Axios

Lockheed Martin plans to quadruple its output of Precision Strike Missiles, used for the first time in the Iran war.

Why it matters: Questions about production capacity and stockpile health haunt the U.S. military, especially as its offensive alongside Israel breaks the one-month mark. And PrSM's first-ever employment has already drawn scrutiny.

The U.S. Navy published its request for proposals for the Undergraduate Jet Training System, slated to replace the aging T-45 Goshawk.

Why it matters: This is years in the making.

• Plus, the winner will long influence how Navy and Marine Corps aviators are educated.

The U.S. is dedicating significant amounts of firepower to the Middle East as it wrestles with Iran. Some of it — billions of dollars' worth, in fact — will not be returning.

Why it matters: The costs of Operation Epic Fury are mounting.

• Hundreds of American troops have been injured and 13 killed.
• Some exquisite weaponry, everything from stealth jets to radars, has been knocked out.

Pioneering a whole new class of car is hard enough, but musician will.i.am tells Axios he also wants his Trinity three-wheeled electric vehicle to be an AI agent, helping its driver plow through e-mails or plot out strategy.

Why it matters: Trinity is the epitome of the kind of ambition sweeping Silicon Valley: that AI can turn even a single-seat vehicle into a platform — and that building it can revive left-behind communities.

Growing up as a scrawny Star Trek nerd in the '90s, I learned pretty quickly to hide that part of myself to avoid being bullied just because I knew a little Klingon (Qapla'!).

• Now, approaching my 40s, I've learned to let my geek flag fly — and I'm glad for it.

The big picture: Part of what makes this easier is that the world has changed, and yes, I'm older. But geek culture is mainstream culture now.

Source material powering Anthropic's Claude Code leaked for the second time in just over a year, publicly exposing the AI coding tool's full architecture, unreleased features and internal model performance data.

Why it matters: The leak hands competitors a detailed unreleased feature roadmap and deepens questions about operational security at a company that sells itself as the safety-first AI lab.

OpenAI is beginning to let individual investors access its stock, months before the ChatGPT maker is expected to launch its IPO.

Driving the news: OpenAI said Tuesday that its shares will soon be included in several exchange-traded funds (ETFs) offered by ARK Invest, the Cathie Wood-led firm that previously invested via its venture capital arm.

Mike's Hard Lemonade is jumping on the viral dirty soda craze with a boozy "Dirty Lemonade."

Why it matters: "Dirty soda" — a mashup of soda, syrups and add-ins — is moving from DIY novelty to a new flavor playbook for brands chasing Gen Z.

Meta's average revenue per employee has jumped 85% over the past three years, thanks to sweeping employee cuts combined with AI-driven ad and content improvements that boosted the top line.

Why it matters: Once seen as a sign of strain, layoffs have become a key Wall Street indicator that tech giants are invested in efficiency as they pour billions into AI infrastructure to support long-term growth.

The AI race won't be won by who builds the best model, but by who can afford to keep the lights on.

The big picture: DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis knew that when he sold his AI lab to Google, according to a new biography by Sebastian Mallaby, senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.