Episodes

Omar Javaid is the CEO of Rampart Communications, a company that provides resilient wireless communications with physical layer encryption, protecting against cyber and EW threats. Omar on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ojavaid/ Rampart Communications: https://rampartcommunications.com/ Steve on X: https://x.com/StevenSimoni Steve on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevensimoni/ Follow the show! Spotify: https://open.spotif...

Stephen Ziegenfuss is the Co-Founder of Vertical Autonomy, a company building next-generation unmanned systems. Stephen on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephen-ziegenfuss-6139546/Vertical Autonomy: https://www.verticalautonomy.com/Steve on X: https://x.com/StevenSimoniSteve on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevensimoni/Follow the show!Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3F1sc8yzQIF9WcdHQ3w7kfApple Podcasts: https://podcas...

Brett Velicovich is the founder of Powerus and a former intelligence professional who spent years supporting special operations and drone missions before working alongside frontline units in Ukraine. Brett on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brett-velicovich-86a3651a/ Brett on X: https://x.com/TheDroneWarrior Powerus: https://www.power.us/ Steve on X: https://x.com/StevenSimoni Steve on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevensi...

Yadin Soffer, co-founder and CEO of Traysar Industries, joins Steve to discuss why the future of warfare may be shifting beneath the surface. Yadin on X: https://x.com/yadinsoffer Yadin on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yadinsoffer/ Traysar: https://www.traysar.com/ Steve on X: https://x.com/StevenSimoni Steve on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevensimoni/ Follow the show! Spotify: https:/...

Defense venture capital has entered a new era. In this episode, Steve Simoni speaks with Vardan Gattani, Partner at 645 Ventures, about why investors are increasingly focused on national security, how defense startups are evaluated, and what founders need to build enduring companies. Vardan on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vardangattani/ 645 Ventures: https://645ventures.com/ Steve on X: https://x.com/StevenSimoni Steve on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠...

In this episode, Steve sits down with Dennis DeMeyere, Co-Founder and CEO of Autonomous Production. Manufacturing capacity has become a strategic advantage. As drones, autonomous systems, and precision weapons reshape modern warfare, the ability to produce at scale is becoming just as important as the technology itself. Dennis discusses how autonomous factories, AI-powered manufacturing systems, and distributed production networks could transform the defense industrial base. We...

Jason Zins is the Founder and Managing Partner of Nomi Capital. Nomi Capital invests across defense, aerospace, manufacturing, space, energy, and national security technologies. Jason shares how his team evaluates defense startups, why they focus on later-stage companies, and what separates durable businesses from hype-driven investments. We discuss the current state of defense venture capital, manufacturing bottlenecks, the evolution of military technology, defense software, hyperso...

In this episode, Steve sits down with John "JD" Parkes, Founder and CEO of Parry Labs, and Amber Walker, Chief Growth Officer. Parry Labs develops mission-critical software and digital infrastructure that helps military systems communicate, integrate, and operate more effectively in contested environments. We discuss the evolution of military software, the push toward open architectures, the realities of defense acquisition, and why integration remains one of the hardest problems in ...

Zane Mountcastle is the co-founder and CEO of Picogrid, a defense technology company building the software and hardware infrastructure layer that connects drones, sensors, autonomous systems, and command platforms into unified operational networks. Learn more about our sponsor, Cushman & Wakefield (00:00) Intro (01:18) What Picogrid actually does (03:34) The integration problem across defense systems (07:02) Building infrastructure instead of one-off integrations ...

Ben Cipperley is the Chief Strategy Officer of HavocAI and a former Navy EOD officer who spent more than two decades in the Navy, including work on robotics, autonomy, and the Navy’s strategic modernization efforts. Follow Ben on LinkedIn Havoc AI Follow the show: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Apple Po...

Weston Moyer and Jonathan Rue of MVP Ventures join The Drone Ultimatum to discuss defense tech investing, AI, robotics, aerospace, manufacturing, and what it takes for startups to scale in national security. 00:00:00 — Intro 00:02:13 — Anthropic and Pentagon AI concerns 00:07:16 — Saronic and defense manufacturing scale 00:08:46 — Guam and Pacific logistics 00:12:25 — Shahed drones and counter-UAS economics 00:14:04 — How defense sales actually work 00:29:38 — Anduril, Lattice, and defe...

Nick LaRovere is the co-founder and CEO of Pryzm, a startup building an AI-powered operating system for defense business development and procurement. 00:00 - Intro 01:19 - AI coding, “vibe coding,” and hiring engineers 04:27 - What Pryzm does and the future of defense procurement 10:35 - AI, CRMs, and the changing defense sales process 18:00 - Raising from Andreessen Horowitz and building Pryzm 24:36 - Scaling manufacturing in defense tech 27:12 - “Every company becomes a...

David Michelson, former Army Ranger, DIU autonomy leader, and current Drones Thesis Leader at Re:Build Manufacturing, discusses what’s actually working and not working in drones and autonomy today. ⁠⁠Learn more about our sponsor, Cushman and Wakefield.⁠⁠ This conversation covers: Why autonomy is a spectrum, not a switch Lessons from Ukraine that the U.S. may be misreading The reality of drone operations vs. “swarm” hype Manufacturing constraints and scaling challenges W...

Cheap drones are reshaping warfare in real time. In this episode, Soren Monroe-Anderson, co-founder and CEO of Neros Technologies, breaks down what it actually takes to build low-cost, scalable FPV drone systems for modern combat. ⁠Learn more about our sponsor, Cushman and Wakefield.⁠ From Ukraine battlefield lessons to manufacturing tens of thousands of drones per month, this is a ground-level view of how drone warfare is evolving. We get into production scale, electroni...

Nathan Mintz, founder and CEO of CX2 and former founding CEO of Epirus, joins the show to break down how electronic warfare is reshaping modern drone defense.We cover the origin of Epirus, the moment the drone threat became impossible to ignore, and how soft kill systems fit into a layered approach to counter-UAS. Nathan also explains what it actually looks like to build a defense company today, from working inside legacy primes to launching and scaling startups in a system that rewards access, ...

Kurt Freshley, Chief Growth Officer of Valinor Enterprises, joins the show to break down the company's strategy and portfolio companies while sharing what it actually takes to scale in defense and advanced manufacturing. Kurt Freshley on LinkedIn Valinor (LinkedIn) Valinor (Twitter/X) From navigating procurement and aligning with real customer demand to building sustainable growth inside a complex ecosystem, this conversation gets into the operational reality behind the headlines. ...

Jamie Goettler (CRO, BTX Precision) breaks down what’s actually happening inside U.S. advanced manufacturing right now. Demand across defense, aerospace, semiconductors, and medical devices is surging at the same time, but the real story is on the supply side. Can U.S. manufacturing actually scale to meet it? We cover reshoring, tariffs, precision manufacturing constraints, and what it takes to rebuild the industrial base. Topics include: Why demand is rising across mult...

Rick Harlow, founder of NovaSpark Energy, joins the show to break down how his company turns water into hydrogen for military drones, backup power, and off-grid energy systems. The conversation covers defense use cases, disaster response, critical infrastructure, data center demand, and why on-site hydrogen production could eliminate major supply chain bottlenecks. Rick also shares his path from telecom and early IoT into startups, defense, and energy entrepreneurship. This is a practical ...

Patrick Blumenthal (Investor at Anomaly Fund) returns to break down how venture capital actually works in defense, what makes founders worth backing, and how geopolitical realities shape investment decisions. Subscribe to our newsletter: https://thedroneultimatum.substack.com/ Follow Pat on X: https://x.com/PatrickJBlum The conversation spans Iran, great power competition, and the second-order effects of U.S. strategy on global markets and startups. Patrick also shares how he eval...

Jocelyn Kinsey, Partner at DFJ Growth, joins us for a deep dive into defense tech investing, startup strategy, and the realities of building in the national security ecosystem. Subscribe to our newsletter: https://thedroneultimatum.substack.com/ Jocelyn Kinsey on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jocelyn-kinsey/ DFJ Growth Website: https://dfjgrowth.com/ DFJ Growth has been investing in deep tech for decades, including early bets on SpaceX. In this convers...

Former U.S. Army Ranger James Lechner joins the podcast to discuss modern warfare, drone combat, and the lessons the West should be learning from Ukraine.Lechner shares experiences from Mogadishu to advising Ukrainian units near the front lines, explaining how urban combat works in practice and why counter-drone systems are becoming essential on the modern battlefield. Sign up for our newsletter Jim's book, With My Shield The conversation explores drone swarms, fiber-optic drones, AI targe...

Sign up for our newsletter Isaiah Taylor, founder and CEO of Valar Atomics, joins the show to discuss why energy is becoming a national security issue. Valar is building small modular nuclear reactors designed to deliver scalable, grid-independent power for industrial infrastructure, military installations, and emerging technologies like AI. In this episode, Isaiah explains why energy production is falling behind advances in AI, robotics, and manufacturing and why that gap matters for b...

Sign up for our newsletter Clayton Swope, Deputy Director of the Aerospace Security Project and Senior Fellow in the Defense and Security Department, joins us to break down the real state of U.S. space and missile defense. We dig into how the Pentagon is thinking about space resilience, missile warning, and emerging threats from China and Russia. Clayton explains where policy, budget, and strategy are aligned and where gaps still exist.We also get into the industrial base behind s...

Today we’re joined by Charles Acknin and Isaac Roberts from Skyways, the Austin-based aerospace company building long-range autonomous cargo aircraft for real logistics missions. We dig into why Skyways went defense-first, how they turned early Marine Corps interest into a long-running Navy contract pipeline, and what it takes to fly autonomous VTOL cargo off ships in rough conditions. The conversation gets tactical on the tradeoffs of VTOL and hybrid propulsion, plus what “scale” actually...