Latest news with #Menace
Yahoo
06-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Anduril Industries to acquire Klas
Defence technology company Anduril Industries has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Klas, an edge computing and tactical communications services provider. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Subject to regulatory approval, the acquisition will add Klas' 'rugged' hardware to Anduril's suite of autonomous systems and networked defence technologies. It is expected to enhance the company's ability to provide 'faster, more resilient and seamlessly integrated' solutions for challenging, front-line operational environments. Klas will continue its operations in Ireland and the US, with plans to expand manufacturing to meet demand across Anduril's portfolio. The acquisition also establishes Anduril's first office in Dublin, expanding its international presence in Europe, the UK, Australia, Japan, and Taiwan. Anduril said: 'Modern defence operations require compute and connectivity that go wherever the mission does—not just where the infrastructure allows.' Klas offers Voyager line, a modular family of compute and networking systems designed to withstand extreme conditions. Voyager is already part of Anduril's Menace systems, supporting operations across ground, maritime, and air domains. 'This acquisition builds on that foundation,' Anduril said. The company added: 'Every autonomous system is only as capable as the compute and comms it carries—together, they form the nervous system that enables real-time decision-making, coordination, and mission execution.' By combining Anduril's Lattice software platform, autonomy, and sensor capabilities with Klas' infrastructure, the company aims to deliver lightweight, mission-tailored systems that are faster to deploy, easier to maintain, and more resilient. This is expected to allow Anduril to adapt edge compute and communications to specific mission needs, reducing integration risk and accelerating technology deployment. In December, Anduril entered a strategic partnership with OpenAI, the developer behind ChatGPT and cutting-edge models such as GPT-4o, to strengthen AI capabilities for US national security. The initiative focuses on embedding OpenAI's advanced AI technology into Anduril's defence platforms and its Lattice operating system, with a particular emphasis on improving counter-unmanned aircraft systems performance. "Anduril Industries to acquire Klas " was originally created and published by Verdict, a GlobalData owned brand.
TechCrunch
05-05-2025
- Business
- TechCrunch
Anduril is working on the difficult AI-related task of real-time edge computing
Anduril announced its ninth acquisition on Monday with the purchase of Dublin's Klas, makers of ruggedized edge computing equipment for the military and first-responders. Anduril wouldn't reveal financial details of the deal, and the purchase is subject to regulatory approval, but the company did say that Klas employs 150 people. Relatedly, on Monday Anduril also announced a new product called Menace-T. We'll give the company points for the interesting product name, especially for a device that's really just a bundle of compute/network connectivity, rather than, say, a fantasy-style broadsword. (Compare the name Menace to Lockheed Martin's C2BMC, the name for its Command, Control, Battle Management & Communications products.) Klas' flagship product, known as Voyager, is the ruggedized family of compute and networking systems that Anduril had already been using in its other Menace command center products. Voyager had also already been integrated with Anduril's flagship Lattice software. Lattice brings sensors and AI to devices to perform tasks like object identification. But while most of us envision a portable command system being the size of a truck — which many are — Menace-T fits into two carry cases that can be set up by one person in minutes, the company says. Its goal is to bring edge computing and communications to off-grid and/or inhospitable environments. Anduril says it's already being used in military ground vehicles and maritime vessels. One interesting use case for Menace-T is compute/communications support for the military's Integrated Visual Augmentation System (IVAS) VR headsets. The IVAS project was initially awarded to Microsoft in 2018 after it pitched an idea of developing ruggedized HoloLens headsets for soldiers. The project was awarded an initial $21.9 billion budget. Techcrunch event Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot at TC Sessions: AI and show 1,200+ decision-makers what you've built — without the big spend. Available through May 9 or while tables last. Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot at TC Sessions: AI and show 1,200+ decision-makers what you've built — without the big spend. Available through May 9 or while tables last. Berkeley, CA | BOOK NOW But after years of technical struggles, Anduril took control of the troubled contract in February — although Microsoft remains a cloud partner. Lattice had already been added to Microsoft's IVAS headsets, bringing computer vision AI that helped the headset detect, track, and classify objects. Now Anduril thinks that the Klas technology that powers its Menace-T product can solve some of IVAS's other historic problems, like reliable data processing. With IVAS, 'there are scenarios where those soldiers need to communicate with the tactical edge to send data, to receive data, to task autonomous systems, and that's a place where the Klas technology can help,' Tom Keane, SVP of Engineering, said at a press conference. 'Klas has already been supplying technology to IVAS for several years in that context. So we expect to do more there.' Beyond Anduril's military objectives, there are a host of other computer vision situations that are not practical until more powerful edge computing becomes available. This ranges from automotive, to industrial — or even areas like pollution monitoring. While Anduril is clearly focusing on military and related fields like law enforcement — with all the rhetoric that implies — should it solve the edge computing issue for IVAS, there are at least as many commercial possibilities for the tech. Anduril hasn't ruled out one day pursuing those as well. 'The technology and products for Klas have many use cases: military, national security, law enforcement, autonomy and more. Anduril, together with our partners, will continue to support customers from a wide array of use cases,' Keane told TechCrunch.
USA Today
19-03-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Retired MLS stars to play with amateur team in US Open Cup: What are they thinking?
Retired MLS stars to play with amateur team in US Open Cup: What are they thinking? Show Caption Hide Caption Messi 'never imagined' he would achieve what he has Lionel Messi says his dream was only ever to be a professional, and thanked God for all his success Stats Perform Video It's been a few months since Dax McCarty helped Atlanta United eliminate Lionel Messi and Inter Miami from the postseason, before retiring after 19 seasons in Major League Soccer. It's been a little over a year since Ozzie Alonso retired, and two years since Sacha Kljestan and Bradley Wright-Phillips retired from MLS. Ask any former athlete in any sport: The desire to play again never goes away. The four are now MLS Apple TV analysts, but they're going to step onto a pitch once again in Kansas City, Missouri on Wednesday night. They'll play with six other retired stars on an amateur team from Iowa against a bunch of 19- to 24-year-olds aspiring to play in MLS like they did. They'll play for the Des Moines Menace on the road against Sporting Kansas City II inside Children's Mercy Victory Field at 7:30 p.m. ET. The match is in the first round of the U.S. Open Cup – the longest ongoing tournament in America soccer in its 110th edition. It will be available to stream on YouTube. At least the tournament is older than them? "I just ran sprints for the first time in four months. I still got it," McCarty, 37, said in a video on social media last week – breathing heavily before laying down on some grass. "I don't know how I got convinced, man," Wright-Phillips, 40, told USA TODAY Sports with a sigh. Kljestan, 39, played with the Menace for two games in last year's Open Cup. He did the convincing along with Benny Feilhaber, who is going to play against the MLS Next Pro team he coached for the last three years. The Brazilian national helped SKC win MLS Cup in 2013, the Open Cup in 2017, and is in the franchise's hall of fame. Kljestan and Feilhaber recruited McCarty — the trio competed for playing time together for U.S. Soccer at the Beijing Olympics in 2008. Alonso, a four-time Open Cup winner and 2016 MLS Cup winner with the Seattle Sounders, said McCarty influenced him before a flight to their current day jobs. And Kljestan needed his "striking partner' in Wright-Phillips. Kljestan led MLS in assists and Wright-Phillips in goals twice each during their careers, and one of those times was in 2016 when they played together for the New York Red Bulls. "Sasha worked his magic, wore me down and convinced me,' Wright-Phillips said. The Menace is a USL League 2 team that plays from May to August and is typically filled with amateur players in college. The former MLS stars aren't getting paid for participation. They're just in it for the thrills. "When you retire, you can never get that feeling back of playing in a stadium, scoring a goal and hearing everybody cheer for you. There's just nothing in life that can replicate that,' Kljestan said. 'So, just getting that opportunity to do it one more time, or two more times, or three more times depending how many games we win, I think it's pretty exciting for us.' McCarty said he walked away from the game in great shape, but the day-to-day grind and being away from his family took its toll. He started playing some golf and pickleball in his spare time to feed his competitive fire. But it just doesn't compare. "I absolutely want that feeling back,' McCarty said. Alonso misses being in the locker room with his teammates and the pressure to perform. "I miss everything,' Alonso said succinctly. Wright-Phillips — who started his career Manchester City before eight MLS seasons – wants to make up for lost fun. 'I'm one of those players that I don't really miss the game,' he said. 'When I played, I was really uptight. It wasn't fun because I was very hard on myself to always score goals. I didn't enjoy as many games as I should have because you're always worried about three points and worrying about other teams' results. "So, I just want to enjoy the game, try to win and just have fun playing with my friends.' They'll be joined by AJ DeLaGarza, a three-time MLS Cup champion with the L.A. Galaxy who won the Open Cup with Houston in 2018. Victor Ulloa (FC Dallas, 2016) and Justin Meram (Atlanta, 2019) also won Open Cup titles. Matt Hedges (2016 MLS Defender of the Year) and Mikey Ambrose (former six-year MLS veteran) will also play. Their first order of business should be getting on the same page. Kljestan and Wright-Phillips want McCarty to play the whole game since he's the least removed from professional soccer of the bunch. "Their expectations are I'm supposed to play 90 minutes,' McCarthy said. "I don't know how that's going to work out.' They also need to figure out how far they really want to go in the tournament. McCarty said it would be "a little irresponsible and foolish to talk about winning the whole thing." Kljestan said his "dream scenario" would be to at least play against an MLS team in a big stadium again. "It's going to sound delusional, but I want to get to the final. I want to win this. That's the way I am in my mind,' Wright-Phillips said. "I'm not saying I'm going to be leading the line. I'll be on the bench like a great cheerleader. But let's try and get to the final.' On Tuesday, U.S. Soccer announced a record $1 million prize pool would be awarded during this year's tournament. The champion will win $600,000, the runner-up $250,000, and $50,000 for each of the three highest finishers from lower divisions participating. The Open Cup – despite its history – has been a bit of an afterthought in the American soccer space since the summer Leagues Cup tournament between MLS and LIGA MX teams was created in 2019. MLS nearly pulled its senior teams from the tournament last year, but eight competed in 2023, and 16 of the 30 of them will play this year. The former players don't feel responsibility to play in hopes of reviving the Open Cup, but believe their presence will bring some attention. "People over time have seemed to play it down. It's the oldest tournament in the country, and that's to be respected,' Wright-Phillips said. 'A lot of people made their name in this tournament. Why are we above it? Why would I not want to play in this tournament and get more people interested?' Added Kljestan: "This is just getting a group of guys that want to give it one last shot of playing together at the highest level, and it will shine a light to the Open Cup and hopefully bring more eyeballs for it.'
New York Times
19-03-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Ringers or old-timers? MLS greats join Des Moines for fun run at U.S. Open Cup
Dax McCarty is a household name to most fans of MLS, having played for a half-dozen teams during a distinguished, 18-year career before his retirement in 2024. This past weekend, he was part of the team of analysts who handled MLS's Sunday night broadcast on Apple TV. On Tuesday, his assignment was a little less glamorous: travel to Des Moines, Iowa. Advertisement McCarty is one of many MLS greats recruited by the lower-league Des Moines Menace ahead of their U.S. Open Cup debut on Wednesday night. The roster for the club's match against MLS Next Pro side Sporting Kansas City II contains a who's who of mid-aughts U.S.-based talent: Bradley Wright-Phillips, among the most prolific goalscorers in league history; Benny Feilhaber, a World Cup veteran; Sacha Kljestan, a key contributor to the USMNT and among the most consistent midfielders MLS has seen. There are others, like former standout defender Matt Hedges, forward Justin Meram and three-time MLS Cup winner and former defender A.J. DeLaGarza. There's also Seattle Sounders legend Ozzie Alonso, among the hardest-nosed players to ever lace them up in MLS and a four-time Open Cup winner. In all, 11 former MLS players are slated to don the Des Moines kit. On Tuesday, McCarty called from the back of an Uber, en route to the airport. A few hours later, he was set to have his first training session with the group. 'I guess we're gonna try and condense an entire preseason into a few hours,' McCarty said. 'Fitness, tactics, set pieces, all of it. I'm sure it'll be fine, right?' The Menace, who play in USL League Two — the fourth tier in the American soccer pyramid — are an amateur team whose season doesn't kick off until May. In a soccer landscape that continues to align itself more and more with the European game, the Menace are the rarest of things: an American soccer club that feels distinctly … American. Their logo, a humanoid soccer ball bearing its teeth, does a good enough job of conveying that. In the early 2000s, the club was an integral part of one of American soccer's most ridiculous experiments, Socker Slam. Des Moines has a long and storied history of beating professional sides in the Open Cup, having done it seven times since their founding in 1994. Those wins were truly David vs. Goliath affairs, a crew of rag-tag amateurs besting a squad of pros. Last year, the club decided to take a different approach. Advertisement It began with a chance encounter at the gym between Charlie Bales, the club's now-former general manager, and Kljestan. Bales was looking to get a little publicity for the Menace and he approached the recently-retired Kljestan, pitching him on a comeback. The two exchanged messages on social media, and eventually, Bales had his first pro. Others joined in when the Menace advanced to round two: DeLaGarza, along with former Sporting Kansas City midfielder Roger Espinoza and ex-FC Dallas and Orlando City forward Tesho Akindele were part of the lineup that got eliminated by USL side Union Omaha. Like McCarty, Kljestan is also a part of MLS's Apple coverage. A few weeks back, he pitched McCarty on joining the squad. McCarty, who'd intended to take a year off from playing entirely, said he'd do it under one condition — BWP had to join too. Wright-Phillips, who happened to be in the same studio — yes, he works on the MLS broadcast crew also — said yes. BWP, McCarty and others had to sign on to the squad as amateurs — none of the players are being paid, though the tournament itself carries a $600,000 prize for the winning team. The response to the Menace's all-star approach has been largely positive, but there's been some minor heartburn amongst fans on social media, some of who wondered whether these grizzled MLS vets were taking opportunities from some of the Menace's younger players. Here's the thing: as of now, the Menace — who play in the summer — have very few players to speak of. Only a handful of players have signed on. 'People can say what they want about (our approach to) the Open Cup,' said Charlie Latshaw III, the Menace's current coach. 'But if MLS says they don't want to fully participate, it's hard for anybody else to dictate how we participate. At the end of the day, it's bringing positive attention to the tournament, which I think is valuable in the American soccer ecosystem. It's important that there's media attention brought to the opening rounds.' Former pros have played in the tournament from time to time, but never on this scale. And those pros have never risen to the level of talent present on the Menace. Despite all of this, McCarty can't help but laugh at the idea that the Menace could even be considered an all-star team. Advertisement 'A team of ringers? That seems like an oxymoron,' McCarty said. 'A team of ringers who are all into their late 30s and even early 40s. That feels a little contradictory if I can say so myself. 'This isn't making a mockery of the Open Cup. This is the opposite — it's for the love of the game. The Menace, too, are a pretty legendary team in terms of name, in terms of brand. It's a team with a rich history and we as players are happy to represent them. Making a mockery of the Open Cup would be if we weren't taking this seriously. And we are.' There's nothing in the tournament's rules that forbid amateur sides from signing former professional players. Any former professional player whose last paid match was over 31 days ago can pay a $50 reinstatement fee and declare himself an amateur, according to U.S. Soccer statutes. 'Somebody should do the math,' McCarty said. 'This match tomorrow, it's gotta be the biggest difference in average age between two teams in Open Cup history.' A victory against what's essentially an MLS feeder side – one that Feilhaber used to coach, as if this game needed another layer – on Wednesday would by all accounts qualify as an upset, but maybe not a historic one. If the Menace manage to beat Sporting, they'll likely get a rematch against Union Omaha or another regional club. Should they advance out of that round, they might find themselves squaring up against an MLS club, giving them a chance to do something truly historic. Kansas City's first team may have four titles in its history, but it has actually been on the wrong side of several historic Open Cup upsets, too. In 1997, it was bested by the USL-3 San Francisco Bay Seals, and three years later the club was taken down by the amateur Chicago Sockers. In 2005, the Wizards were the last of three MLS sides dispatched by the USL's Minnesota Thunder. None of those underdogs, though, contained the assemblage of talented former pros that the Menace does. To some fans, that may take some of the luster off of a potential Des Moines run. Latshaw III, though, doesn't really care. He's hoping for a win on Wednesday, which would earn the Menace a home match in the next round and a sizable gate to boot. And there's something else he feels is even more important. 'This is fun,' he said. 'And people forget sometimes — football is supposed to be fun, maybe even a little goofy sometimes. That's being forgotten, especially at the highest levels of the game. Regardless of whether some other people like it, I think here in Des Moines, we certainly do.'
Fox Sports
18-03-2025
- Sport
- Fox Sports
Former MLS stars lace up the boots for an amateur Iowa team in US Open Cup
Associated Press Unknown to most, the Des Moines Menace have got some big names on their roster — retired MLS stars Sacha Kljestan and Benny Feilhaber among them — and they're aiming to make some noise in the U.S. Open Cup. Problem is, they've never played together. The Menace open the 110th edition of the Open Cup on Wednesday with a first-round match at Sporting Kansas City II. In addition to Kljestan and Feilhaber, other retired stars on the Des Moines roster include Dax McCarty, Osvaldo Alonso, Justin Meram, Matt Hedges, A.J. DeLaGarza and Bradley Wright-Phillips. The team was meeting in Kansas City for a lone practice on Tuesday night. Part of the game plan will involve figuring out which players, mostly in their late 30s and early 40s, can still go a full 90 minutes. 'Fortunately for us Benny Feilhaber used to be the head coach of Sporting KC II, and he's got a good scouting report on them," Kljestan said. "He's going to be helping us out tactically and how to set up the team.' The Menace are part of USL League Two in the fourth tier of the soccer pyramid in the United States. Because the team's season is during the summer months, the Menace draws many elite college players who want to continue to train and compete in the offseason. The MLS stars aren't taking up roster spots on the regular team and won't be paid. But they will undoubtedly help the team — with its angry red-eyed soccer ball logo — get some attention and even sell some merchandise. Last year, Kljestan was at a Southern California gym owned by a former Menace player who introduced him to the team's GM, Charlie Bales. Even though Kljestan — an MLS Season Pass analyst for Apple TV — hadn't played for more than a year, Bales convinced him to suit up for the Menace in the 2024 Open Cup. The Menace won their first match against Southern California club Capo FC on penalties after a 2-2 draw, with Kljestan netting the game-winning spot kick. But the team was eliminated in the next round with a 3-1 loss to Union Omaha. Kljestan said Feilhaber asked him if he was willing to give the Menace another go this year. 'He hit me up and asked if I was going to play again this year and if I was, if he could join, too. And I said, `OK, we're doing this, let's do it right, and let's get a whole cast of ex-MLS All-Stars and really give it a shot.'" Kljestan said. "So it was pretty easy to get most of the guys to join once Benny and I were in and threw the possibility out there.' Founded in 1914, the Open Cup is the nation's oldest soccer competition. It includes both MLS and lower-tier teams, including amateur sides like the Menace. Since the start of MLS in 1996, the only lower-division team to win the competition was the 1999 Rochester Raging Rhinos of the USL's second-tier A-League, which beat the Colorado Rapids 2-0 in the final. In late 2023, MLS said it would pull senior teams from the tournament, and instead enter developmental clubs from MLS Next Pro. After blowback, eight MLS teams competed in 2024. This year there are 16. 'I love the Open Cup. I think it's a fantastic competition with the most history of almost any team sport in the United States. I'm glad that they found a solution and we got MLS teams back in the Open Cup because that's where they belong," Kljestan said. "I went to the final last year to watch LAFC play against Kansas City, and the atmosphere was fantastic and LAFC lifted the trophy. So I'm glad that they found a resolution that works right now." ___ AP soccer: in this topic
