing human oversight and safety. Documents reviewed by The Intercept show US Army Cyber Command is developing ECHOTRIBBLE, a platform for autonomous agents to conduct offensive cyber operations with minimal human oversight. DeepMind · ECHOTRIBBLE

Seventeen former US national security officials filed a brief urging the D.C. Circuit to rehear Anthropic's appeal against the Pentagon's supply chain risk designation, which they call retaliatory. Palantir executive Louis Mosley said neither Palantir nor the US government can shut off NATO's Maven Smart System. Greenpeace protesters interrupted Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang in Berlin over reports of Nvidia Jetson chips in Russian drones; Nvidia says it does not sell the modules in Russia. Anthropic appeal · Maven · Greenpeace

The Pentagon told AI procurement teams to apply the Trump administration's truth seeking and ideological neutrality principles when buying language models, and the US Navy is directing commands to say "Super Intelligence" instead of "artificial intelligence" in official communications. The UN Institute for Disarmament Research launched a forum on military uses of AI, including human control and nuclear decision making. Procurement guidance · Navy terminology · UNIDIR