The Navy awarded Raytheon a $22.9B, seven-year contract to accelerate Tomahawk missile production, addressing a stockpile strained by roughly 1,000 precision-machined parts per missile and single-source supplier bottlenecks. (Defense Tech & Acquisition)

Drone companies and administration leaders held the White House's first "Drone Dominance" meeting. (Breaking Defense)

Boeing awarded $131.2B contract ceiling for F-15 program — hard number, no color needed. (Reuters)

SpaceX secures land on the Louisiana coast for 10 new Starship launch pads, roughly 30 miles from the nearest town, aimed at supporting multiple daily launches with less community friction. (Payload)  

Boeing nabs $131B F-15 deal covering over a decade of potential work on US and international F-15 fighter jets. (Breaking Defense)

Air Force awards $766M for B-52 radar modernization, $603M to Raytheon and $163M to prime contractor Boeing. (Breaking Defense)

Radiant and Antares selected for Army's Janus microreactor program: Radiant is getting $750 million to build 15 Kaleidos microreactors, and Antares says its contract is worth roughly $1 billion and growing, as two of five vendors picked for the $2.2 billion program. (Not Boring)

Army Secretary Dan Driscoll resigned after less than two years in the job, following reported clashes with Defense Secretary Hegseth and a conversation with President Trump about the state of the Army. (Breaking Defense)

Army awards $192 million to Palantir and Anduril to produce the TITAN targeting system, split $127 million to Palantir and $65 million to Anduril. (Breaking Defense)

Submarine maintenance delays and "idle time" have cost the Navy $3.4 billion, and GAO says the problem will get worse and costlier for subs headed to decommissioning. (Breaking Defense)

Hermeus picked Anduril's autonomy stack for its Quarterhorse hypersonic drone. (Breaking Defense)

Sean Parnell, the Pentagon's chief spokesman, is emerging as the leading contender for Army secretary, with Hegseth among those pushing for him. (Semafor)

Agility Robotics split its CFO and COO roles as it prepares to go public. (CFO Dive)

Master Drilling posted "resilient" half-year results, with revenue at the JSE-listed drilling and mining services contractor up 17%. (Mining Magazine)

Normet logged a strong first half, with net sales up 24.3% January through June. (Mining Magazine)

SK hynix has begun construction on a $4 billion HBM memory plant in West Lafayette, Indiana. (Monte Investments) 

Volvo Construction Equipment is investing $40M to bring 11 more models into production at its Pennsylvania plant, and says it's already shipping its first US-made excavators and wheel loaders to customers. (Canadian Mining Journal)

Dirac is expanding BuildOS, its AI-native process planning platform, onto Microsoft Azure for manufacturers across aerospace and defense, industrial equipment, and agriculture and construction machinery. It's a real-world test of the thesis that AI penetration into physical-economy work stays under 5 percent over the next three years. (Microsoft/PR Newswire)

Inside the startup trying to rebuild American precision casting: Rangeview, an El Segundo startup founded by 26 year old Cameron Schiller that casts turbine blades and jet parts, including components for aircraft that keep more than half of America's advanced fighter jets grounded for lack of parts. (Piratewires)

The August ISM report showed manufacturing activity falling slightly but staying in expansion territory, with 15 of the tracked industries reporting growth and 2 in contraction. (IndustryWeek)

Volkswagen's supervisory board backed a plan for 50,000 more job cuts, about 8% of its global workforce, and a vehicle lineup shrinking by as much as half by 2035 as the company struggles with high costs and Chinese competition. A real counterweight to the "industrial capex cycle still early" thesis, at least outside the US. (Bloomberg)

US manufacturing added 16,000 jobs in August; machinery manufacturing gained the most at 6,100 jobs while motor vehicles and parts lost 4,500. (Manufacturing Dive)

Manufacturers are split on reshoring: 36% say they're actively doing it, 31% have no plans to, per the Reshoring Initiative. A real-time read on how far the reshoring thesis extends past the announcement headlines. (Manufacturing Dive)

Ramelius adds ~2Moz of gold, ore reserves up 79% — The newly discovered ounces drove a major reserve increase. (Australian Mining)

Mining's safety problem: why isn't technology solving it — despite predictive maintenance, fatigue systems, and newer vehicles, mine fatalities keep rising; culture, not tech, looks like the real bottleneck. (Mining Magazine)

Cash copper hit a record above $14,900/t on August 19; LME warehouse stock fell for 42 consecutive sessions (the longest run since 2014) before the resulting five-year-record backwardation collapsed 89% in just four sessions. (Critical Minerals Journal)

Nucor (NUE) posted 24% revenue growth in Q2'26 as Section 232 tariffs cut steel imports 25% year over year; two new plants (a West Virginia sheet mill, a Utah towers-and-structures plant) come online over the next 18 months to serve data-center-linked steel demand, including GE Vernova's turbine capacity scaling from 20GW to 30GW annually by 2030. (Monte Investments)

Sandfire Resources and Perseus Mining shares hit all-time highs after dividend announcements; Sandfire says it's actively hunting more copper assets, even as BHP signals it wants to grow copper by building, not buying. Paladin's uranium rally continues on stronger pricing. Lynas lifted profit "after a lean year" in its rare-earths business. (Mining News)

Lynas Rare Earths posted FY26 revenue of A$977.9 million, up 76%, and net profit of A$222.4 million versus A$8.0 million a year earlier, helped by a realized price of A$80.7/kg as China's domestic NdPr benchmark nearly doubled to US$100.8/kg, closing in on the US$110/kg price floor written to protect Western producers. (Critical Minerals Journal)

Small miner EQR posted blockbuster August revenue as tungsten prices soared to a record. (MiningNews)

Liontown is expanding into the lithium brine sector through an earn in deal on an Argentine project that could be worth up to $200 million. (MiningNews)

First antimony and gold production is now in full swing at the Hillgrove mine in New South Wales after Larvotto completed an extensive redevelopment. (Australian Mining)

Element Zero landed a $26 million ARENA funding boost to scale up its green iron technology. (Mining Magazine)

Major Drilling's US and Canada revenue rose 32% to C$111 million on healthy exploration budgets. (Mining Magazine)

TP Freight Lines, a Portland-based LTL carrier founded in 1922, abruptly shut down after telling more than 100 Teamsters-represented employees not to report to work and missing payroll the next day. (FreightWaves)

More than 7,000 jobs are being cut across 21 freight, logistics, manufacturing, and distribution companies, led by Tyson Foods' 3,000+ layoffs tied to plant closures amid cattle shortages. (FreightWaves)

Gulf VLCC rates hit a record $800,000/day amid robust spot activity, Clarksons says. (TradeWinds)

At least 21 transportation and logistics companies filed for bankruptcy protection between July 27 and August 25. Filings spanned trucking, freight forwarding, warehousing and distribution, ranging from single truck carriers to a distributor listing $100 million to $500 million in assets and liabilities. (FreightWaves)

BJ's Wholesale Club plans to cut its SKU count by 20%, down to 6,000–6,500 items. (Supply Chain Dive)

RXO says truckload spot rates are still climbing: the broker's spot rate index posted its largest sequential Q2 gain in five years, up 32.4% year over year, and is running 43% higher through Q3. Carrier operating costs are up 29% ex fuel from the last cycle's peak, meaning further rate gains may be needed just to restore margins. (FreightWaves)

Tidewater is finalizing a $500 million takeover in Brazil's offshore services market. (TradeWinds)

Hafnia's CEO explained a $400 million newbuilding order hedge as shipyard prices stay stubbornly high. (TradeWinds)

Cheniere shipped its 5,000th LNG cargo as the company wrapped its Stage 3 expansion at the Corpus Christi terminal in Texas. (gCaptain)

Transportation capacity contraction slowed sharply in August: the Logistics Managers' Index put capacity at 40, the slowest contraction pace in six months, while pricing hit 90 (up 3.1 points) and utilization jumped to 70.6, only the second "robust" reading above 70 in five years. Aggregate logistics costs hit 243.6, well above the 150 breakeven line. (FreightWaves)

DOT removed more than 110 commercial driver training schools from the federal registry and is targeting 160-plus more in a fraud crackdown, alongside a nationwide audit of third-party CDL testers; more than 28,000 drivers have been placed out of service for English-proficiency violations since June 2025. (FreightWaves)

A record $660 billion global shipbuilding orderbook is raising doubts about how many new ships the world actually needs, adding to the overcapacity debate already building around container ship orders. (TradeWinds)

UPS launched a new global operating model and revamped executive roles. (Trucking Dive)

US retail diesel prices hit their highest level in four years and may break the all-time high by Labor Day as the Iran war strains global fuel supplies. (Bloomberg)

Amazon Shipping's 2026 holiday delivery surcharges will run higher than last year, peaking between Nov. 22 and Dec. 26. (Supply Chain Dive)

Old Dominion Freight Line plans a $10 million, 40-door service center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. (Trucking Dive) (Notes)

Walmart's self-branded EV charging network hits its 100th station, now spanning 20 states after a slow start. (WardsAuto)

Solar is being installed at a breakneck pace worldwide: Africa is set for a record year, Indonesia unveiled plans to deploy 100 gigawatts of solar within three years (versus roughly 20GW currently installed in the UK), and the IEA expects renewables to be the top global electricity source in 2026 for the first time. (Semafor Flagship)  

Minnesota Power broke ground on a $450 million HVDC modernization project in North Dakota meant to improve reliability, cut energy loss and enable two way power flow. (T&D World)

The capacity of gas-fired plants built exclusively to power US data centers nearly doubled in the first half of 2026, and the two largest gas plants in American history were both announced in just the past two weeks. (Semafor) 

Facilities are betting big on low-cost, 100-hour iron-air batteries — a $1B project with Google and Xcel would build the world's largest battery, 30 GWh at roughly $33–50/kWh. (Facilities Dive)

Army picks five companies to deploy microreactors at military bases: the selections are backed by $2.2 billion in federal funding meant to boost installation resilience and prove out the commercial viability of next-generation nuclear power. (Facilities Dive)

Claro Colombia is investing $25.5 million in 2026 to expand its Bogota and Medellin data centers, part of $123 million spent over five years, split between capacity and infrastructure ($14 million) and cybersecurity ($11.5 million). (Latin Trade)

There are three skilled-trade job openings for every qualified worker, per labor-market firm Lightcast, with a 1.3 million person gap in electricians, plumbers, HVAC techs and similar trades, driven largely by the data center boom. (Facilities Dive) 

Officials from Heron Power, NVIDIA, Invenergy and Emerald AI outlined three principles for AI data centers to act as "good grid citizens" rather than pure load. (Utility Dive)

The US Army selected BWXT as one of five companies for its Janus nuclear microreactor program, worth up to $2.2 billion over five years. (Streetwise Reports)

Indiana Michigan Power proposed a $59 million base rate reduction for 2027; a residential customer using 1,000 kWh a month would save about $100 a year. (T&D World)

Toll Brothers' luxury move-up segment remained its largest revenue and margin contributor in Q3, reinforcing the builder's high-end pivot as its core growth strategy. (Builder Pulse) 

The US's new 50% tariff on hundreds of Canadian goods — including furniture, plywood, plastics, and electrical equipment — took effect Saturday; one economist estimates up to 90,000 Canadian jobs (0.4% of the labor force) could be lost if it persists. (Bloomberg) 

Home Depot is rolling out express delivery in 3 hours or less nationwide, using more than 2,000 stores as fulfillment hubs. (FACD)

Construction begins on the world's tallest jail — The HOK-designed Manhattan tower in Chinatown is one of four boroughs-based replacements for Rikers Island now breaking ground. (Dezeen) 

Pacific Fusion breaks ground on $1B test reactor — New Mexico facility targets net energy gain by 2030. (Heatmap)

US building natural gas power twice as fast as China — new Global Energy Monitor report ties the scale of planned projects to the ongoing fossil fuel buildout. (Heatmap)

Fluor is wrapping up $5 billion in construction on a Novelis aluminum recycling plant in Bay Minette, Alabama, set to begin commissioning this year. (Construction Dive)

Nvidia has taken on roughly $230 billion in lease obligations and residual value guarantees tied to AI infrastructure deals, including a $105 billion backstop for an OpenAI lease in Ohio. It's effectively becoming a banker to the AI boom it also supplies chips to, a concentration of risk worth watching given how crowded the AI trade already is. (WSJ via The Bear Cave)

Construction hiring hit its highest rate in nearly two years in July, according to ABC chief economist Anirban Basu. (Construction Dive)

Houston City College is seeking more funding to manage an $80 million maintenance backlog covering HVAC, structural and elevator repairs. (Facilities Dive)

Amtrak broke ground on a $1 billion NYC maintenance facility. (Construction Dive)

More than half of homebuilders now use AI for everyday business tasks, reporting $244,000 in average annual productivity gains — a real data point on how fast AI penetration into physical-economy work is actually moving. (Zonda Builder Pulse)

Data center employers face an acute shortage of skilled workers, per a new report. (Construction Dive)

The global better-for-you kids snack market is projected to exceed $168B over the next decade, with Target, Whole Foods and brands like Earth's Best expanding cleaner-label, lower-sugar lines. (FoodNavigator)

Sodexo sold $1.3B of bonds and will cut 1,000 jobs. (Bloomberg via Exec Sum)

Mortenson and Bartlett Cocke won the $1.3 billion contract to build the NBA Spurs' new arena. (Construction Dive)

A Tennessee highway project worth $9.2 billion picked its construction team. (Construction Dive)

Dollar General posted Q2 same store sales up 3.5% year over year and raised its annual guidance to 2.5 to 2.9% growth. (Food Institute)

Dollar Tree posted Q2 same store sales up 3.7% and expects 3 to 4% annual growth. (Food Institute)

Walmart same-store sales slowdown could portend trouble for packaged food brands — a read on an increasingly value-conscious consumer with implications beyond Walmart's own shelves. (FoodNavigator)

Target's tariff refund reaches nearly $1B — the retailer's new food strategy drives a second straight quarter of growth after five quarters of declines. (FoodNavigator)

El Niño Trades At Zero — a sharply-reported piece tracing a historic El Niño from Peru's suspended anchovy season through to cocoa and sugar pricing into 2027-28; genuinely worth the read given the commodity-trading angle. (The Trend Report / Substack)

Unilever is offloading its food businesses but retaining Lipton Ice Tea through a joint venture with PepsiCo. (FoodNavigator)

Long John Silver's has posted 16 consecutive quarters of sales growth after years of closures and restructuring. (Restaurant Business)

Argentina was left out of Trump's new 300,000 ton tariff free lean beef import quota because of its fixed allocation, leaving Brazil, whose president is at odds with Trump, as the likely main beneficiary instead. (Latin Trade) 

The Big Mac index says the Brazilian real and Egyptian pound are undervalued 20 to 55%, but the same countries pay 90% and 55% more than the US for an identical iPhone, a clean illustration of why burgers make a weak currency read (local labor, can't arbitrage) and global goods make a better one. (Apollo, Torsten Slok) 

JM Smucker's Uncrustables sales rose 12% as the company expands production of the packaged sandwich brand. (FoodNavigator)

Kraft Heinz is investing $30 million in its Kendallville, Indiana plant, the sole producer of its marshmallow and caramel brands including Jet-Puffed. (Food Dive)

Chobani is buying back Keurig Dr Pepper's $800 million stake in a Pennsylvania plant and investing $1.2 billion to convert it into a new manufacturing hub, part of a $4 billion network expansion. (FoodNavigator)Domino's detailed how its new single serve pizza format took shape. (Restaurant Business)

Mota-Engil won a 30 year, $1.8 billion concession to operate the DRC leg of the Lobito Corridor rail line, linking to the Angola stretch it already part owns and backed by financing from the US International Development Finance Corporation. This is one of the more concrete pieces of the US backed critical minerals corridor out of central Africa actually getting built. (Mining Magazine)

Nippon Dynawave was cited for 35 environmental violations after an implosion at its Longview, Washington site, and separately cited by the state's labor agency for a safety violation at the same location. (Packaging Dive)

McEwen Copper closed a $240 million term loan to advance its Los Azules project toward a final investment decision. (Junior Mining Network)

The Onaping Depth nickel project received C$2 billion in private funding. (Mining Magazine)

Tetra Tech to pay $57M for falsifying soil samples at Hunters Point Shipyard — settlement over fabricated environmental testing data at the California Superfund site. (Mission Local via Waste Dive)

Used box resellers are eyeing an opportunity as containerboard prices climb, though some corrugated industry watchers doubt it moves the needle. (Packaging Dive)

WM CEO Jim Fish is retiring after a decade in the role. President John Morris takes over in January, with Fish staying on in an advisory capacity through February. (Waste Dive)

Casella Waste Systems acquired a Pennsylvania hauler, aiming to triple transfer capacity at its Hanover Township station. (Waste Dive)

Waste and recycling M&A tracker: Ally Waste acquired another valet waste and brokerage provider; Reworld and Ecowaste Solutions also reported recent deals. (Waste Dive) (Notes)

The Trump administration stalled a survey of PFAS in wastewater, according to former EPA officials. (AP via Waste Dive)

New Orleans approved a $99 sanitation fee increase, its first in 15 years. (Axios via Waste Dive)

A shareholder-activism podcast digs into the U.S. government's equity stake in Intel and related lawsuits, plus a novel proxy solicitation targeting Voya Financial over a no-confidence vote. (The Activist Investor)  

Exiger's CEO went on Fox Business to explain how the company's AI platform tracks global supply chains and is helping the US crack down on tariff evasion, the kind of compliance tooling that gets more valuable the longer the tariff fights drag on. (Exiger via LinkedIn)

IndustryWeek argues most corporate cost cutting disappoints because companies remove people while the dysfunctional systems that created the cost problem stay in place, making "cut complexity, not headcount" the better lever. (IndustryWeek) 

Owner, an AI native platform that helps independent restaurants run their websites and marketing, raised $240 million, a concrete data point on how much capital is flowing into the software layer that sits inside blue-collar and consumer-facing businesses. (Food Institute)

OpenTable is requiring restaurants to use it as their "system of record" for reservations, a term of service change that competitor SevenRooms says forces restaurants to make OpenTable their center of gravity and manually reconcile everything else into it. It's a fight over who controls the underlying data layer that restaurants increasingly depend on, not just who has the prettiest booking widget. (Expedite, Substack)