Ukraine's 'Amazon for war'
Soldiers can use points to buy drones, robots, electronic warfare devices
đŻ Three-Shot Burst
The U.S. Army Secretary says major defence contractors have âconned the U.S. militaryâ into buying extremely expensive equipment, even when far cheaper commercial alternatives existed.
So what?: This is why defence startups are gaining global traction: they deliver fast cycles, modular systems, and cost-effective capabilities without legacy overheads.
Ukraine moved into this model earlier than anyone else. Due to existential necessity, its startups operate with speed, vertical integration, and real combat feedback, but they also work inside a market structure designed for competition and transparency.
BRAVE1 Market, often called the Amazon for the military, has become a place where:
dozens of solution providers compete purely on performance
pricing and capabilities are open and comparable
end-users choose what actually works in real combat
no one wins due to legacy status, lobbying power, or political weight
In such an environment, the kind of procurement inefficiencies that western countries are now confronting simply canât take root.
Bottom Line: Earlier in the war, Ukraine launched the BRAVE1 Market, a first-of-its-kind program that awards âePointsâ to soldiers for killing Russian troops or destroying their equipment and verifying the successful hit by uploading drone footage to a military network. Ukrainian soldiers will soon be able to purchase weapons from an online âAmazonâ-style marketplace using points earned for evacuating wounded comrades from the battlefield with ground robots.
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Home & Away:
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Dominion Dynamics is expanding our engineering team and weâre looking for ambitious Canadians who want to build sovereign technology for the future of national defence.
đŸ Drone Detection Hackathon
Ten standout teams from over 170 applicants competed in the RMUS/AVSS Ottawa Defence Hackathon, dubbed âShazam for Drones,â last weekend, where students and recent grads faced a real-world challenge: detecting and classifying small airborne threats using audio data.
Armed with a nine-year audio library from AVSS, teams from leading Canadian institutionsâincluding uOttawa, Carleton, Waterloo, Queenâs, Ontario Tech, CĂ©gep de lâOutaouais, and Lakeheadâhad one day to train their models and present to a panel of six expert judges. Sponsored by Area X.O by Invest Ottawa, AVSS, Kongsberg Geospatial, RMUS Canada, ThinkOn, and NORRG, and supported by The Icebreaker, the hackathon awarded $20,000 in total prizes. Top honours went to Ctrl+Alt+Defend ($10,000), followed by VCLab-ShazNet ($6,000), while WATheDrone, AAAAK, and AALIS shared third place, and Auralis Systems earned Best Presenter.
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Born compliant: Join Area X.O, operated by Invest Ottawa, and TĂV SĂD for an exclusive Defence EMC/EMI, Structural and Environmental Workshop designed for innovators developing mission-critical technologies
đ€ Deal Corner
KON Aerosystems â portable electromagnetic UAV launch system
Toronto-based KON is building eTOLS, a fully electric, field-deployable electromagnetic launcher that gives fixed-wing and hybrid drones runway-free, high-cadence deployment with 3â5Ă more range than VTOL and faster turnarounds than pneumatic catapults.
The team has six LOIs across defence and commercial operators (ISR, logistics, C-UAS) and is now building both a 5 kg FPV/Group-1 variant and a 25 kg demonstrator for early partners in North America, Europe, Africa, and Central Asia.
Currently raising a US$500k pre-seed to complete demonstrators, run LOI pilots, and deliver first units.
Reply to this email to connect with founders Jovan Phull & Javad Siahkamari.
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âïž Combat Readiness
Dominion Dynamicsâ CEO thinks defence is a âgenerational opportunityâ for Canadian entrepreneurs
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Barrack Hill: Navigating Canadaâs defence and procurement landscape with precision.
đ« Hot Shots
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Maritime security: Looking to scale your maritime safety and security technologies into Europe? Join the Canadian Technology Accelerator (CTA) in Germany and Finland
If youâve got battlefield intel, classified tips, or just want to call in an airstrike on our typos, hit âreplyâ and sound off. Whether itâs a new tech sighting, a rumour from the mess hall, or feedback on our comms, we want your SITREP.