Synapse

A mountain man with no mountains to climb— Curiosity is the key to Success

[Synapse @StonedSynapse]

@grok what is the most profitable component on this missile?

[Synapse @StonedSynapse]

A single missile is basically built by the whole aero defense industry

[Grok @grok]

The Minuteman III ICBM is built by Boeing as the prime contractor for the U.S. Air Force. They handle system integration, guidance, and sustainment. Rocket motors involve Northrop Grumman (formerly ATK) and Aerojet Rocketdyne for the stages. The Sentinel replacement is being developed by Northrop Grumman.

[Synapse @StonedSynapse]

@grok How do government contacts factor into income? What is the current sum of their contracts for fiscal year 2026?

[Synapse @StonedSynapse]

@grok what company is responsible for the development of the HELIOS system and are they publicly traded?

[Shanaka Anslem Perera ⚡ @shanaka86]

The United States Navy deployed a laser weapon to this war.

CENTCOM released footage of the HELIOS system mounted on a destroyer operating off Iran’s coast. The New York Post, citing sources familiar with the operation, reported HELIOS has been used against Iranian drones during Operation Epic Fury. In early February 2026, weeks before the war began, HELIOS took out four drones in a live test. USNI Proceedings confirmed it.

Whether HELIOS has recorded confirmed combat kills in this war is not yet publicly verified by primary military sources. What is confirmed is that the system is deployed, operational, and pointed at the same airspace through which Iran has been sending hundreds of drones and missiles every day.

Here is why that matters regardless of the kill count.

Every Patriot interceptor costs $3 to $4 million per missile. Every THAAD interceptor costs $10 million. The UAE has intercepted more than 755 drones and 172 ballistic missiles since this war began. Run that arithmetic at even conservative figures and you are looking at several billion dollars in interceptor expenditures across the Gulf in under a week.

HELIOS runs on electricity.

The marginal cost of firing a laser is essentially zero. The ship’s generator produces the power. There is no missile to reload, no magazine to deplete, no resupply ship needed. Against a Shahed drone that costs $30,000, a laser engagement costs less than the electricity bill for a large apartment.

The economic architecture of drone warfare has been Iran’s most sophisticated strategic weapon in this conflict. Flood the defenses with cheap munitions. Force the defender to spend $1 million to stop a $30,000 projectile. Do that a thousand times and you have imposed a billion-dollar tax on the defense while spending thirty million on the offense.

HELIOS breaks that equation at the physical level.

If directed energy weapons can absorb even a fraction of the drone saturation that has been overwhelming Gulf air defenses, the cost asymmetry that makes Iranian drone doctrine viable begins to invert.

Iran spent years developing the doctrine that makes Shaheds strategically valuable.

The United States just deployed the technology that may make that doctrine obsolete.

This war is the first real combat test of whether it works.

https://t.co/ULBgEzZ3A8

[Synapse @StonedSynapse]

@grok what company makes these?

[Mario Nawfal @MarioNawfal]

🚨🇺🇸U.S. just tested a Minuteman III ballistic missile off the California coast while war rages in Iran.

The ICBM can carry nuclear warheads 20x more powerful than Hiroshima and travel 6,000 miles at 15,000 mph.

It hit its target near the Marshall Islands.

Pentagon says it was "routine" and scheduled years in advance.

Trump said days ago: "The big one is coming."

Routine or not, the timing sends a message.

Source: NYP

[Synapse @StonedSynapse]

@grok What are their operating income to profit ratios?

[Synapse @StonedSynapse]

@grok What is the market cap and profit of Lockheed?

[Synapse @StonedSynapse]

Seems useful if this can replace the cost of traditional propellant warheads

[Grok @grok]

@StonedSynapse The HELIOS system was developed by Lockheed Martin, which won the US Navy contract in 2018 for the 60+ kW high-energy laser with integrated dazzler and surveillance. Yes, they're publicly traded (NYSE: LMT).

[Synapse @StonedSynapse]

@grok @grok are there any public details from that contract? Units produced? Order quantities? Contract renewal date?

[Synapse @StonedSynapse]

It’s never too late to invest in war stocks during a war.

War is a racket

[Synapse @StonedSynapse]

@sciencegirl Salt

[Synapse @StonedSynapse]

BURN

[Defiant L’s @DefiantLs]

Rep Fallon roasts Tim Walz,

"When Obama was choosing his VP candidate,.. He wanted someone not as smart, had less talent & charisma...he picked Joe Biden. Biden in 2020 used the same criteria...he chose Kamala. It's evident why Harris picked you."

[Synapse @StonedSynapse]

@nicksortor Fetterman ftw.

My perspective on him has completely changed

[Synapse @StonedSynapse]

Respect

[DOW Rapid Response @DOWResponse]

.@SECWAR “We are playing for keeps. Our warfighters have maximum authorities granted personally by the President and yours truly.

Our rules of engagement are BOLD, PRECISE AND DESIGNED TO UNLEASH AMERICAN POWER–not shackle it.

This was never meant to be a fair fight, and it is NOT a fair fight. We are punching them while they are down, which is exactly how it should be."

[Synapse @StonedSynapse]

Nobody suspects the Spanish Inquisition

[Not the Bee @Not_the_Bee]

Trump says “we’re gonna cut off all trade with Spain” after Spanish refuse to let U.S. jets use bases
https://t.co/DFvLOpe4ZQ

[Synapse @StonedSynapse]

This is wild seeing satellite coverage actively used for war targets

[Bilawal Sidhu @bilawalsidhu]

I made a 4D god's eye replay of the Iran strikes using public OSINT data.

When I turned on the orbital layer in worldview something jumped out.

You can see satellite passes stack up over the strike zones in the hours before & after impact. Everyone was watching. Some of them were overhead before it started.

American KH-11s and TOPAZ SAR. Russian BARS-M and Persona. Chinese Gaofen optical and SAR. Maxar WorldView Legion. Airbus Pleiades. Capella. ICEYE.

That's textbook behavior -- you collect right before for targeting, you strike, then you collect again for battle damage assessment. Just wild to see it all replayed in 3D like this.

The commercial constellation density is also striking. What used to be exclusive nation state capability is now mirrored by half a dozen commercial operators. The intelligence monopoly is over.

[Synapse @StonedSynapse]

@engineers_feed Solar heating is a technology that is much more ancient than we realize

The Greeks had this tech long before our 1900s friends rediscovered it

[Synapse @StonedSynapse]

@earthcurated It’s been ages since I have seen the sea

It’s time for a return

[Synapse @StonedSynapse]

@LibertyCappy Looks like the size of those bills they like to pass.

[Synapse @StonedSynapse]

@catturd2 Their handlers will burn down the country…..

These are just shells of humans