fieldfaster

Free · Weekly · European Defence

The intelligence brief defence founders actually use.

Every week, Field Notes surfaces the funding calls, tenders, regulatory moves, and market signals that matter for European defence and dual-use ventures. Specific enough to be wrong, which means when it is right, it changes a decision.

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Contents

What is in each issue

Every Field Notes issue covers four domains. Not as a template, as a discipline. Each domain is covered only when there is something worth covering. When nothing significant happened in a domain that week, it is not padded.

Funding

Funding calls and investor signals

EDF and EUDIS calls, NATO DIANA cohorts, national MoD innovation funds, and the rounds defence-capable investors actually closed in the past seven days. Not a press release summary, a structured read on what is getting funded, at what stage, by whom, and what it signals for your own raise or grant application.

Tenders

Tenders and procurement signals

Tender publications from TED, NSPA, BAAINBw, DGA, DASA, and FMV, contract awards, budget lines, and prime contractor supplier-programme moves that reveal where real buyer demand is. The gap between what defence customers say they want and what they actually buy is wide. Field Notes tracks the latter.

Regulation

Regulation and export control

Dual-use classification changes under EU 2021/821, ITAR and EAR exposure, AQAP and STANAG qualification requirements, and national licensing shifts. Framed for founders, what changed, which authority, what the effective date is, and what it means for a venture selling into that jurisdiction. Public sources only, always.

Technology

Defence tech landscape

The moves that matter across C-UAS, electronic warfare, ISR, autonomy, munitions, space-defence, and cyber. New entrants, demonstrations, and capability milestones, framed around constraint and opportunity, not hype. What is now fundable or procurable that was not six months ago, and where the whitespace still is.


Why

Why specific intelligence matters

Generic defence news is easy to find. What is hard to find is intelligence specific enough to change a decision, a tender that fits your capability and closes in eight weeks, a regulatory change that affects your export licence, a funding signal that tells you an investor is actively looking in your domain.

Field Notes is built for founders who need to make decisions, not for readers who want to stay informed. The difference is specificity. A brief that covers everything covers nothing. Field Notes is deliberately narrow, European defence and dual-use, filtered for founder relevance, written for action.

It is also the proof of concept for fieldfaster's synthetic positions. Every issue is produced by the same source set, relevance logic, and quality gate that powers Funding Radar, Tender Sentinel, and Regulatory Watcher. Reading Field Notes is the fastest way to assess whether the synthetic positions would be useful for your venture.


Archive

Recent issues

Every issue is published and permanently archived. Read before you subscribe.

27 April 2026

Rheinmetall FV-014 multi-billion framework, ATMOS €25.7M Series A, Indra-Kongsberg Type 212CD doubles to 12 hulls

Rheinmetall signed a multi-billion-euro framework agreement with the Bundeswehr on 22 April for FV-014 loitering munitions, first call-off ~€300M for ~2,500 strike drones. ATMOS Space Cargo closed a €25.7M Series A the same day to scale Europe's sovereign return-from-orbit capability. Indra signed a follow-on contract with Kongsberg to equip six additional Type 212CD submarines for Germany and Norway, doubling the equipped fleet to 12 hulls.

21 April 2026

EU €1.07B in 57 EDF projects, Rosalind Franklin to fly on Falcon Heavy

The European Commission announced €1.07B for 57 collaborative defence projects under the 2025 EDF call on 15 April, supporting the Drone Defence Initiative, Eastern Flank Watch, Air Shield, and Space Shield flagships. NASA selected SpaceX's Falcon Heavy on 17 April to launch ESA's Rosalind Franklin Mars rover NET late 2028, confirming Europe's continued dependence on US heavy-lift for flagship missions.

14 April 2026

ESA-Canada GSOIA signed, Isar Aerospace Spectrum scrub, Kelluu €15M NATO-led Series A

ESA and Canada signed a General Security of Information Agreement on 14 April, establishing a framework for classified-information exchange in dual-use technology. Isar Aerospace scrubbed its second Spectrum launch on 9 April after detecting a leak in a composite overwrapped pressure vessel. Finnish autonomous-airship startup Kelluu raised a €15M Series A led by the NATO Innovation Fund, the fund's first investment in Finland.

7 April 2026

EC proposes EU Space Services Agency, Sweden's €780M C-UAS contract, AGILE plan unveiled

The European Commission proposed a regulation transforming EUSPA into a permanent European Union Space Services Agency for 2028 to 2034. Sweden signed air defence contracts worth SEK 8.7B (≈€780M) on 2 April for its Gute II C-UAS concept. The Commission also unveiled the AGILE plan, a future-warfare programme focused on AI, autonomous drones, and quantum.

31 March 2026

ESA-EDA dual-use EO arrangement, EDIP work programme adopted, Airbus Bird of Prey first interception

ESA and the European Defence Agency signed an Implementing Arrangement to jointly identify gaps in Europe's Earth observation capabilities. The European Commission adopted the €1.467B EDIP work programme on 30 March, with first calls going live on the EU Funding & Tenders portal on 31 March. Airbus's uncrewed Bird of Prey interceptor completed a first demonstration flight, autonomously detecting and engaging a one-way attack drone.

24 March 2026

Bundeswehr loitering munitions RFI, ESA in-space servicing framework, Swiss BAZL UAS update

The Bundeswehr issued an RFI for loitering munitions with a 40 km range envelope and 30-minute loiter time. ESA published its in-space servicing and manufacturing qualification framework. Switzerland's BAZL aligned its UAS operating categories with EASA's updated U-space regulation, effective 1 June.


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