The Merge 🇺🇲

SECRET//NO BORING kickass intel on military tech happenings--from insiders for insiders.
NEWSLETTER | PODCAST

[The Merge 🇺🇲 @MergeNewsletter]

Your read-in for military tech, trends, and happenings.
https://t.co/RQnADnekK7

[Space and Technology @spaceandtech_]

Raytheon has developed the Coyote Block 3 Non-Kinetic system to protect military forces from drone threats.

During a recent U.S. Army test, it successfully defeated multiple drone swarms without using explosives, reducing the risk of damage to nearby areas.

The reusable Coyote drone can stay airborne, intercept incoming drones, and return after completing its mission, making it a cost-effective counter-drone solution.

[Spaceflight Now @SpaceflightNow]

Here's our video of the explosion at Launch Complex 36. It happened about 9 pm ET (0100 UTC) as Blue Origin was beginning a static fire test of its New Glenn rocket.

Watch live views: https://t.co/tm2wZQmAVD

[Zach Shore @Zsshore]

We’re the fastest ever to go supersonic (Mach 1.21) from founding to flight.

Most companies take decades to go supersonic. We got there less than a year after our first ever flight.

Show me your supersonic plane and I’ll show you mine.

[NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman @NASAAdmin]

@SciGuySpace An unreasonably long wait, but we are fixing this.

[Open Source Intel @Osint613]

UH-60M Blackhawks from Indiana's 38th Combat Aviation Brigade fly low over Indianapolis Motor Speedway during the pace lap of the 2026 Indy 500.

[War on the Rocks @WarOnTheRocks]

In 2021 a squadron won the Army's top aviation award for work on a program its own leaders knew was failing. That is what misaligned incentives look like. https://t.co/Uh2UuKgXKM

[OSINTtechnical @Osinttechnical]

Footage of the mid air collision between a pair of Navy Super Hornets/Growlers during the Gunfighter Skies Air Show at Mountain Home Air Force Base moments ago.

[The Merge 🇺🇲 @MergeNewsletter]

@RepAbeHamadeh Some more details to make it happen:
https://t.co/iWxIXhDl5T

[HIGH PLANES Drifter @the_engi_nerd]

NIXON: Bob, they’re telling me we need the E-7 Wedgetail. Big airplane. Radar on top. Looks like a 737 with a canoe strapped to it.

HALDEMAN: That’s the general configuration, Mr. President.

NIXON: Don’t get technical with me.

HALDEMAN: I’ll try not to, sir.

NIXON: And then the eggheads from Chantilly come in. Charts, folders, little arrows going around the planet. Space-based AMTI, they say. Persistent tracking, they say. Global coverage. Bob, any time a man says “global coverage,” he’s either selling you satellites or shaving cream.

HALDEMAN: Which eggheads from Chantilly, sir?

NIXON: What do you mean, which eggheads?

HALDEMAN: NRO or SDA?

NIXON: That’s exactly what I mean. Too many outfits. Too many letters. We used to have departments. Now we have alphabet soup with clearances.

HALDEMAN: The NRO people would be the quiet ones. The SDA types would be the ones saying “proliferated architecture.”

NIXON: Proliferated architecture. Sounds like a disease you get from a federal building.

HALDEMAN: It’s contagious in budget hearings.

NIXON: I don’t like it. I don’t like any of it. First they put cameras in space. Then radars. Then they tell me the airplane is obsolete. Then some damned Colonel with a slide rule says we need a Space Force.

HALDEMAN: That term may test poorly.

NIXON: Test poorly? Bob, it sounds like a toy line. Space Force. They could make a television show to sell the toys; the boys at Mattel would make an absolute killing.

HALDEMAN: The Air Force would object to that characterization.

NIXON: The Air Force would object to breathing if the Navy got appropriations for lungs.

HALDEMAN: That’s probably true.

NIXON: They’re out to get me, Bob.

HALDEMAN: The Air Force?

NIXON: The whole blue-suiter crowd. The bomber crowd, the missile crowd, the fellows who sit around drawing arrows over Poland. They want a new branch, new uniforms, new generals. And once they get space, they’ll look down at the White House and say, “There he is.”

HALDEMAN: From Earth orbit, sir, the White House is a fairly small target.

NIXON: Don’t reassure me with geometry.

[The Merge 🇺🇲 @MergeNewsletter]

Rivers, unforgiving terrain, and anti-tank obstacles are all part of land warfare

Enter: the assault bridge! it's

Here's what they are, and why its a big problem in the U.S. Marine Corps right now. 👇

https://t.co/GtI1AbB19Q

[Kateryna Lisunova @KaterynaLis]

‼️⚡️OMG, this is next-level trolling! 😅 Zelenskyy released an official presidential decree allowing Russia to hold its parade in Moscow, specifically stating that Ukraine would exclude Red Square from its strikes for the duration of the parade—while also including the exact military coordinates of Red Square in the decree.

DECREE OF THE PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE
No. 374/2026

On Holding a Parade in Moscow.

Taking into account numerous requests, and for humanitarian purposes outlined during negotiations with the American side on May 8, 2026, I hereby decree: To permit the holding of a parade in the city of Moscow (Russian Federation) on May 9, 2026.

For the duration of the parade (starting at 10:00 a.m. Kyiv time on May 9, 2026), the territorial sector of Red Square shall be excluded from the operational use plan of Ukrainian weaponry. Red Square sector coordinates:

55.754413 37.617733
55.755205 37.619181
55.753351 37.622854
55.752504 37.621538This Decree shall enter into force on the day of its signing.
President of Ukraine
V. ZELENSKYYMay 8, 2026

[The Merge 🇺🇲 @MergeNewsletter]

This post could have been from 2016. IYKYK

[L3Harris @L3HarrisTech]

We’ve been selected by the @usairforce to develop the digital infrastructure for their Advanced Battle Management System. This system will serve as the backbone of the future command and control network. Learn more: https://t.co/zWoqad3XFz

[The Merge 🇺🇲 @MergeNewsletter]

As we wrote last month, Congress is step 1 in the journey.

Also, the biggest step.

[Tyler Rogoway @Aviation_Intel]

My God… The F-14 Tomcat May Actually Fly Again Over The United States

Long regarded as a flight of fancy, the "Maverick Act" could put an F-14 back into operation in the U.S. for the first time in 20 years.

https://t.co/i1Tfuyl39m

[Patrick Blumenthal @PatrickJBlum]

founder: There was once a place called the Pentagon, where 300 USV startups fought over a Navy procurement budget of 2B... 2B, you understand this number?

vc: I understand this number.

founder: The founders bled each other so dearly — in seed rounds, in Series Bs, in pier-side demos for 2 star admirals — that VCs committed more capital than the Navy would ever obligate. And the primes consolidated what was left soon after.

vc: You believe a founder can change his destiny?

founder: I think a man builds what he can, until his down round is revealed to him.

[The Merge 🇺🇲 @MergeNewsletter]

The @USNavy MQ-25 Stingray is tackling 3 distinctly hard problems at the same time:

1. autonomous operations
2. carrier aviation
3. aerial refueling

That has led to delays...lots of them. Check out our program overview in our latest newsletter 👇
https://t.co/o4vg14gQZk

[Lockheed Martin @LockheedMartin]

Today we honor the life of Skunk Works® legend, Denys Overholser, who sadly passed away this week. His contributions helped shape the foundation of stealth, with his influence impacting decades of innovation. We extend our deepest condolences to his family.

[The Merge 🇺🇲 @MergeNewsletter]

📺On the pod: @dcodethegov co-founders share the inside baseball on defense acquisitions.

They've been doing it for 10 years and have helped 300+ companies, so they know what works, what doesn't...and why.

👇Check it out!
https://t.co/JXaSAMWuV5

[War on the Rocks @WarOnTheRocks]

The Pentagon is pouring billions into “affordable mass.” There’s still no clear standard for what qualifies. https://t.co/WBHYV5g6ji

[The Merge 🇺🇲 @MergeNewsletter]

📺On the pod: @dcodethegov co-founders share the inside baseball on defense acquisitions.

They've been doing it for 10 years and have helped 300+ companies, so they know what works, what doesn't...and why.

👇Check it out!
https://t.co/JXaSAMWuV5