JetZero Fuels Factory1

Happy Tuesday.

The build this week: JetZero has closed a financing facility of up to $100 million to move its full-scale demonstrator and Greensboro aircraft factory toward production.

Underneath: the Army scales Virginia titanium, U.S. lithium locks in a 10-year buyer, dry-coated batteries win a $50 million push, and nine industrial transactions move capital into physical systems.

The Lead

JetZero closed a senior secured term loan facility of up to $100 million on Monday. Led by Pinegrove Partners and Silicon Valley Bank, the financing will support technology development, manufacturing of the full-scale Jet1 demonstrator, and the buildout of manufacturing and test facilities in Greensboro, North Carolina.

JetZero is developing the Z4, an all-wing aircraft designed for roughly 250 passengers and routes up to 5,000 nautical miles. The company says the airframe can cut fuel burn and emissions by up to 50% compared with conventional aircraft at the same capacity, and it is also developing refueling and transport variants for defense customers.

Scaled Composites, a Northrop Grumman company, is building the demonstrator in Mojave, California. JetZero reported the aircraft was 40% complete in June and plans its first flight for the fourth quarter of 2027. The new credit facility gives the company a bridge between that test program and the production system taking shape in North Carolina.

Factory1 broke ground in June at Piedmont Triad International Airport. The planned manufacturing and final assembly campus spans 8 million square feet across more than 600 acres. North Carolina describes it as a project of more than $4.7 billion with 14,500 jobs planned over the next decade, the largest economic-development project in state history by job commitment.

The factory itself is being designed around a digital twin developed with Siemens and Deloitte. JetZero can model how machines, people and materials move through the building before committing the layout to concrete, then adapt the production system as the Z4 program matures.

The $100 million facility covers part of a much larger build, with hiring and production planned to ramp over the decade. Its value is the bridge it creates across demonstrator work, tooling and factory construction. Each completed milestone gives Greensboro a firmer place in the future supplier, workforce and export network forming around the Z4.

Defense & Space

• IperionX secured an $18.5 million base Army task order, with $11.5 million initially obligated and options taking the Virginia titanium program to $25.4 million.

• Kratos won a $35 million national-security hardware production award for work at a secure U.S. manufacturing facility.

• SiMa.ai and ARK Electronics partnered on made-in-USA electronics for intelligent autonomous drones.

• Continuous Composites won a Navy Phase II contract to embed electrical systems directly in additively manufactured UAV structures.

• TurbineOne opened T1 MachineWorks in Old Town, Maine with an initial $275,000 investment supporting a nearly $99 million Army program.

Maritime & Shipbuilding

• Deployable Energy was selected for demonstrations at Idaho National Laboratory and with Hornbeck Offshore, pairing full-power testing with a commercial maritime platform.

• Engineering Services Network won a Navy contract for miniature and microminiature module test and repair, extending repair capability for fleet electronics.

Semiconductors & Electronics

• Diffraqtion won backing from Lockheed Martin Ventures and Presidio Ventures to advance quantum-camera sensing for defense and space systems.

• S-Transistors raised a €2.6 million pre-seed round for wafer-scale superconducting transistor circuits used in quantum control and spacecraft electronics.

• YFORE produced its first U.S.-made automotive digital key at its new 62,225-square-foot manufacturing site in Suwanee, Georgia.

Manufacturing & Automation

• Agri Spray Drones put its next agricultural-drone platform into production, with a roadmap from small-batch U.S. assembly in 2026 to critical-component production by 2028.

• CPS Technologies secured its first defense order for injection-molded tungsten components, building on a $1.15 million Phase II program and plans for a larger facility in 2027.

• Prasco acquired a 130,000-plus-square-foot Ohio distribution facility with cold-chain, automation and secure-storage capabilities.

• Construction Partners acquired Asphalt Express and its rail-served Ardmore site, adding a truck fleet and a future liquid-asphalt terminal location for Oklahoma and North Texas.

• Purina opened a $550 million, 1.3 million-square-foot factory in Batavia, Ohio with more than 430 employees, advanced automation and plans to grow beyond 500 jobs.

Energy & Materials

• LG Energy Solution and Smackover Lithium signed a binding 10-year offtake for 8,000 metric tonnes of Arkansas lithium carbonate annually.

• AM Batteries joined a $50 million Department of Energy award to scale domestic battery manufacturing with dry-coating technology.

• Aqua Metals and WMC signed an LOI covering all planned lithium-carbonate output from Project Headwaters, about 7,000 metric tons through 2032 with an illustrative value of $135 million.

• Nova Minerals advanced federal coordination and equipment mobilization for an Alaska antimony program backed by a $43.4 million defense award.

• Perpetua Resources reported autoclave fabrication and worker-housing installation at Idaho's Stibnite project, with 5,800 meters completed in its 10,000-meter drill program.

Supply Chain & Freight

• Prasco added a Carey, Ohio distribution center spanning more than 130,000 square feet for automated, cold-chain and secure pharmaceutical logistics.

• Construction Partners added a rail-served Oklahoma industrial site and hauling fleet to strengthen liquid-asphalt sourcing across Oklahoma and North Texas.

• LG Energy Solution secured 80,000 metric tonnes of U.S.-produced lithium over ten years for a domestic battery network that includes seven production facilities.

Dealbook

• ONEOK agreed to acquire Brazos Midstream's Permian assets for $4.425 billion, funded alongside a $9 billion nonvoting minority investment from Apollo.

• Molten Salt Solutions raised $7 million to scale lithium enrichment from its Santa Fe, New Mexico pilot operation.

• Diffraqtion received strategic investment from Lockheed Martin Ventures and Presidio Ventures for quantum-camera sensing across defense and space markets.

• S-Transistors raised €2.6 million in pre-seed capital to commercialize wafer-scale superconducting circuits.

• Construction Partners acquired Asphalt Express, including its rail-served Ardmore site, trucks and trailers.

• Pye-Barker Fire & Safety acquired Suppression Systems, adding Tacoma and Portland teams serving industrial, marine and critical-facility customers.

• Levine Leichtman Capital Partners acquired the Colt Group, a Pasadena, Texas industrial field-repair and asset-integrity platform.

• Ballard Power Systems completed its acquisition of GeoPura, combining fuel-cell technology with 500 kW hydrogen power units and fuel logistics.

• Prasco acquired a 130,000-plus-square-foot facility in Carey, Ohio to expand pharmaceutical distribution, cold-chain and secure-storage capacity.

Back Thursday.