The Pentagon’s New Sandbox

Happy Tuesday.

The build this week: Code Metal won an $80 million WarMatrix agreement to turn months of military analysis into days while preserving validated defense software.

Underneath: a Mach 1 test track opens in Indiana, Tomahawk production gets a seven-year runway, AI infrastructure pulls new fiber and cooling capacity into the market, and eight industrial deals move through their capital gates.

The Lead

Code Metal just won an $80 million Pentagon contract to modernize and AI-enable WarMatrix, the military’s wargaming simulation environment. The Boston company moved from a $17 million initial operating capability to full funding through an Other Transaction Authority agreement in less than 12 months, according to Fortune.

WarMatrix helps military planners run sophisticated wargaming and analysis. Code Metal’s work is expected to cut some analysis cycles from months to days. Its software translates code across programming languages and verifies that it behaves correctly on different hardware, giving the Pentagon a way to extend decades of validated models into newer AI-enabled workflows.

Military simulation depends on old, trusted code that cannot be casually discarded, while planners need faster tools and more accessible data. Code Metal is building the connective layer between those assets and modern software, keeping the underlying logic intact while making it easier to use.

That work is also adding weight to Boston’s defense technology cluster. Code Metal employs 123 people and reached a $1.25 billion valuation after a $125 million Series B in February. Roughly 75% of its business now comes from defense, alongside work with the Air Force, Raytheon, L3Harris, and Boeing.

Defense & Space

• The U.S. Navy and Indiana National Guard opened a 578-foot Mach 1 sled track at Camp Atterbury, a shared NSWC Crane test asset expected to save $1.7 million annually across programs including the F-35, F/A-18, F-16, MH-60 and C-130.

• NODA AI received a $100 million Department of War award to scale mission command for autonomous forces across the joint force.

• RTX's Raytheon secured a seven-year Tomahawk production contract, giving its missile plants and supplier base a multiyear demand runway.

• BLADE scheduled its Hunter WOLF robotic ground vehicle for evaluation with the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

• Frontier Aerospace won its first M-Series block-buy award for a major U.S. government program, moving a flight-qualified propulsion line into repeat production.

• PlanetiQ received a $2.73 million NOAA contract to supply GNSS radio-occultation and total-electron-content data for weather and space-weather operations.

Maritime & Shipbuilding

• Deployable Energy and Hornbeck Offshore formed a partnership to assess maritime nuclear power across five strategic facilities, pairing a new reactor platform with an experienced Gulf Coast offshore operator.

Semiconductors & Electronics

• Molex invested in CAEPlus and licensed its BoundaryCool active liquid-cooling technology, creating a scaled commercialization path for pluggable I/O thermal hardware.

• ATLANT 3D launched NANOFABRICATOR PRO, a physical platform that connects AI-guided materials discovery to atomic-layer fabrication and testing.

• Lightera announced a global fiber and optical-cable manufacturing expansion to add physical network capacity for growing AI infrastructure demand.

Manufacturing & Automation

• Caterpillar expanded its manufacturing-workforce initiative into Arkansas, building a new pathway into skilled production careers.

• UCC Environmental acquired Cast Steel Products, adding wear components and customer reach across mining and steel operations.

• Aerotek acquired The PAC Group and added industrial-services practices, expanding factory-project execution and technical workforce capacity.

• Reconext was selected by Verifone for global reverse-logistics services, extending repair, recovery and asset-life services for payment hardware.

Energy & Materials

• Kearsarge Energy reported 104 megawatt-hours of battery storage deployed since 2019, including 70 megawatt-hours brought online in 2026.

• Nvidia agreed to invest $1.5 billion in SB Energy as part of the data-center infrastructure company's Ohio project.

Supply Chain & Freight

• Takt raised a $9.25 million Series A to scale its warehouse labor-management and intelligence platform.

• EQT Real Estate sold 20 logistics assets totaling 4.4 million square feet across six Midwest markets.

Dealbook

• Gravis Robotics raised a $200 million Series A from SoftBank to scale construction robots.

• Gallos Technology raised $50 million for its defense-technology investment and incubation platform.

• Groq raised $350 million at a $3.5 billion valuation, with Disruptive leading and Nvidia participating.

• Madison Air Solutions agreed to acquire ebm-papst for $5.4 billion, adding a major ventilation and thermal-management platform.

• Shur-Co acquired Heavy Motions, an Ontario, California maker of hydraulic systems and motion products, with terms undisclosed.

• Takt closed a $9.25 million Series A for warehouse labor-management software.

• DEFSEC Technologies announced a C$5.54 million private placement to fund its defense-technology growth program.

• Molex joined CAEPlus's seed financing and secured an exclusive BoundaryCool license, with the investment amount undisclosed.

Back Thursday.