Sam Dean 🦅

NEW: I went inside Anduril's Arsenal-1 factory in Ohio, days before it starts producing autonomous fighter jets. What I found: a factory with no robots, a plan codenamed "Project Hershey," and investor memos showing its shift from a software shop to a weapons manufacturer.

THREAD: Cherise Doyley was in her 12th hour of contractions at the hospital when a tablet was brought to her bedside. On the screen was a Zoom call with a judge and several lawyers and doctors. She was in court, a nurse told her. The reason? For failing to agree to a C-section.

On Thursday, Anduril leaders confirmed the plant will begin production by the end of March, three months ahead of schedule. nbc4i.com/news/local-new…

Exclusive: Pentagon to adopt Palantir AI as core US military system, memo says reut.rs/4bJ1c4V reut.rs/4bJ1c4V

La localisation du porte-avions français Charles de Gaulle rendue possible grâce à l'imprudence d'un marin utilisant l'application de running Strava, rapporte Le Monde. En faisant son footing sur le pont, il révélait la présence du navire.

Today we launched L.A. Material — a new, independent L.A. news site — and I hope you'll check it out! Much more to come. lamaterial.com

SCOOP!!! Trump administration considering deploying thousands of additional troops to the Middle East as the military prepares options for the possible next phase of the Iran war. One option for securing the Strait of Hormuz includes deploying troops to Iranian shores. w/@idreesali114

NEW FROM ME: I’m working with some of the best reporters and editors in L.A. to build a brand new local news outlet that launches tomorrow. Sign up here: lamaterial.com.

🇺🇸 BREAKING: The United States Navy has awarded up to $71M to Gecko Robotics to deploy AI-powered wall climbing robots that inspect warships up to 50x faster, boosting fleet readiness and helping keep 80% of ships mission ready. Source: Bloomberg

Read it here: gourmetmagazine.net/iran-cafes/

A report from the cafés of Tehran, Qazvin and Tabriz in today's edition:

If this sounds like a lot of money then try to imagine how many of these stories you think you could pitch, report, write, edit, publish, and get paid for in a year and multiply it by 8K and tell me if it's a good annual income for the top level of magazine writers

@USNavy announces five new Portfolio Acquisition Executives (PAEs): • PAE Maritime: Chris Miller • PAE Industrial Operations: VADM James Downey • PAE Marine Corps: Lt Gen Eric Austin • PAE Strategic Systems Programs: VADM Johnny Wolfe • PAE Undersea/DRPM Submarines: VADM Rob Gaucher Transition teams are currently underway for three more PAEs for aviation, mission systems, and munitions. Likewise, the Navy is evaluating the possibility of a PAE for shore and another for supply.

Must read from Alex

💸NEW: The US Army awarded @anduriltech an $87M contract to implement Lattice as JIATF-401’s counter-UAS command-and-control software, President and CBO Matt Steckman told reporters. It's the first task order under the Army's $20B ceiling enterprise agreement with Anduril.

💥 Anduril founder @PalmerLuckey tells @demarest_colin on The Axios Show what weapons he would (and wouldn’t) build. “I think that nuclear weapons have been one of the most stabilizing forces in history ever.”

Given other news, I missed this excellent piece by @wesleysmorgan & @mattaikins chronicling CIA Zero Units in Afghanistan. If you did too, it’s worth circling back. nytimes.com/2026/02/23/mag…

In 2024, ACRE's @ramahkudaimi sat in on the closing arguments of Al Shimari v. CACI. Yesterday, an appeals court handed a victory to the Abu Ghraib torture survivors—upholding a historic $42 million verdict against a private contractor, finding it liable. bit.ly/4lsies8