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January 2026
Scaling Advantage in 2026
DELIVERY, DIFFUSION, AND THE
NEXT PHASE OF DEFENSE INNOVATION
To our Partners and Stakeholders,
Across allied capitals and defense ecosystems, the signal entering 2026 is consistent: advantage now depends on speed of delivery, not just innovation intent. From Nordic dual-use accelerators to U.S. and allied policy shifts on AI, autonomy, cyber, and procurement reform, governments are moving decisively to translate technology into operational capability.
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This month’s briefing reflects that transition. Portfolio companies continue to progress from validation to execution, while policy developments across the U.S., Europe, Australia, and Japan point to a defense environment increasingly shaped by scale, diffusion, and integration. As institutions adapt and adversaries accelerate, capital’s role in enabling credible deterrence and resilience has never been more central.
BOKA NEWS
Engagement with Defence Tech Denmark (Jan 15, 20)
​On 15 and 20 January, Grant Hume, Partner, and Rasmus Fogelstrom, Associate, attended Defence Tech Denmark’s launch event and subsequent investor meeting, which introduced the program’s 2026 cohort of 27 SMEs and early-stage companies developing innovative and disruptive dual-use technologies.
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The events highlighted Denmark’s, and more broadly Scandinavia’s, commitment to strengthening long-term security and resilience by incubating next-generation defense and dual-use companies. Through close collaboration between industry, investors, government, and end users, Defence Tech Denmark is helping accelerate the development and commercialisation of technologies critical to credible deterrence and societal preparedness.
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These engagements enable BOKA, as part of a broader Nordic strategy, to support the development of a pipeline of high-potential dual-use companies. By engaging early with founders and ecosystem partners, BOKA can continue to support company growth while generating long-term value for the Nordic region, our investors, and the broader European security landscape.​​
PORTFOLIO SPOTLIGHT
​​Infleqtion
Path to the Public Markets Accelerates ↗
Infleqtion reached a major regulatory milestone in January as the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission declared effective the Form S-4 registration statement relating to its proposed business combination with Churchill Capital Corp X, enabling shareholder materials to be distributed and moving the transaction materially closer to completion.
Real-World Quantum at CES 2026 ↗
At CES 2026, Infleqtion presented real-world applications of quantum sensing, highlighting use cases in defence, navigation, and advanced measurement.
UK Leadership Team Strengthened to Support Next Phase of Growth ↗
Infleqtion announced the appointment of Colin Sullivan MBE, former Royal Air Force Deputy Force Commander, as Managing Director, Infleqtion UK, reinforcing senior leadership engagement with UK government, defence, and national-security stakeholders. Building on this momentum, Ryan Hanley has been appointed Chief Technology Officer, Infleqtion UK — the company’s first UK-based CTO role. Ryan will lead Infleqtion’s technical strategy in the UK, aligning quantum development priorities with the UK’s national quantum agenda and emerging commercial and defence opportunities.
Photonics West: Advancing Quantum–Photonics Integration ↗
Infleqtion’s team attended SPIE Photonics West in San Francisco, engaging with partners including Silicon Light Machines and exploring the intersection of integrated photonics and quantum technology. During the event, Paul Morton, Chief Technology Officer of Photonics, presented on how integrated photonics applications, such as optical tweezers, enable extreme precision in neutral-atom quantum timing and sensing, and participated in a panel discussion on photonics supply-chain implications as quantum demand accelerates..
Quantum Infrastructure and AI: Cisco Quantum Summit ↗
Pranav Gokhale, Chief Technology Officer at Infleqtion, spoke at the Cisco Quantum Summit on how neutral-atom quantum technologies are shaping the next evolution of AI data-center infrastructure. Pranav discussed how Infleqtion’s Tiqker atomic clock and Sqale QPUs enable new approaches to synchronization, GPU integration, and quantum-enhanced AI infrastructure.
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ALL.SPACE
Operational Focus as 2026 Begins
During the December–January period, ALL.SPACE continued execution against previously announced programmes, focusing on customer engagement, system integration, and delivery preparation following late-2025 technical validation milestones.
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​Agile Space
Facility Expansion & Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony ↗
Agile Space Industries hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony marking the opening of expanded facilities supporting advanced propulsion manufacturing for defence and space programmes.
New Space Test Center — Tulsa, Oklahoma ↗
Agile broke ground on a new Space Test Center in Tulsa, significantly expanding its testing and qualification capabilities for advanced propulsion systems. The facility strengthens Agile’s vertical integration and accelerates development timelines for defence and space customers.
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IRIS Audio
Execution and Deployment Momentum into 2026
In the December–January period, IRIS Audio remained focused on operational delivery and customer execution, following late-2025 public-sector and enterprise deployments of its AI-driven voice isolation technology.
MARKET WATCH
ASCA pushes tech to drive faster decisions (Jan 5) ↗
Australian Defence release on the Advanced Strategic Capabilities Accelerator's (ASCA) Emerging and Disruptive Technologies (EDT) pipeline and decision-advantage focus. Australia is formalizing an “asymmetric advantage” innovation pathway, giving a positive signal for dual-use adoption and experimentation-to-procurement cycles. Head of ASCA, Major General Hugh Meggitt stated “The investment of [AUD]40 million in the EDT Decision Advantage Program is an important activity to develop future capability and inform potential future ASCA Missions to provide an asymmetric advantage to the [Australian Defence Force].”
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Royal Navy shifts toward autonomy in mine countermeasures (DE&S contract) (Jan 6) ↗
ADS reports DE&S awarded Thales a contract for remote control centres to operate autonomous mine-hunting systems. Naval autonomy is moving from demonstration to procurement, tailwind for C2, autonomy stacks, and resilient comms.
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EU STEP boosts investment into strategic technologies (Jan 8) ↗
The EU Strategic Technologies for Europe Platform (STEP) update on mobilizing funding toward strategic technologies across multiple programs. Europe’s capital stack is increasingly designed to blend industrial policy and funding into a coherent technology strategy..
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​​Pentagon Orders Structural Acceleration of Defence Innovation (Jan 9) ↗
The U.S. Department of War issued a memorandum titled “Transforming the Defense Innovation Ecosystem to Accelerate Warfighting Advantage”, directed to senior Pentagon leadership, Combatant Commanders, Defense Agencies, and DoW Field Activity Directors. The memo calls for faster transition of innovation into operational capability, tighter alignment between acquisition, experimentation, and operators, and the removal of institutional friction slowing delivery to the warfighter. This further marks a clear shift from experimentation to system-wide execution, reinforcing that speed, scale, and adoption, not pilot programs, are now the performance metrics for defence innovation.
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U.S. Department of War Releases Artificial Intelligence Strategy (Jan 9) ↗.The U.S. Department of War released its Artificial Intelligence Strategy, outlining how AI will be integrated across warfighting, logistics, intelligence, command-and-control, and enterprise functions. The strategy emphasises trustworthy AI, human–machine teaming, infrastructure readiness, and the need to align AI deployment with operational outcomes rather than research milestones. AI is now formally positioned as a foundational military capability, placing increased demand on compute infrastructure, data integrity, timing/synchronization, and resilient systems that can operate in contested environments.
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Zero Trust Moves from Concept to Implementation Doctrine (Jan 14) ↗
The National Security Agency (NSA) published a Cybersecurity Technical Report: Zero Trust Implementation Guideline – Discovery Phase. The document provides detailed guidance on mapping enterprise environments, identifying trust boundaries, and preparing large-scale systems for Zero Trust deployment across national security infrastructure. Zero Trust is no longer a policy aspiration, it is becoming operational doctrine, with direct implications for defence IT, cloud architectures, identity assurance, and secure data pipelines.​
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EU approves first wave of SAFE defence funding plans (Jan 15) ↗
The European Commission approves initial Security Action for Europe (SAFE) initiative plans for multiple Member States under the EU’s joint defence procurement push. Europe is operationalizing large-scale defense mobilization, with more predictable demand for deep tech across sensing, autonomy, comms, and cybersecurity.
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Red tape to be slashed for British robotics and defence innovators (Jan 16) ↗
The UK Government announces measures to remove blockers to innovation, explicitly referencing autonomy/robotics applications and defence-adjacent systems. A more permissive innovation environment supports faster fielding and stronger “test → procure → scale” pathways for dual-use companies.
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Ukraine offers wartime combat data to allies to train AI (Jan 20) ↗
Reuters reports Ukraine’s defense modernization focus on data-driven systems and offering combat data for allied AI development. Combat data is becoming a strategic asset; allied AI advantage will increasingly depend on training pipelines, governance, and interoperability.
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Japan advances scramjet hypersonic weapon development (Jan 23) ↗
Janes reports on Japan’s hypersonic weapon development and related FY2026 budget allocations. Japan is funding high-end deterrence tech; opportunities expand for partners across propulsion, guidance, sensors, and resilient comms.
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Russia deploys new high-speed Geran-5 drones (Jan 23) ↗
The Guardian reports Russia introducing faster strike drones and the supply-chain question around components. Drone warfare is accelerating in speed and sophistication; counter-UAS, sensing, EW, and AI-enabled intercept pipelines have become increasingly urgent.
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China reveals large drone swarm capabilities (Jan 24) ↗
Coverage summarizes a PLA-linked 200 plus drone swarm concept with autonomy under degraded comms. The competitive frontier is not “single exquisite platforms,” but coordinated, resilient swarms.
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China’s military AI: swarm intelligence and autonomous tactics (Jan 25) ↗
The Wall Street Journal reports China are training AI-controlled systems inspired by animal behavior and scaling swarm intelligence R&D. This adversary diffusion and manufacturing scale reinforces allied urgency around autonomy, EW resilience, and mass production of countermeasures.
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U.S. AI acceleration vs China’s diffusion model (Jan 26) ↗
The Foreign Policy Research Institute (FPRI) argues China’s strength is diffusion (doctrine + procurement + fusion), and that U.S. institutional change is required to compete at scale. Competitive advantage depends on institutions that can ship capability continuously, not episodically.