Episodes

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...

Chandler Luzsicza, Founder and CEO of Galadyne, joins us to break down why he’s betting on liquid propulsion to reinvent long-range missile production. A former SpaceX engineer who started working on liquid rockets as a teenager, Chandler is now building containerized, scalable missile platforms designed to bypass the bottlenecks of traditional solid rocket motors. We get into supply chain fragility, why ammonium perchlorate is a strategic constraint, and how commercial space engineering c...

Heather Armentrout, President and General Manager of Kongsberg US, joins the show for a candid look at how a European defense leader is scaling real production inside the United States. We cover NASAMS, CROWS, and how lessons from Ukraine are shaping air defense, counter-UAS, and “affordable mass.” Heather breaks down what it actually takes to deliver programs of record: supply chain, manufacturability, and why production is the hard part. We also talk about Kongsberg’s US expansion,...

The war in Ukraine, defense tech, procurement, and private capital are colliding in real time, and most people in the West are missing what matters. Mentions: Disinformation by Ion Mihai Pacepa (Wikipedia) Match in a Haystack (Film Trailer) Porcelain War (Prime Video) Winter on Fire (Netflix) Links to the show: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Substack⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Ins...

Austin Gray, co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer at Blue Water Autonomy, returns to the show to break down what it actually takes to build large unmanned ships that can operate for months without touch maintenance. We get into why Navy shipbuilding cycles keep drifting into multi-year design spirals, and how unmanned platforms change the math on payload, endurance, and scale. Austin walks through the USV market landscape, including the split between “real ships” vs smaller craft, a...

Olaf Hichwa joins the podcast to break down the reality of modern drone warfare, FPVs, and why small drones now drive the majority of battlefield casualties. Drawing on direct exposure to Ukraine and deep experience building real systems, Olaf explains why drone-on-drone combat, cost-imposing weapons, and industrial-scale manufacturing matter more than hype around autonomy or directed energy.Olaf is the co-founder and CTO of Neros Technologies. Olaf on X Neros Technologies Website ...

Congressman Pat Harrigan (NC-10), former Army Special Forces officer and defense manufacturer, joins the show to talk about why he ran for office after the fall of Afghanistan and what that moment signaled to adversaries. We dig into the economics of modern conflict, why the West keeps ending up upside down on cost, and how cheap mass systems are changing the battlefield. Rep. Harrigan explains “Skyfoundry,” a new approach aimed at building US drone production capacity without betting ever...

Scott Sanders is the Chief Growth Officer at Forterra. Scott joins us to talk about counter-UAS, unmanned systems, and why scaling hardware is fundamentally different from software. We cover USVs and UGVs, recent fundraising across the defense industrial base, and what companies like Anduril and Rheinmetall reveal about today’s acquisition environment. Scott explains how DoD acquisition really works, from program offices to government relations, and why early demo failures are a normal part of ...

Shannon Vaughn breaks down how modern China actually works, why the CCP’s primary objective is regime survival, and how that shapes everything from AI policy to military strategy. In this episode, we’re joined by Shannon Vaughn, non-resident fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute and General Manager of Virtue Federal, with more than two decades across the military, intelligence, and national security ecosystem. We dig into China’s approach to AI diffusion, data scale, and industrial ex...

Defense tech, robotics, and edge AI are moving fast, but scaling them in the real world is hard. Hunter Dunbar, Chief Product Officer at Luxonis, joins the show to break down embedded computer vision, AI hardware, and perception systems used across drones, robotics, and defense applications. Hunter Dunbar on LinkedIn LuxonisWe discuss why Luxonis operates as a software company that ships hardware, how edge AI actually performs outside the lab, and why logistics, reliability, and manufacturing m...

Mike Weigand, Founder and CEO of Aventra Defense Systems, joins the show to unpack a radically different approach to long-range strike and mass precision. Aventra Defense Systems Mike Weigand on LinkedIn Aventra is building low-cost, modular guidance systems that turn standard munitions into AI-enabled, stratospheric-range weapons using high-altitude balloons and glide delivery. The conversation spans the economics of deep strike military technology, why cost and scale matter more than exquis...

Drew Horne, founder and CEO of GreenMet, joins the show to break down the rare earth crisis and what the United States needs to do to remain competitive. He previously led critical minerals policy work inside the White House, DoD, and DOE, and offers a direct view into how mineral sourcing shapes defense, energy, and emerging technologies.We cover how U.S. permitting and processing became bottlenecks, and what it will take to stand up credible non-Chinese alternatives.Drew also explains the futu...

Morgan Murphy joins the show to talk national security, defense manufacturing, and why he’s running for U.S. Senate in Alabama. Murphy is a 26-year Navy Reserve captain, former Pentagon press secretary, and national security advisor who has worked across the White House, State Department, and Senate. He shares his perspective on restoring America’s industrial base, rebuilding shipbuilding capacity, and why he believes manufacturing is now a national security imperative.The conversation covers ...