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02 Jan 25. Office of Strategic Capital Announces Release of Fiscal Year 2025 Investment Strategy. The Office of Strategic Capital (OSC) today announced the release of its Fiscal Year 2025 (FY25) Investment Strategy, which details how OSC will prioritize investments through credit-based financial products for critical technologies, assets, and their supply chains.
Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III established OSC in December 2022 with the mission to attract and scale private capital to support U.S. national security. In December 2023, Congress formally enacted OSC into law through the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2024 (FY24 NDAA), granting the office new authorities to issue loans and loan guarantees to eligible companies working in 31 Covered Technology Categories (CTCs) listed in statute.
The FY25 Investment Strategy incorporates these new authorities; defines arenas of strategic competition; develops a framework to optimize capital allocations; and identifies industry segments of particular interest for OSC investments.
“At this moment of global challenge, the Department of Defense must seek novel and effective ways to keep the United States secure,” said Secretary Austin. “I was proud to establish the Office of Strategic Capital in 2022 so that the Department can promote investment opportunities that make America safer and stronger. This Investment Strategy will ensure that we continue to build the foundation for ongoing technological leadership, economic strength, and American security.”
The FY25 Investment Strategy highlights the industry segments of particular interest for the OSC credit program, which are a subset of the 31 CTCs, to include: advanced bulk materials; advanced manufacturing; autonomous mobile robots; battery storage; biochemicals; bioenergetics; biomass; hydrogen generation and storage; microelectronics assembly, testing, and packaging; microelectronics manufacturing equipment; microelectronics materials; nanomaterials and metamaterials; sensor hardware; spacecraft; and synthetic biology.
“The OSC FY25 Investment Strategy provides an overarching framework as the office deploys its federal credit tools to build enduring advantages for our nation,” said Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering Heidi Shyu. “With the Investment Strategy as a guide, OSC investments will help reduce vulnerabilities to economic chokepoints, support the production of key industrial capabilities, and lead the development of next generation critical technologies.”
To read the full FY25 Investment Strategy, visit here: chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://media.defense.gov/2025/Jan/02/2003623435/-1/-1/1/FY25-INVESTMENT-STRATEGY-FOR-OFFICE-OF-STRATEGIC-CAPITAL.PDF
Concurrent with the release of the FY25 Investment Strategy, OSC is opening the application window for its first credit product, focused on equipment finance. Under its federal credit authorities, OSC launched the equipment finance Notice of Funding Availability on September 30, 2024, to issue direct loans to companies in the critical technologies value chain that have capital investment needs. The “Application Part 1” window for equipment finance loans opens on January 2, 2025 and closes on February 3, 2025. To learn more, please visit www.osc.mil/credit-program: https://www.cto.mil/osc/credit-program/ (Source: U.S. DoD)
02 Jan 25. Ramming attack in New Orleans will almost certainly lead to increased public security measures. On 1 January at approximately 0315hrs (local time), an individual carried out a ramming attack, killing 15 people and injuring 30 near the intersection of Canal and Bourbon Street in the French Quarter of New Orleans (Louisiana). The police killed the individual in a subsequent gunfight. The vehicle reportedly contained an Islamic State (IS) flag, potential IEDs and weapons. The FBI is investigating the incident as a terrorist act and is examining whether the suspect acted alone to assess any ongoing public safety threat. President Joe Biden stated that social media videos posted by the suspect before the incident suggest the attacker was inspired by IS. This indicates that the suspect was likely a radicalised lone perpetrator not directed by IS. At the time of writing, IS has not claimed responsibility for the incident and the authorities have not increased the National Terrorism Advisory System level. We assess that public security measures will almost certainly be increased in major urban centres in the short term. Given the heightened security measures, the threat of copycat attacks remains a realistic possibility. (Source: Sibylline)
02 Jan 25. Police probe motive in New Orleans truck rampage. Investigators in New Orleans were searching on Thursday for what motivated a U.S. Army veteran flying an ISIS flag from his truck to plow into a crowd of New Year’s revelers, killing 15 people and injuring 30 more before dying in a shootout with police. The probe was focused on whether the suspect, Shamsud-Din Jabbar, 42, a U.S. citizen from Texas who once served in Afghanistan, had help in planning the deadly attack on a city that will host the NFL Super Bowl next month. FBI officials said they were also looking for any links between the deadly attack and a separate incident on Wednesday in which a Tesla Cybertruck exploded in flames outside the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas, just weeks before President-elect Donald Trump returns to the White House on Jan. 20. The New Orleans attack injured about 30 other people, including two police officers wounded by gunfire from the suspect, taking place a mere three hours into the New Year in the historic French Quarter. (Source: Reuters)
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Founded in 1987, Exensor Technology is a world leading supplier of Networked Unattended Ground Sensor (UGS) Systems providing tailored sensor solutions to customers all over the world. From our Headquarters in Lund Sweden, our centre of expertise in Network Communications at Communications Research Lab in Kalmar Sweden and our Production site outside of Basingstoke UK, we design, develop and produce latest state of the art rugged UGS solutions at the highest quality to meet the most stringent demands of our customers. Our systems are in operation and used in a wide number of Military as well as Homeland Security applications worldwide. The modular nature of the system ensures any external sensor can be integrated, providing the user with a fully meshed “silent” network capable of self-healing. Exensor Technology will continue to lead the field in UGS technology, provide our customers with excellent customer service and a bespoke package able to meet every need.
A CNIM Group Company
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