Shield AI has secured a U.S. Air Force production contract to deploy its Hivemind autonomy software as part of the service’s Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) program, marking a key step in the military’s effort to field autonomous wingmen alongside crewed fighters.

The award reflects the Air Force’s effort to build a common autonomy software foundation that can be integrated across multiple Collaborative Combat Aircraft designs instead of being developed for a single platform. Officials believe that approach can accelerate upgrades, lower integration costs, and allow new capabilities to reach operational units faster.

Shield AI’s Hivemind software will support the Air Force’s vision for autonomous aircraft that can operate in coordination with human pilots while handling increasingly complex missions.

Software-centric autonomy strategy

The Air Force has adopted a software-first model for its future autonomous fleet. Under this framework, mission autonomy software can evolve independently from the aircraft carrying it.

That separation allows developers to introduce new capabilities without redesigning airframes or modifying platform-specific hardware. The approach also enables the service to evaluate autonomy solutions on their own merits while preserving competition across the broader CCA ecosystem.

Christian Gutierrez, senior vice president of Hivemind at Shield AI, said mission autonomy will play a central role in future airpower operations. “The Air Force’s approach enables faster innovation, rapid capability deployment, and greater operational advantage for the warfighter,” Gutierrez said.

He added that Shield AI plans to continue working closely with the service to deliver collaborative autonomy capabilities at scale.

Multi-aircraft teaming focus

Under the production contract, Shield AI will concentrate on collaborative combat behaviors involving multiple autonomous aircraft operating together under human supervision. The company aims to reduce operator workload while enabling larger groups of unmanned systems to coordinate actions during missions.

Such capabilities could become increasingly important as the Air Force expands its use of autonomous platforms in contested environments. Rather than simply following predetermined routes, Hivemind allows unmanned aircraft to adapt to changing conditions.

The software can adjust flight paths, react to emerging threats, coordinate with nearby aircraft, and support mission objectives without constant operator input. The company says the platform is designed to function as a digital pilot, helping autonomous systems make decisions in real time while remaining part of a broader human-machine team.

Expanding CCA development

The latest award builds on Shield AI’s existing involvement in the Air Force’s CCA efforts. Earlier this year, the company earned selection as a mission autonomy provider during the program’s Technology Maturation and Risk Reduction phase. That work continues alongside the new production effort.

Hivemind is currently flying aboard Anduril’s YFQ-44A aircraft, one of the platforms supporting ongoing CCA development activities. The Air Force views collaborative combat aircraft as a cornerstone of its future force structure.

By pairing autonomous aircraft with crewed fighters, the service hopes to increase combat capacity, extend operational reach, and provide commanders with more flexible options during future conflicts. As development advances, software platforms such as Hivemind are expected to play a critical role in determining how effectively autonomous aircraft operate alongside human pilots.

The US has just approved a new floating offshore wind system, which is designed to support safer and more efficient installation and operation of floating offshore wind turbines (FOWT).

The American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) awarded a Product Design Assessment (PDA) to Scotland’s industrial equipment supplier Encomara for its Squid system on June 17. The quick-connect solution combines mooring and electrical cable protection for FOWTs.

As per the organization, the approval follows an earlier Approval in Principle (AIP) and represents a more advanced level of technical review and design verification. ABS said it completed a detailed assessment of the technology against class and industry requirements for floating offshore wind applications.

“ABS is proud to support Encomara in bringing that approach to this sector, and this assessment reflects the technical depth behind it,” Rob Langford, ABS Vice President of Global Offshore, said.

The Squid system

Floating wind systems are expected to play a major role in expanding renewable energy generation. They can be deployed in deeper waters where fixed-bottom turbines are not practical.

This would increase the amount of usable marine space, as well as unlock access to stronger and more abundant wind resources. Still, installation and maintenance operations remain complex and costly. As a result, this has left developers looking for technologies that can simplify offshore deployment.

To tackle the issue, Encomara adapted the Squid system from the Disconnectable Turret Buoy (DTB). The technology has been used for years in floating oil and gas production. It is made from conventional offshore components that already have high technology readiness levels.

The Squid technology is built to protect moorings and interarray cables during turbine installation and off-station periods. It relies on procedures already well understood across the offshore industry.

What’s more, its disconnectable design can support repair scenarios throughout the unit’s entire service life. This helps reduce risks when temporary disconnection is required.

A proven technology

The company estimated that the Squid could increase floating turbine installation rates by 42 percent per season and raise energy yield during project ramp-up by 27 percent. It also projected a 2.5 percent lifetime increase in energy output.

This, according to Ian Donald, Encomara Managing Director, is equivalent to 3.3 terawatt-hours (TWh) of additional electricity generation for a 1.2-gigawatt (GW) floating wind development.

Donald pointed out that receiving a PDA from ABS marks a pivotal step in Squid’s qualification journey. “We’ll be conducting further inshore wet testing in Ardersier in the coming months, representing the next steps toward Technology Readiness Level assessment and commercial adoption,” he continued.

Encomara plans to carry out onshore demonstrations at AES’s Huntly site in July.
In August, the company will move on to inshore wet trials and demonstrations for customers.

Studies backed by Scottish Enterprise and industry developers suggest the Squid system could slash installation times by up to 50 percent. It could also potentially deliver savings of USD 1.35 billion (GBP 1 billion) per gigawatt of floating wind capacity.

“Floating wind developers need proven, bankable solutions, and this is exactly what Encomara is delivering,” Donald concluded in a press release.

The U.S. Army has awarded defense and technology company Palladyne AI two contracts to test its AI-powered swarm software and reusable strike drone with soldiers during field exercises in Colorado and California.

The contracts, awarded under the Army’s Disruptive Applications Broad Agency Announcement, will support operational validation of the company’s SwarmOS autonomy platform and the Gremlin-X unmanned aerial vehicle.

The technologies will be evaluated by soldiers from the Army’s 4th Infantry Division during reconnaissance and target acquisition exercises. Palladyne AI said the demonstrations will use Army-specified platforms and the Android Team Awareness Kit (ATAK), a command-and-control system widely used by U.S. forces.

The effort reflects the Army’s growing interest in autonomous systems that can operate in environments where communications are limited or disrupted.

One operator, many drones

SwarmOS is an autonomy software stack designed to allow a single operator to control multiple autonomous systems from different manufacturers at the same time.

According to the Utah-based company, the software runs on edge hardware and is designed to function in degraded or denied communications environments. Rather than relying on centralized control infrastructure, the platform enables autonomous systems to coordinate with one another while operating in the field.

“The hardest problem in autonomous systems isn’t making one platform smart, it’s making heterogeneous platforms from different manufacturers collaborate intelligently without dependence on centralized infrastructure that adversaries can target and defeat,” said Dr. Denis Garagic, Chief Technology Officer and Principal Investigator, Palladyne AI.

He added: “We solved that.”

The Army exercises will evaluate how the software supports reconnaissance and target acquisition missions while integrating with existing military command-and-control tools.

Reusable strike drone

The second technology being tested is Gremlin-X, a Group 2 multirotor drone being developed as a reusable loitering munition.

Unlike traditional loitering munitions that are typically lost after striking a target, Gremlin-X is designed to return and be recovered after a mission. The company said this approach could reduce costs because only the munition payload would need replacement rather than the entire aircraft.

Gremlin-X is intended to operate in denied, degraded, intermittent, and limited communications environments, often referred to as DDIL conditions. The drone is being developed to support small, dispersed military formations that may need to engage targets without relying on centralized command networks.

Beyond the 4th Infantry Division exercises, Palladyne AI plans to demonstrate SwarmOS, IntelliSwarm, and Gremlin-X during Northern Strike 26-2, a large U.S. military training exercise involving more than 9,000 participants.

“This contract marks a decisive shift in how the U.S. Army is engaging with autonomous systems, moving from evaluation to funded operational use in the field,” said Doug Dynes, President of Palladyne Aerospace and Defense.

The company said the demonstrations will help validate the technologies in operational settings and could support future defense opportunities as the military continues exploring autonomous systems, drone swarms, and human-machine teaming concepts for battlefield operations.

Core Power has initiated a research project to analyze the viability of mounting small modular reactors onto ocean vessels.The enterprise is examining how to install the mPower reactor design, developed by BWX Technologies, into ship-constructed vessels known as floating nuclear power plants. 

“We’re building, integrating and deploying ship-based nuclear energy systems that deliver reliable power where industry and nations need it most,” said Mikal Bøe, CEO of Core Power. “We are focused on commercial delivery, from vessels and infrastructure to kilowatts consumed and industries powered.”

This evaluation focuses on mapping out the legal compliance requirements, the physical engineering adjustments, and the financial structures needed to make these mobile energy stations functional. 

By moving the assembly process out of standard construction fields and entirely into industrialized ship docks, the participating organizations aim to stabilize production schedules and sidestep the delays typically associated with land-based civil infrastructure.

“This assessment of the mPower technology is a significant step in our strategy to accelerate the design of our fully modular floating nuclear power plants,” added Bøe.

Shift in energy delivery methods

Traditional electrical grids face growing pressure as power consumption rises faster than the construction of new utility facilities. Developing standard land-based atomic plants often requires navigating lengthy local zoning laws, extensive environmental reviews, and complex site preparation schedules. 

Marine-assembled energy units are being considered as an alternative method to bypass these regional bottlenecks. Once constructed, these self-contained power vessels can be towed across waterways to moor near coastal cities, industrial zones, or remote territories experiencing severe energy deficits.

The scope of this current research phase encompasses several foundational stages of project development. Engineers are establishing protocols for baseline data sharing and creating a unified concept of operations. 

The teams will also detail specific marine architecture demands and execute an extensive financial evaluation to confirm whether the cost per kilowatt justifies continued development.

“Electric power demand is rapidly outstripping supply. Markets that need reliable electricity cannot wait for conventional infrastructure timelines,” concluded Bøe.

“The United States has the nuclear expertise, the industrial base and the maritime heritage to lead this market. CORE POWER’s role is to combine those strengths and accelerate the path from technology to product.”

Technical specifications of the reactor

The selected reactor mechanism, designated as a Generation III+ integral pressurized water system, was engineered to supply two distinct forms of utility. A single unit is capable of generating 195 megawatts of electrical power for standard grid distribution.

The core outputs 575 megawatts of thermal energy, which can be diverted for specialized industrial processes like heavy manufacturing or water desalination.

Under the current arrangement, Core Power is financing the initial exploratory work. The business is applying its existing background in maritime logistics, vessel assembly, and nautical systems integration to adapt the technology for aquatic environments. BWX Technologies is contributing to the core reactor blueprint itself.

The data gathered during this preliminary investigation will decide whether the firms progress to detailed engineering layouts, formal applications with maritime and atomic regulatory bodies, or the establishment of joint corporate entities to oversee physical production.

Helios, a US-based quantum computer, demonstrated 99.9975% fidelity in one-qubit operations, while maintaining 99.921% for two-qubit operations. This is the highest fidelity for any commercial quantum computer in the industry, paving the way for a future with fault-tolerant quantum computers. 

Considered to be the next frontier of computing, the race to build reliable quantum computers is on. Research institutes and national laboratories in countries like the US, UK and China are engaged in building the necessary support for quantum computer startups to build the future of computing. 

The superior computing capacities of quantum computers arise from quantum bits or qubits, which can store multiple values between 0 and 1 at once. However, the same qubits are also easily disturbed, introducing errors into computations.

Scientists are therefore working to develop fault-tolerant computers that deliver high fidelity, i.e., a measure of how close the quantum operation is to the value of the expected operation. 

Helios’ highest fidelity

Quantinuum’s Helios is a 98-qubit quantum computer with 50 logical qubits. Built using trapped-ion qubits, the system also integrates photonics, allowing data transfer at the speed of light through the microscopic optical channels. 

This system design has dual benefits. It helps reduce risks to quantum computing data while significantly decreasing its power consumption. Helios’ power consumption is as little as 40 kW, even though it is equipped with the world’s fastest GPUs. 

In a recent paper, Quantinuum confirmed record fidelity for its one-qubit and two-qubit operations, reaching a record of sorts when it comes to two-qubit fidelity in the quantum computing industry. Helios is the company’s most reliable quantum computer to date and is available for commercial usage as a cloud-based service. 

Yet, Quantinuum has a long way to go before quantum computers like Helios and its successors become mainstream, and it is working with the Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) to develop fault-tolerant computers. 

Role of SNL

As a premier engineering laboratory in the US, SNL has been tasked with assessing opportunities and threats for technologies such as quantum computing. For over two decades, the national laboratory has leveraged its expertise and engineering capacities to build and share quantum devices on various platforms. 

SNL’s partnership with Quantinuum too is part of a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement, which was formed after Sandia researchers developed technologies in integrated photonics for trapped-ion quantum computers. 

Although Quantinuum is headquartered in Colorado, its research and development campus is in New Mexico, near SNL. The National Laboratory continues to help Quantinuum design and test new components that will be incorporated into future versions of the quantum computer. 

For instance, SNL researchers developed a new benchmarking methodology that can measure the performance of mid-circuit measurements, non-destructive readout operations that help in correcting quantum computing errors. 

“We evaluate every aspect of quantum computer performance with our commercial partners to accelerate the advent of quantum supercomputing,” said Robin Blume-Kohout, a researcher at SNL who was involved in the work.

By working with different companies and helping them solve issues will help quantum computers tackle unsolved scientific problems, Blume-Kohout added. 

The research findings were published in Nature.  

Divergent Technologies has unveiled a new industrial metal 3D printer and announced a major manufacturing expansion in Southern California, moves that the company says will significantly increase production capacity for defense and commercial customers.

The California-based manufacturer introduced the Monolith One, a large-format metal additive manufacturing system developed specifically for high-volume production. At the same time, the company revealed plans for a new 430,000-square-foot facility in Long Beach, California, where dozens of the machines will support future manufacturing programs.

Built for production

Unlike many metal 3D printers designed primarily for prototyping, Monolith One targets continuous industrial manufacturing. The machine stands more than eight meters tall and incorporates 12 high-powered lasers that deliver a combined 24 kilowatts of output.

Divergent designed the system over a 28-month period using lessons learned from more than a decade of additive manufacturing operations. The company developed the printer exclusively for use within its own manufacturing ecosystem rather than for commercial sale.

The machine supports a wide range of industrial alloys, including aluminum, steel, titanium, and nickel-based materials. It also offers a larger build chamber than many existing systems, allowing engineers to manufacture bigger and more complex structures in a single print.

According to Divergent, the printer can roughly double production throughput compared with current-generation equipment. The system also incorporates automated powder handling, thermal management controls, and optical monitoring technologies designed to improve consistency and reduce downtime.

Chief Technology Officer Brian Erhartic said the company built the printer specifically to improve manufacturing efficiency and quality. He added that integrating the machine directly into Divergent’s production platform helped unlock higher performance across multiple stages of manufacturing.

Factory expansion plans

Divergent currently operates six Monolith One printers at its headquarters in Torrance, California. The company plans to install an additional 64 systems at its new Long Beach facility over the next two years.

Once fully operational, the site will support production of tens of thousands of munition airframes annually. It will also have the capacity to manufacture hundreds of thousands of critical metal components for aerospace and defense programs.

The expansion comes as defense contractors seek faster production methods and more resilient domestic supply chains. Traditional manufacturing processes often require lengthy lead times for complex hardware, particularly in aerospace applications.

Divergent says its software-driven manufacturing approach reduces those timelines from months to weeks or even days in some cases. The company supplies structures and components for several major defense and aerospace organizations, including Lockheed Martin, RTX, and CoAspire.

Chief Executive Officer Lukas Czinger said the new printer reflects years of operational experience gained from delivering production hardware to both defense and commercial customers. He noted that the company manufactures the systems domestically and sources key components through a U.S.-based supply chain.

As production ramps up at the Long Beach facility, Divergent expects the new manufacturing capacity to support growing demand for mission-critical hardware while strengthening domestic industrial capabilities.

A Washington-based nuclear energy company has achieved a key milestone for the UK deployment. TerraPower has begun the formal commencement of the UK regulatory review for its Natrium plant, and the launch of its subsidiary, TerraPower UK Ltd.

These regulatory and commercial activities mark the company’s most significant steps to date toward deploying a fleet of Natrium reactors in the United Kingdom, according to the company.

Generic Design Assessment (GDA) process begins

“TerraPower is entering the UK market with a long-term commitment to supporting the nation’s clean energy future and establishing ourselves as a serious and reliable deployment partner,” said Chris Levesque, President and CEO of TerraPower.

“Starting Step 1 of the GDA process and establishing TerraPower UK mark major advances in our mission to bring the Natrium technology to Britain. These milestones demonstrate TerraPower’s dedication to working alongside the UK to deploy safe, clean and reliable nuclear energy for decades to come.”

TerraPower has now begun Step 1 of the Generic Design Assessment (GDA) process. The company submitted its GDA application in October 2025, its first international regulatory filing for the Natrium technology and received formal acceptance by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero in February 2026. The start of Step 1 of the GDA process marks a significant step toward Natrium advanced reactor deployment in the UK, supporting Britian’s ambition to accelerate innovative, sustainable and next-generation energy solutions, according to a press release.

‘Delivering a golden age of nuclear’

“TerraPower’s decision to establish a UK presence is an important vote of confidence in the UK as a leading destination for nuclear projects and investment,” said Lord Vallance, Minister for Science, Innovation, Research and Nuclear.

“We are delivering a golden age of nuclear and recognise the role advanced nuclear technology could play, providing clean, reliable power and strengthening our energy security.”

Natrium technology is first mover in advanced reactor sector

The company revealed that the Natrium technology is the first mover in the advanced reactor sector and is well positioned to support rapidly increasing energy demand. The Natrium plant design features a 345 MW sodium-cooled fast reactor with a patented molten salt-based energy storage system.

The storage technology can boost the system’s output to 500 MW of power when needed as it is designed to keep base output steady, ensuring constant reliability, and can quickly ramp up when demand peaks—it is the only advanced reactor design with this unique feature.

“Confirming arrangements is an important enabling step for ONR to engage with and assess TerraPower’s Natrium design,” said Diego Fernandez Lisbona, ONR’s Head of Regulation for the TerraPower Natrium GDA and Advanced Nuclear Technologies.

“Interactions in 2025, through our framework for Early Engagement, have provided early design familiarity and we will continue to engage closely with TerraPower and broader stakeholders as GDA progresses.”

TerraPower has been successfully working through the regulatory requirements in the United States, where the first Natrium plant is being constructed. This includes the recent construction approval by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to begin building the plant. The UK’s GDA process will expand on the company’s experience and efforts in the U.S. and will allow TerraPower to establish deployment timelines for Natrium sites in the country, as per the release.

“We welcome TerraPower’s entry into the UK’s Generic Design Assessment (GDA) process,” said Yeliz Marshall, NRW’s Radioactivity and Industry Policy Senior Specialist Advisor.

“It provides a valuable route to embed environmental protection early in the Natrium design and address key risks ahead of any future deployment. This GDA also creates scope to benefit from closer international regulatory working under the UK–U.S. Atlantic Partnership for Advanced Nuclear Energy.”

A new class of ultrathin polymer membranes, dubbed Polymers of Locked Intrinsic Microporosity (PLIMs), has been developed through a global research collaboration.

These membranes can separate complex hydrocarbon mixtures (like crude oil), potentially transforming the energy-intensive refining process.

Modifying membrane structure

Every single day, standard crude oil refining uses the thermal distillation method. This process boils oil to separate it into useful fractions like gasoline, plastics, and jet fuel. It works well, but it carries an environmental price tag. It consumes a high amount of energy.

Now, a team of international researchers has created a workaround that could take the heat out of the equation entirely.

The Polymers of Locked Intrinsic Microporosity (PLIMs) are ultrathin membranes that can filter out complex hydrocarbon mixtures at a microscopic level without needing a heat source.

“Membranes can, in principle, do the same job as distillation or evaporation, using far less energy,” explained Andrew Livingston, Professor of Chemical Engineering and Vice President Research and Innovation at Queen Mary University of London, and CEO of Exactmer. 

“The problem has been finding materials that are both fast and selective when exposed to real hydrocarbon mixtures,” the lead researcher added.

The study introduces a novel fabrication method that injects a crosslinking agent during membrane formation to create highly efficient separating layers. It combines two features that have eluded scientists for decades: extreme molecular selectivity and incredibly fast transport speeds.

Testing of membrane

Membranes promise a cleaner, low-energy alternative to massive boilers. In this concept, rather than boiling the liquid, it is run through a molecular sieve that catches specific molecules based on their size.

In practice, organic liquids like crude oil ruined everything.

The team focused on highly porous polymers, materials possessing an internal structure like a sub-nanometer sponge. However, these materials have a flaw. When exposed to harsh hydrocarbons, it swells. As the polymer expands, the tiny pores dilate, allowing larger molecules to slip through. The filter becomes useless.

To fix this, the team altered the fabrication process and introduced an in situ crosslinking agent directly into the polymer film during its formation.

“The key was stabilizing the structure before the polymer had a chance to swell,” said Dr Zhiwei Jiang. “This preserves the tiny pores that make molecular separation possible, while still allowing hydrocarbons to flow through very quickly.”

When the researchers tested the membranes against real Arabian Extra Light crude oil, the results defied standard expectations. The PLIM system successfully stripped out 99.8% of heavy hydrocarbons (those with more than 15 carbon atoms). It also slashed corrosive sulfur compounds by 93%. 

This is a massive victory for refineries, as sulfur frequently degrades downstream equipment and catalysts.

The membrane performed just as well on lighter refinery streams, such as virgin naphtha. It sorted out smaller molecules destined for fuel upgrading from heavier components used to manufacture everyday plastics. It did all this while operating at flow rates comparable to those of commercial water desalination systems.

Moreover, this team designed the material with mass manufacturing in mind from day one.

Using standard roll-to-roll processing, PLIM sheets were manufactured over a meter wide. These sheets were wrapped into spiral-wound modules, the exact shape used in existing industrial filtration plants worldwide.

The membranes also proved they have stamina, running continuously for 30 days without a drop in performance.

The results were published in the journal Science on June 18.

A Seattle-based robotics company has developed a three-foot-tall humanoid robot designed for use in public attractions and venues.

The AI-powered robot named Codey can navigate autonomously, engage in conversations without remote human control, and make independent decisions.

While not yet capable of performing complex physical tasks such as fetching objects, Codey is being developed for future roles in healthcare, education, and hospitality.

The company says the robot is designed to interact naturally with people, particularly children, in public-facing environments.

Codey targets companionship

Codey is designed to serve as an interactive companion in public-facing environments. Standing about three feet tall, the robot features glowing hazel eyes, expressive facial animations, and a friendly appearance intended to engage users, particularly children.

Powered by AI, Codey can navigate autonomously, hold conversations, and make basic decisions without requiring a remote human operator. Unlike many robots that rely heavily on teleoperation, Codey is designed to function independently, enabling more natural and responsive interactions with people. The robot uses a combination of sensors, onboard computing, and AI software to understand its surroundings and communicate with users in real time.

Mind Children plans to conduct pilot studies this year in museums, hotels, and art galleries to gather data and refine Codey ahead of mass production. One of the company’s near-term objectives is to enable the robot to perform simple physical tasks, such as pressing buttons. A second-generation version of Codey is scheduled for release in 2027. To support development, Mind Children has launched a crowdfunding campaign and has raised more than $600,000 toward its $1 million funding target.

In the longer term, Codey is expected to be introduced into healthcare, education, and hospitality settings. Potential applications include assisting visitors with information, providing companionship, supporting learning activities, and helping organizations deliver more engaging customer experiences.

Embodied AGI advances

At the core of Mind Children’s robotics platform is Hyperon, the decentralized artificial general intelligence (AGI) framework developed by SingularityNET. The system is designed to give robots advanced cognitive capabilities that go beyond traditional rule-based automation, enabling them to reason, learn, adapt, and make decisions in dynamic real-world environments.

By integrating Hyperon into its humanoid robots, Mind Children aims to create machines capable of understanding context, processing complex information, and responding more naturally to human interactions. The framework incorporates knowledge representation, reasoning engines, and human-inspired motivation systems that help robots prioritize tasks, pursue goals, and adapt their behavior based on changing circumstances. This approach is intended to move robots closer to exhibiting flexible, human-like intelligence rather than performing only pre-programmed actions.

Unlike conventional AI systems that rely on centralized computing and data control, Hyperon operates within SingularityNET’s decentralized ecosystem. This architecture allows AI services, knowledge resources, and computational capabilities to be distributed across a network, promoting collaboration, scalability, and interoperability among different AI agents and robotic platforms.

The partnership between Mind Children and SingularityNET positions the company among the first developers pursuing embodied decentralized AGI—an emerging field that combines advanced artificial intelligence with physical robotic systems. The goal is to create autonomous robots capable of perceiving, reasoning, learning, and interacting with the physical world while continuously improving their capabilities through decentralized intelligence networks.

The U.S. Navy has awarded defense technology startup Castelion its first production contract for the Blackbeard hypersonic missile. This $23.4 million deal includes 50 pre-production missiles and shows the Navy is ready to move the program past development and testing.

This contract comes as the Pentagon looks for faster, more affordable hypersonic weapons for long-range strikes. For Castelion, it is the first step toward making Blackbeard at a scale that could support future military missions.

Navy moves Blackbeard toward operational service

The contract helps further develop the Blackbeard weapon system and expands manufacturing at Castelion’s Project Ranger site in Rio Rancho, New Mexico.

Blackbeard is designed to be a low-cost, easy-to-produce hypersonic missile capable of exceeding Mach 5, or over 3,800 mph (6,100 km/h). At these speeds, it can cover long distances quickly and is much harder to intercept than traditional weapons.

Most of the work for this contract will happen in Rio Rancho, with some activities in Torrance, California. Castelion expects to finish the work in 2027.

This new contract shows increasing confidence in the program as it moves from flight testing to limited production and future deployment.

“Blackbeard was designed from the beginning to support our nation’s conventional deterrence,” Castelion Co-Founder and CEO Bryon Hargis said in a press statement.

“This award reflects the Navy’s continued commitment to rapidly advancing affordable, manufacturable long-range strike capability and moving Blackbeard toward early operational use.”

Series of major contracts accelerates program

This production contract comes after several major government deals Castelion has won this year.

In February, the company received a contract worth almost $50 million to accelerate development and produce prototypes of the Blackbeard system. This funding was intended to support testing and prepare the program for future needs.

Two months later, in April, Castelion landed another big contract worth $107 million. This deal aims to integrate Blackbeard with the Navy’s F/A-18 fighter jets, giving the missile more ways to be used.

These back-to-back contracts show the program is gaining momentum as the Navy looks for new ways to use hypersonic weapons on different platforms.

Expanding launch options beyond aircraft

The company is also working on new ways to launch Blackbeard, which could make it more flexible in operations.

The company has teamed up with defense tech firm Saronic to put the missile on the Marauder unmanned surface vessel. They plan a demonstration in 2027, which could be the first time a hypersonic weapon is launched from an unmanned surface ship.

If the test works, it will show a new way to use hypersonic weapons from unmanned naval platforms, without needing a crew.

Project Ranger becomes production hub

To support its long-term manufacturing plans, the defense firm has put over $250 million into Project Ranger, its large production campus in New Mexico.

The facility covers about 1,000 acres (405 hectares) and is the main site for Castelion’s push to make hypersonic weapons more cheaply and in bigger numbers than traditional methods. The new Navy contract will help grow production at the site and support the delivery of the first 50 pre-production missiles.

US robotics firm Faraday Future (FF) has unveiled its first-half embodied AI (EAI) robotics lineup, introducing a full-form Robot World that spans six major product series.

The company also launched what it describes as the world’s first Three-in-One EAI Robotics Education Ecosystem Strategy, aimed at connecting robotics education, industry, and consumer applications.

During an event at its new headquarters in El Segundo, California, Faraday Future debuted the Futurist humanoid robot and the FX Navi quadruped robot, with the latter priced at $1,990 and available for immediate sale and delivery.

The California-based firm also announced the FF Robotics Partner Program, designed to expand global collaboration across its robotics ecosystem.

Robotics ecosystem unveiled

FF has unveiled a broad EAI robotics ecosystem, introducing four new robots, an open developer platform, and what it describes as the world’s first Three-in-One EAI Robotics Education Ecosystem Strategy aimed at accelerating consumer and educational adoption of physical AI technologies.

Leading the launch is the All-New Futurist humanoid robot, positioned as FF’s flagship professional-grade platform. Standing about 5 feet 8 inches tall and weighing approximately 121 pounds (54 kilograms), the robot is 14 percent lighter than its predecessor and features a redesigned structure for greater stability and more natural movement. Equipped with 31 degrees of freedom and a knee-joint torque of up to 320 Nm, the humanoid can run at speeds approaching 11 mph (17.7 km/h).

According to the firm’s statement, it is powered by a dual-battery system that offers up to 6 hours of runtime. It is built on a Vision-Language-Action (VLA) architecture combined with a World Model for advanced perception, reasoning, and autonomous decision-making. The robot is designed for commercial reception, guided services, industrial handling, warehouse operations, and hazardous-environment tasks. Additional specifications and pricing will be announced at Automate 2026 in Chicago on June 22.

FF also launched the FX Navi, a quadruped robot designed for home and classroom use. Marketed as the first foundational EAI learning quadruped robot in the United States, Navi combines robotics hardware with a dedicated STEM education ecosystem. The robot features 12 motorized joints, weighs 8 kilograms, and can navigate everyday indoor environments. A smartphone inserted into the head module serves as its computing platform, supporting both iOS and Android devices.

Users can customize the robot through downloadable and printable 3D head designs, while over-the-air updates will continuously add new capabilities such as autonomous following, multimodal perception, and natural interaction. Navi starts at $1,990, with optional development and curriculum packages available for students, educators, and developers.

One brain strategy

The company also previewed two upcoming humanoid robots. Master Mini, approximately one meter tall, is designed for education and robotic sports competitions, while Nova, standing about 50 centimeters tall, is intended as an entry-level educational and companion robot for children.

FF said its robotics strategy is built around a “one brain, multiple forms” approach designed to power a wide range of embodied AI robots from a shared intelligence platform. At the core of the strategy is FF’s evolving EAI Brain, based on a Vision-Language-Action (VLA) architecture and World Model, supported by an open-source developer ecosystem. The company says the platform is designed to operate across different environments, perform tasks autonomously, and adapt to new applications through its Skills and Agent system.

Rather than focusing on a single humanoid robot, FF is developing multiple robot form factors under its EAI Robot World concept, allowing a common AI brain to be deployed across different devices and use cases. The ecosystem is further supported by an EAI Data Factory that gathers real-world operational data and a global industry network aimed at improving manufacturing efficiency and reducing costs. Together, these elements form an expanding ecosystem designed to support large-scale deployment of embodied AI technologies.

FF additionally launched its open developer platform, featuring tools such as Brain Blocks visual programming, natural-language coding, robot personality customization, motion-generation software, and SDKs for professional developers. Through its new Agent Skill Store and Developer Ecosystem Program, FF aims to encourage contributions from students, educators, researchers, and software developers while expanding robotics adoption across homes, schools, and industry.

The long-running effort to move driverless shuttles from closed corporate campuses and isolated testing facilities into live, mixed-traffic public infrastructure is taking a decisive step forward.

On June 24, 2026, a fully automated robot bus line operating in the city of Tampere, Finland, will officially transition to driverless operation, completely removing the physical safety driver from the vehicle.

While autonomous shuttles have routinely been deployed in highly restricted pilot environments globally, this European rollout represents a key milestone: integrating an autonomous, Level 4-capable mass transit asset directly into a commercially active municipal public transportation network alongside standard passenger vehicles.

To establish the mathematical and operational safety profiles required to permanently remove the human operator from the cabin, the platform underwent an intensive, real-world data-collection phase.

The autonomous shuttle has been operating daily within active public traffic lanes since late last year, logging extensive operational miles with a passive onboard safety driver to map system responses, sensor reliability, and complex environmental edge cases.

Sensor fusion and emergency braking architecture

Operating a mass transit passenger vehicle without any manual physical overrides requires a highly redundant sensor architecture capable of instantaneous spatial awareness.

The automated shuttle utilizes an advanced sensor fusion array that combines multiple overlapping modalities, including high-definition optical cameras, radar, and precision LiDAR scanners. These onboard peripherals continuously map a 360-degree digital field around the vehicle’s chassis, identifying dynamic obstacles such as pedestrians, cyclists, and adjacent motor vehicles.

The vehicle operates on a strictly digitized, predetermined virtual route guide. The integrated artificial intelligence navigation engine processes spatial data streams in real time, calculating clearances at a capped velocity of 25 km/h (approximately 15.5 mph).

If a pedestrian intersects the vehicle’s safe stopping distance, or if the sensor fusion matrix identifies a situational anomaly, the central processing unit triggers an automated braking sequence. This specialized subsystem bypasses remote network latency, allowing the vehicle to execute high-g emergency stops autonomously and instantaneously to mitigate collision risks.

Low-latency remote monitoring and teleoperation control

The elimination of the onboard crew does not mean the vehicle operates in total isolation; instead, the physical driver is replaced by an advanced, low-latency remote monitoring and teleoperation framework. Professional fleet dispatchers manage the autonomous shuttles in real time from a centralized operations command center.

The vehicle maintains an active, unbroken broadband communication link with this hub, transmitting live telemetry data alongside a continuous, high-definition audio and video feed capturing both internal passenger compartment activity and external road conditions.

In the event of an operational deadlock—such as an illegally parked delivery truck permanently blocking a lane or an unmapped construction zone—the remote operator can intervene directly via the teleoperation link.

To ensure robust passenger safety and clear communication during these automated transits, the vehicle’s interior features an integrated emergency call subsystem. This hardware provides passengers with an on-demand, instant audio-visual link to a human controller, ensuring continuous oversight even if the cloud-based driving stack encounters an unprecedented software edge case.

Cabin structural safety and fleet optimization

Adapting mass transit for fully driverless configurations requires subtle changes to standard cabin safety protocols. Because the vehicle lacks an onboard operator to visually enforce safety rules or cushion against abrupt automated emergency stops, the structural layout demands specific commuter compliance.

The autonomous shuttle accommodates a maximum payload of exactly 12 passengers and includes dedicated, structurally reinforced space to securely anchor strollers.

For passive safety containment, the onboard system mandates that all passengers remain fully seated and securely buckled into integrated seatbelts throughout the duration of the transit loop.

From a user-experience standpoint, the vehicle integrates seamlessly with standard municipal ticketing systems; passengers interact with a localized automated validator mounted directly beside the entry doors.

SpaceX might be stealing the spotlight right now with its blockbuster stock market debut, but things are moving just as fast over at Tesla.

The technical specifications of Tesla’s autonomous Cybercab have reportedly been leaked from its official U.S. Environmental Protection Agency certification documents. 

The regulatory filing, certified on May 26, 2026, confirms several of Tesla’s design goals while revealing a few mechanical surprises regarding the robotaxi’s drivetrain and overall mass.

In February, Tesla announced that production of the upcoming two-seater Cybercab had begun. The company’s official X account shared a photo showcasing the first robotaxi rolling off the assembly line at Gigafactory Texas. However, not many details were disclosed back then.

Vehicle specifications

The Cybercab serves as Tesla’s purpose-built, fully autonomous vehicle designed exclusively for Robotaxi service. The two-seater achieves an unusually light overall mass for an electric vehicle by eliminating driver controls such as a steering wheel or pedals.

According to EPA filings, Tesla has built an EV that weighs a mere 3,113 pounds. This puts the vehicle’s weight roughly 700 pounds below the lightest Tesla Model 3 configuration.

As it is so light, it doesn’t need a massive, heavy battery. It runs on a compact 48-kWh pack and a single front-mounted 219-horsepower motor.

According to The Verge, the Tesla Cybercab is poised to become one of the most efficient electric vehicles ever certified, boasting a 165-watt-hour-per-mile (Wh/mi) rating that yields an expected real-world range of 290 to 300 miles after EPA adjustments. 

This hyper-efficiency allows the robotaxi to travel roughly six miles on a single kilowatt-hour (kWh) of power — outperforming standard EVs that typically get only three to four miles per kWh.

Way behind Waymo

Yet, for all its technical brilliance, the Cybercab remains stuck.

Musk confidently promised investors last summer that autonomous ride-hailing would cover half the U.S. population by the end of the year. It didn’t happen. The service remains locked down to just three Texas cities: Austin, Dallas, and Houston.

The fleet itself is microscopic. Tesla currently holds permits for just 42 unsupervised Model Y robotaxis in Texas, and only 14 of those are actively driving without a human safety monitor behind the wheel. 

Meanwhile, Alphabet’s Waymo is utterly dominating the asphalt. Waymo operates a rapidly scaling fleet of over 3,000 driverless vehicles across 11 major U.S. cities.

Tesla fans often point to safety data as a benefit. The company has logged only 18 automated driving crashes with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) compared to Waymo’s 697. However, experts say that it is simply a game of numbers. If you barely have any cars on the road, you barely have any crashes.

The pieces are moving behind the scenes, though. Tesla has quietly filed municipal plans to build dedicated “robocar” car washes and automated charging stations in Las Vegas and Austin. The infrastructure is coming. The engineering is certified. Now, Tesla just has to prove it can actually scale the service before its competitors leave it in the dust.

GE Aerospace and its subsidiary Avio Aero have successfully completed the first engine restart test using hydrogen fuel under simulated altitude conditions.

The test, conducted as part of the European Union-funded HYDEA (HYdrogen DEmonstrator for Aviation) project led by Avio Aero, took place at the German Aerospace Center (DLR) Institute of Space Propulsion in Lampoldshausen, Germany.

The firms claim this is a key milestone in the development of hydrogen-powered aviation technology.

Key test establishes relight operability envelope

As GE Aerospace points out in a press statement, hydrogen fuel burns faster and hotter than conventional jet fuel. According to the firm, the new test campaign “addressed one of the most demanding requirements for flying with hydrogen: the ability to relight an engine quickly and reliably in thin, cold air at high altitude.”

For the engine restart test, engineers used a custom hydrogen sector combustor test rig equipped with a synthetic air generator. The system vaporized liquid oxygen and nitrogen to replicate the low-humidity, low-pressure conditions found at altitude.

The test campaign successfully established a relight operability envelope for hydrogen combustion. The ignition system, which was designed and manufactured by Unison (a GE Aerospace company) specifically for hydrogen operation, performed as intended.

The engineers used a multi-cup combustor configuration as it provided a more representative geometry than single-cup setups. This allowed researchers to observe flame propagation and igniter interactions with high-speed cameras. According to GE’s statement, data from these tests will inform the design of a full annular hydrogen combustor rig.

The HYDEA project supports the broader CFM International RISE (Revolutionary Innovation for Sustainable Engines) technology demonstration program, a 50-50 joint venture between GE Aerospace and Safran Aircraft Engines. It aims to demonstrate the feasibility of hydrogen propulsion for aircraft engines through ground testing by 2026.

In a parallel effort under the Clean Aviation project AMBER, teams tested a megawatt-class fuel cell system at DLR’s BALIS facility. The tests validated the system’s dynamic response from idle to maximum power and its performance under simulated short- and long-range flight conditions. AMBER focuses on hybrid-electric propulsion integrating fuel cells, power electronics, and electric drives for regional aircraft.

“Avio Aero and GE Aerospace teams in Europe are proud to be at the forefront of new technology innovation. Together with our European partners and research institutions, we’re turning ideas into real, tested capability,” said Luca Bedon, head of research and technology at Avio Aero.

Roman Seele, future of flight leader for GE Aerospace in Germany, added: “The future of flight is more electric. We’re proud to partner with DLR and others around the world to advance the building blocks to help make hybrid-electric flight a reality.”

Working towards a hydrogen future

These achievements advance multiple Clean Aviation initiatives involving GE Aerospace and Avio Aero facilities across Europe.

As GE Aerospace noted in its statement, the RISE program has accumulated more than 350 tests and 3,000 cycles, targeting over 20% fuel burn reduction compared to current engines through advanced architectures, including open fan, compact core, and hybrid-electric systems.

Hydrogen propulsion offers the potential for near-zero carbon emissions in flight, provided challenges in fuel handling, combustion, and infrastructure are addressed.

Successful altitude relight capability is critical for commercial viability, ensuring reliable engine operation across all flight phases. Further testing and full-scale demonstrations will be required before hydrogen-powered aircraft enter service.

Europe-based ArianeGroup has unveiled a new family of strike weapons with ballistic and hypersonic delivery vehicles. The team behind the strike weapons includes Soframe and Thales, which are also developing the X-Fire rocket system.

The B-Strike weapon will come in two variants, one capable of hitting targets up to 621 miles (1,000 kilometers), and the other an extended-range version with a range of 1,553 miles (2,500 km). The missile family was unveiled at Eurosatory 2026.

B-Strike weapon suite capabilities

The ballistic missiles aim to provide Europe with indigenous deep-strike capabilities that can foil advanced defenses and engage targets from an extended range. Reports state that both versions of the missile would include maneuverable reentry vehicles (MaRVs).

Moreover, the 1,553-mile-range variant could also incorporate hypersonic glide vehicles (HGVs) that can enhance the survivability of the weapon against modern air defense systems. Although yet to be tested, the preliminary figures state that the 621-mile-range version would have a flight time of less than 10 minutes, and it will be approximately 15 minutes for the other.

The company says that both missiles could be deployed by the X-Fire launcher. Soframe developed the X-Fire launcher in partnership with Thales; it is mounted on the proven Daimler Truck Zetros platform.

The two missiles will complement the FLP-t 150, a 93-mile (150 kilometers) range munition, which ArianeGroup has developed with Thales. The 93-mile-range missile system is designed to meet the requirements of the French forces for high-intensity combat.

According to reports, the companies are ready to move quickly into the testing phase. They are pitching the missile to the French procurement agency, the DGA, to start the program.

More about FLP-t 150 and French M51 missiles

In May 2026, Thales and ArianeGroup successfully conducted the first firing of the new ballistic munition FLP-t 150. It had been carried out with support from the Missile Testing Division of the French Defense Procurement Agency (DGA EM) at the Ile du Levant test site.

While Thales was responsible for the overall system, including the ground launcher, fire control, and launch system, ArianeGroup developed the propulsion and guidance systems for the munition.

The missile has the ability to reach supersonic speeds, and its propulsion, guidance, and control are derived from ballistic missile systems.

Moreover, ArianeGroup is also the prime industrial contractor for the M51 intercontinental ballistic missile system on behalf of the French DGA for the French Navy. The M51 is a sea–surface submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) with a length of 39 feet (12 meters) and a weight of over 55 tons (50 metric tons).

The missile can be launched from a submerged French nuclear ballistic missile submarine (SSBN). It reaches a top speed of Mach 20 upon re-entering the atmosphere and serves as the naval pillar of France’s nuclear deterrent force.

Lloyd’s Register has granted a Type Approval Certificate for a marine engine that runs entirely on hydrogen fuel using a spark-ignition system. The classification society issued this specific certification to BeHydro after concluding that the machinery complies with all regulatory standards regarding operational performance, safety parameters, and mechanical reliability. 

“For shipowners and operators, independent certification is essential in building confidence that emerging fuel technologies can meet the industry’s expectations for safety, reliability and operational performance,” said Claudene Sharp-Patel, Global Technical Director, Lloyd’s Register.

This mechanical design operates exclusively on a hydrogen and eliminates the need for conventional pilot fossil fuels during operation. By removing the need for a secondary fuel source, the architecture reduces the total number of subsystems required on board a vessel. 

The configuration stops the generation of carbon compounds during the combustion process, presenting a clear mechanical option for fleet operators seeking alternatives to carbon-heavy propulsion plants.

To serve as a practical alternative

According to Lloyd’s Register representatives, the issuance of the official certificate indicates that internal combustion machinery using hydrogen fuel has advanced to a stage where it can serve as a practical alternative in industrial shipping. 

For maritime companies and vessel operators, receiving a third-party validation of this nature serves as a necessary benchmark to confirm that the mechanical systems will perform according to technical expectations during routine service.

The certified machinery line covers a power spectrum ranging from a minimum of 900 kilowatts to a maximum of 2670 kilowatts. This capacity allows the units to be deployed across multiple maritime segments, functioning either as the primary propulsion unit or configured alongside an electrical generator to provide auxiliary onboard power.

Management at ABC Engines stated that the formal certification validates the technological framework of the hardware line for shipowners globally. Beyond standard maritime environments, the engineering parameters make the power units adaptable for alternative industrial uses. 

Operational integration for sustainability

The mechanical systems are built to tolerate small amounts of impurities inside the incoming hydrogen gas stream, meaning they can be integrated into heavy stationary power generation facilities or land-based railway transport networks.

The combustion cycle of these units does not produce standard maritime pollutants, completely preventing the release of carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxides, sulfur oxides, or particulate soot into the atmosphere. The resulting exhaust gas consists solely of water vapor mixed with regular atmospheric air.

The manufacturing process for these power plants does not require the use of rare or highly limited mineral resources. The supply chain excludes materials such as lithium, zinc, cobalt, platinum, and various rare-earth elements. This material selection avoids the environmental damage associated with mining operations for rare minerals. 

The mechanical design relies on traditional engineering principles to extend the operational lifespan of the components, which simplifies the regular maintenance procedures carried out by crew members. Consequently, the reduced maintenance complexity lowers the long-term operational expenditures and reduces the total downtime for vessel owners.

A former coal mining site in central Illinois is now being used for renewable energy. Nexamp and TurningPoint Energy have finished two community solar projects in Woodford County, turning land that once produced coal into a solar power facility that provides electricity to local customers and businesses.

The site near Minonk was once part of the Colchester Coal Seam mining region, active from the late 1800s to the mid-1900s. Now, it has almost 17,000 solar panels that can generate 9.8 megawatts of electricity, enough for hundreds of subscribers and to add clean power to the local grid.

These projects are the first time Nexamp and TurningPoint Energy have worked together in Illinois. They are also the first Illinois Shines community solar projects in Woodford County.

Reclaimed mining land finds a new purpose

The solar panels were installed on a former coal mine that is considered a brownfield under Illinois Shines, the state’s solar incentive program. This certification encourages developers to use land that has already been disturbed, rather than farmland or untouched areas.

TurningPoint Energy handled project development, while Nexamp was responsible for construction and now owns and operates the facilities.

The solar farms together cover about 40 acres and send electricity straight into Commonwealth Edison’s network. Nexamp says all the solar panels were made in the United States, which supports local clean energy supply chains and brings new economic value to land that used to be tied to fossil fuels.

Advanced software helps manage solar generation

The Minonk projects also bring new grid management technology to the area. They are among the first projects on ComEd’s system to use Distributed Energy Resource Management Systems (DERMS).

This software enables utilities to monitor and manage energy resources, such as solar panels, in real time. As more renewable energy connects to the grid, it becomes harder for utilities to balance supply and demand. DERMS helps by providing better control and visibility into how energy flows.

Using this technology, the projects show that renewable energy can help keep the grid reliable and help utilities prepare for more clean energy in the future.

Hundreds of households already enrolled

Many people in the community have signed up. The projects are almost full, with over 650 customers already enrolled.

One of the solar farms provides power to about 450 homes. The other serves around 200 low-income households, making community solar more accessible and helping these families save on electricity costs.

Community solar is different from rooftop solar because customers can join a shared project and get credits on their utility bills without having to install anything at home. This makes solar power available to renters, apartment dwellers, and homeowners whose roofs are not suitable for solar panels.

Major institutions strengthen project economics

Big organizations are also helping make the projects successful. Rush University Medical Center and the College of DuPage have joined as customers and together use about 40 percent of the projects’ electricity.

Their involvement creates steady demand, supporting the community solar model and helping bring renewable energy to more people.

“This is exactly the kind of project we aspire to deliver with our partners and our customers,” said Nexamp CEO Zaid Ashai. “By turning a former coal mine into a pair of community solar farms, we are helping hundreds of subscribers reduce their energy costs today while strengthening their energy security for the long term.”

“By pairing that affordability with US-manufactured equipment and advanced grid tools like DERMS, these Minonk projects not only put clean power within reach for households and institutions; they also show how community solar can make the grid smarter, more resilient, and better prepared for Illinois’ clean energy future.”

Researchers at the National University of Singapore and Applied Materials have developed a method to grow extremely thin films on chips. 

Interestingly, the tungsten disulfide film is only 0.7 nanometers thick, protecting the tiny copper wires inside microchips.

Atomically thin material

We are building a digital world of roaring AI models and fast supercomputers, but the physical wires carrying that data are choking.

Computer chips are shrinking toward their absolute physical limits, leaving the microscopic copper wires inside them with virtually no breathing room.

The issue isn’t actually the copper itself. It is the bulky insulation wrapped around it.

Every nanoscale copper wire inside a modern processor requires two bodyguard layers. A barrier layer keeps runaway copper atoms from leaking out and short-circuiting the chip. Meanwhile, a liner layer acts as a structural glue, ensuring the copper sticks smoothly to the chip’s foundation. 

Today, the tech industry uses tantalum-based materials for these coatings. But these are hard to scale down.

Yet as chip components shrink, these bulky coatings consume half the wire’s cross-section, spiking electrical resistance and choking chip performance.

To solve this, researchers have successfully grown an ultrathin film of tungsten disulfide that acts as both a liner and a barrier.

And its total thickness is just 0.7 nanometers. 

Reduces electrical resistance

Conventional engineering logic dictated that you needed two entirely separate materials to handle the dual jobs of adhesion and insulation. How does a single layer of atoms replace a bulky, multi-material stack? It happens through an intentional structural labyrinth.

Using advanced computational modeling, the NUS Department of Chemistry discovered that the tungsten disulfide (WS2) film grows in a chaotic, polycrystalline pattern. It is made of tiny, microscopic grains. When layered, these grains are completely mismatched.

“The calculations showed us that the polycrystalline nature of these films, which might initially seem like a limitation compared with a perfect single crystal, is actually an asset. The random grain orientations between layers create a labyrinth that copper atoms struggle to traverse,” said Professor Richard Wong from the NUS Department of Chemistry, who is also a co-director of the Corporate Lab.

“This gives us a design principle where we engineer the grain structure to optimize barrier performance instead of pursuing perfect crystallinity,” Wong added. 

This random alignment creates a winding, staggered barrier rather than a straight path. As a result, the overlapping boundaries trap copper atoms in a structural labyrinth, blocking them from leaking through.

When tested under heavy-duty processing demands, the WS2 atomic shield delivered definitive results. It slashed electrical resistance by a millionfold, leaving a 20-nanometer wire’s space wide open for copper current by shrinking the coating’s footprint to just 7 percent. 

Plus, the method extended the projected lifespan of the wiring by more than 10 times under extreme electrical stress.

Plasma-free process

Designed for immediate commercial viability, the team’s plasma-free growth process operates at a low 350°C (662°F) to prevent damage to underlying chip components. 

This method is the first to simultaneously meet all four strict industry manufacturing standards: low-temperature execution, uniform coverage across full wafers, atomic-level thickness control, and over 95 percent conformal coating inside deep, narrow trenches.

With global chip demand hurtling toward US$1 trillion annually, this atom-thin shield arrives just in time. The team notes the new material is thinner than any barrier target set on the international semiconductor technology roadmap through 2037.

The findings were published in the journal Nature Electronics.

Finding out what the universe is actually made of remains one of the ultimate frontiers in modern physics. While scientists know that dark matter and gravitational waves are out there, detecting their incredibly faint signals requires instruments of unimaginable precision—tools that can easily be overwhelmed by the background noise of their own components.

Addressing this persistent bottleneck, an international collaboration led by Imperial College London has unveiled a prototype quantum sensor that successfully isolates cosmic phenomena by neutralizing disruptive experimental interference under realistic operating conditions.

The experimental milestone, marks a foundational step toward deploying long-baseline atom interferometers. These advanced systems work by using specialized lasers to split clouds of atoms and then bring them back together, allowing researchers to measure microscopic changes in atomic motion with exquisite detail.

By comparing two separate atom clouds exposed to the same laser light, any minute discrepancy in their behavior could reveal a passing gravitational wave or a ripple in an exotic dark matter field.

Taming the chaos of laser phase noise

While the underlying math of atom interferometry is sound, practical execution has long been plagued by a severe engineering challenge. The very lasers used to manipulate and interrogate the atom clouds produce inherent “phase noise“.

This systemic fluctuation is orders of magnitude larger than the faint cosmic signals researchers are actively trying to hunt down. Left uncorrected, this internal laser noise completely blinds the data, making it fundamentally impossible to identify any outside cosmic influences.

To bypass this barrier, physicists proposed a differential approach. By arranging two distinct interferometers in a specific configuration, any shared noise from the primary control laser should cancel when the two datasets are cross-referenced. Until this study, however, validating that this cancellation could actually hold up under real-world experimental settings remained unproven.

The tabletop prototype and stress testing

To test the resilience of this technique, researchers inside Imperial’s Ultracold Strontium Laboratory constructed a specialized tabletop testing apparatus. The hardware layout features two macroscopically separated clouds of strontium-87 atoms.

These atoms are cooled to near absolute zero and securely levitated using blue laser light, while being monitored by a single, highly stable clock laser system.

To push their noise-cancellation methodology to its absolute limit, the team deliberately injected massive amounts of artificial phase noise into the matrix—far exceeding the natural fluctuations of standard laboratory equipment. Initially, the introduced chaos completely erased the delicate interference patterns, rendering each individual interferometer completely unusable.

However, when the data from the two separated clouds were mathematically compared, the shared laser noise vanished. The underlying signal emerged cleanly, operating right at the fundamental limit dictated by quantum mechanics.

Unlocking a new window into the universe

To confirm the sensor’s practical utility, the scientists introduced an additional oscillating frequency designed to mimic the exact signature of an elusive dark matter field or a passing spacetime distortion. Despite being buried beneath overwhelming background noise, the differential pair identified the target signal with remarkable fidelity.

The success of this pilot test directly clears the path for scaling up the technology for international installations. The technique is central to the development of next-generation atom interferometer projects currently underway worldwide, including the MAGIS facility at Fermilab and the proposed AICE infrastructure at CERN.

By moving the discussion from theoretical math to a proven hardware reality, this quantum breakthrough ensures that future large-scale observatories will possess the clarity needed to map the invisible architecture of our universe.

The research was first published in the journal Nature.

At the Eurosatory 2026 defense exposition, Franco-German defense consortium KNDS officially introduced its Long-Range Artillery System (LORAS), a 155mm self-propelled howitzer featuring a barrel longer than any current NATO production standard.

Engineered to push the boundaries of conventional unguided fire, the system achieves a baseline range of exactly 60 kilometers (37 miles) using standard, non-rocket-assisted high-explosive ammunition.

The strategic design goal is to provide frontline units with deep-strike capabilities while completely avoiding the high financial costs associated with specialized precision-guided or rocket-assisted projectile (RAP) munitions.

The physical architecture of the LORAS platform represents a collaborative integration of French and German armored vehicle technology. The base vehicle uses a tracked variant of the Boxer armored chassis, paired with KNDS Germany’s fully automated, unmanned Artillery Gun Module (AGM) turret.

Housed within this remote turret is the system’s core innovation: a specialized 58-caliber gun tube developed and manufactured by KNDS France at its specialized metallurgy facilities in Bourges.

Overcoming internal ballistic wear bottleneck

Increasing the length of an artillery barrel historically creates severe engineering bottlenecks, particularly in managing internal pressure and preventing rapid barrel wear. As the length moves from the current European standard of 52 calibers up to 58 calibers, the friction and thermal stress generated by expanding propellant gases can rapidly degrade the interior rifling of the gun tube.

To mitigate this issue, KNDS engineers designed a significantly larger internal combustion chamber compared to previous long-range experimental platforms, such as the U.S. Army’s canceled Extended Range Cannon Artillery (ERCA) program.

According to technical specifications released by KNDS France, this enlarged chamber volume creates a much gentler internal pressure curve during detonation. This design choice maintains high muzzle velocity while minimizing destructive thermal erosion inside the tube.

To safely feed this system, KNDS overhauled the automated ammunition-handling layout. While the mechanism borrows mechanical components from the proven Panzerhaubitze 2000, the overall electronics, internal sensors, and modular charge loaders are entirely new.

Custom ammunition ecosystem

To achieve its targeted 37-mile range, the LORAS howitzer requires a distinct propulsion configuration. The system accommodates up to eight modular propellant charges simultaneously, outclassing the six-charge maximum limit of the wheeled Caesar system.

While the 58-caliber barrel remains fully backward-compatible with legacy 52-caliber NATO ammunition, firing older rounds will not yield the extended range benefits. Consequently, KNDS France is self-funding the development of a complete family of proprietary 58-caliber conventional shells, spanning high-explosive, smoke, and illumination variants.

Looking forward, KNDS has already conducted successful live-fire trials using an early prototype layout. While the program is currently self-funded, it received early design validation from France’s Directorate General for Armament (DGA).

Project managers state that while the barrel can theoretically hit ranges of 100 kilometers when paired with future ramjet or precision-gliding shells, the company is prioritizing standard unguided munitions to keep high-volume artillery operations economically sustainable. KNDS targets full serial manufacturing readiness for the system between 2032 and 2035.