Advertise on podcast: DIB Innovators

Rifath Shaarook, Co-Founder and CEO of Catalyx Space, says building a satellite is easier than the compliance around it. The hardest part is figuring out which license applies, ITU or FAA, and which military, NASA, or ESA standards to maintain. Get it wrong, and technical talent won't save the team. He also walks Steve through Catalyx's foldable heat shield. It uses cable tension to deploy wider in space, so it faces 900 to 1,000 degrees instead of 2,500 or more and can use much lighter material. Topics discussed: - Navigating ITU frequency coordination and FAA licensing - Tracking military, NASA, and ESA standards - Understanding qualification and testing requirements before building hardware - Engaging defense stakeholders from the first design validation - Using cable tension and tensegrity to deploy reentry heat shields - Designing reentry vehicles for a 1:1 payload-to-mass ratio - Lowering return costs toward $5,000 per kilogram - Removing the founder bottleneck to scale business development Listen to more episodes:  Apple  Spotify  YouTube Website

Steen Bisgaard spent over a decade in the Australian Army's Armoured Corps before founding GaardTech to build the combat robots he wished he had in the field. His concept of a "robotic fighting echelon," where autonomous systems hold terrain, deny access, and strike before human formations ever engage, is now being validated in live operations across four nations. GaardTech's Jaeger robotic munition systems survive .50 cal fire and operate across land, littoral, and air domains. Built with full vertical integration and zero outside capital, the company manufactures across Australia, the UK, and the US. The Australian Army recently completed its first live UGV detonation using GaardTech hardware. Topics discussed: - Why robotic fighting echelons will define future land warfare - Building a defense company on revenue instead of venture capital - Vertical integration as a competitive advantage in robotic systems - The 20/40/40 lethality matrix and defense budget gaps - Jaeger robots built to deny terrain and survive direct fire - Scaling internationally across AUKUS nations from 20 employees - Standalone edge autonomy as an alternative to swarming - Lessons from Afghanistan and Ukraine on robotic warfare Listen to more episodes:  Apple  Spotify  YouTube Website

Asylon showed up to an Air Force aircraft inspection demo with zero general visual inspection software. While every competitor brought five or six people, Asylon operated a drone and robot dog around an aircraft with one person on the ground, controlled remotely from Philadelphia. That proved to the Air Force that autonomous robot operations at scale was the harder problem to solve. Damon Henry, CEO and Co-Founder of Asylon, tells Dave how the company built a managed robotic security service with over 350,000 autonomous missions logged. Damon breaks down why selling outcomes instead of robots changes the acquisition equation, and why NDAA-compliant hardware built for defense makes their commercial business stronger by default. Topics discussed: - From Boeing and GE to co-founding an autonomous robotics company - Building hardware as a means to software and data - Selling security as a service instead of selling robots - Winning a Phase 3 Air Force contract for aircraft inspections - Operating robot dogs and drones with minimal human footprint - NDAA-compliant manufacturing as a dual-use advantage - Filling security labor shortages with persistent autonomous patrols - The blank screen vision for future security operations Listen to more episodes:  Apple  Spotify  YouTube Website

If 85% of defense M&A exits land below $100 million in enterprise value, why are so many defense tech founders raising at valuations unmoored from the fundamentals? Morgan Hitzig, General Partner at Overmatch Ventures, thinks the answer lies in who founders take money from and whether those investors understand budget cycles, colors of money, and what it takes to scale production. Morgan walks Dave through how Overmatch deploys its oversubscribed $250 million fund across deep tech, defense, and space at the pre-seed to Series A stage. She introduces the "Founder Offset" thesis, where America's edge over China is thousands of founders nobody had to approve, and explains why supply chain single points of failure are where she sees the most urgent gaps. Topics discussed: - Deploying a $250M fund from pre-seed to Series A - The "Founder Offset" thesis against China's central planning - Spotting "forces of nature" founders on a first call - Why inflated valuations risk defense tech longevity - Mapping single points of failure across defense supply chains - The "bring your own operator" syndrome in government sales - How the Office of Strategic Capital changes venture math - Understanding colors of money and budget cycles Listen to more episodes:  Apple  Spotify  YouTube Website

Manan Patel deployed to Iraq as a civilian engineer and mission commander on airborne ISR platforms, then left the government lab with no business plan to start Special Operations Solutions. A decade later, private equity merged his company with two others to form AEVEX, which went public on the NYSE and has delivered over 6,000 autonomous platforms. As CTO, Manan explains how AEVEX's CompassCore hardware-software stack runs across every platform size and domain, enabling mass production by design. He breaks down ForgeX, a 3D printing capability that lets operators build and fly drones in the field without AEVEX personnel. Topics discussed: - Deploying to Iraq as a civilian engineer on ISR platforms - Founding Special Operations Solutions and scaling to PE acquisition - Designing Atlas for the Army's launched effect short range program - Building CompassCore as a common stack across all platforms - Operating autonomous UAS in GPS denied and comms degraded environments - Forward-deployable drone manufacturing with ForgeX - Separating kinetic and surveillance payloads with modular nose cones - Scaling from prototype to full rate production Listen to more episodes:  Apple  Spotify  YouTube Website

Seaplane design hasn't changed since the 1950s. Jude Augustine, Co-Founder and CEO of Tidal Flight, is building Polaris, a hybrid electric amphibious aircraft designed to turn a four-hour coastal trip into two hours door to door while giving the military runway independence in the Pacific. Polaris is the launchpad for Tidal to grow into a next-generation aircraft manufacturer with a vision for aircraft across categories. Before even raising a seed round, Jude and his Georgia Tech co-founders secured 10 letters of intent from seaplane and commuter airlines worldwide. Their dual use approach pairs commercial coastal mobility with contested logistics capability, backed by a supplier model that keeps capital needs low and risk focused on the novel systems that matter most. Topics discussed: - Why seaplane operating costs stayed high for decades and what changes now - Choosing a supplier model over vertical integration after seeing Beta Technologies - Securing 10 airline letters of intent before raising a seed round - Building a series hybrid powertrain using the DeltaHawk compression ignition engine - Flying three 1:6 scale prototypes to prove hull hydrodynamics - Dual use strategy pairing commercial coastal mobility with Pacific defense missions - Saying no to defense funding that pulls away from the core aircraft program - Designing for autonomy readiness without building an autonomy suite Listen to more episodes:  Apple  Spotify  YouTube Website

James Crowell is an expert in extreme environment robotics who spent the first decade of his career developing and deploying polar, volcanic, and space systems at NASA, JPL, and research laboratories before founding Crow Industries in 2018. His team designs Fenris, a family of intelligent UGVs built for defense, mining, and eventually lunar and Martian surface operations, all from the premise that designing for environments with no GPS, limited comms, and no human access produces systems that outperform on the battlefield. James breaks down why the U.S. Army is shifting toward smaller, distributed ground platforms, how Operation Jailbreak pushed Crow Industries to open its interfaces for interoperability, and why underground operations remain the unsolved frontier in ground robotics. Topics discussed: - Why Group 2 UGVs outperform larger platforms in distributed warfare - Designing for zero GPS and limited comms from planetary constraints - Opening interfaces through Operation Jailbreak for C2 interoperability - Building America's robotic infantry through modular capability swapping - The forward line of robots concept for keeping humans out of harm's way - Underground operations as the unsolved frontier in ground robotics - Mining oxygen from lunar regolith to build space transportation infrastructure - Army acquisition overhauls accelerating procurement for small defense startups Listen to more episodes:  Apple  Spotify  YouTube Website

Ashley Zumwalt-Forbes drilled the first unconventional wells in Argentina for ExxonMobil, built a nickel mining company in Western Australia, then served as DOE Deputy Director for Batteries and Critical Materials. Today she advises on critical mineral policy as a Nonresident Fellow at Rice University's Baker Institute and invests across the critical supply chain through her family office, Smoketree Resources. Ashley lays out a three-step framework for breaking Western dependence on adversarial-controlled supply chains, starting with an allied definition of adversarial capital and ending with import controls on finished goods in defense and semiconductor applications. Topics discussed: How China weaponized copper smelting economics through zero TCRCs Why 99% of global crude gallium production sits in China A three-step framework for bifurcating critical mineral markets Why public markets are rewarding supply chain security stories The difference between critical minerals and rare earths Why government backstopping alone cannot scale to 60 minerals Reimagining smelter revenue models through capacity-based agreements Building a mining company from scratch in Western Australia Listen to more episodes:  Apple  Spotify  YouTube Website

Gary Calnan, CEO and Co-Founder of CisLunar Industries, built power electronics to melt metal in orbit. A research partner noticed the same hardware could reshape electric propulsion. That pivot turned a space debris recycling startup into a power electronics company with a test platform on a NASA mission and Lockheed Martin and Safran serving as subcontractors on its Space Force program. Gary tells Dave Graff how a finance career, nine weeks at the International Space University, and $4.7 million in total funding built a 20-person team now chasing dominance across the space power stack. Topics discussed: Pivoting from in-space metal processing to power electronics Building modular, scalable power processing units for diverse space applications Using SBIR contracts to bring primes in as subcontractors Why non-space backgrounds created an advantage in architecture design Capital efficiency with $4.7M raised and $8M in contracts Dual-use potential in directed energy and drone defense Recruiting from Maxar, Blue Origin, Blue Canyon, Tesla, and Lucid Preparing to scale manufacturing for an accelerating customer pipeline Listen to more episodes:  Apple  Spotify  YouTube Website

Phil Duong, CEO and Co-Founder of NODA AI, is building the mission command layer for autonomous forces that nobody else is focused on. His company orchestrates multi-vendor platforms into coordinated effects the way a JTAC pairs aircraft with targets. A Marine Corps naval aviator and JTAC turned defense tech founder, Phil earned NODA AI a $100 million Department of War award to scale mission command for autonomous forces after years refining a thesis on software-defined effects. Topics discussed: - Building a mission command orchestrator for multi-vendor autonomous forces - Flying drones point to point as table stakes - Software-defined effects and working backward from desired end states - Adaptive recomposition when assets go down mid-mission - Operating autonomous systems in disconnected, denied environments - Navigating the triad of warfighter, Pentagon, and Capitol Hill - Why software will overtake hardware in future conflict - Finding investors who truly back founders at the earliest stage Listen to more episodes:  Apple  Spotify  YouTube Website

How do you build a drone that flies 10 hours, takes off without a runway, and earns the first beyond visual line of sight certification for its class? Start with a decade of America's Cup yacht racing and a fixation on making structures lighter and faster. Dario Valenza, Founder of Carbonix, breaks down how his team applied carbon fiber composites and first principles design to build a long-range VTOL aircraft now scanning pipelines, power lines, and mine sites. With defense traction including Anduril and a fleet deployed to Ukraine, Dario explains the dual-use model driving Carbonix forward. Topics discussed: - Applying America's Cup composites and rapid iteration to drone design - Building a VTOL aircraft with 8-10 hour flight endurance - Transitioning from airframe OEM to full-service data provider - Earning a world-first SAIL III beyond visual line of sight certification - Designing redundant VTOL systems with separate vertical and horizontal propulsion - Scaling aircraft production from weekly to daily output - Balancing commercial survey revenue with defense ISR applications - Choosing build versus buy for avionics, batteries, and critical subsystems Listen to more episodes:  Apple  Spotify  YouTube Website

Jon Williams took ownership of technical data packs for munitions from 40 millimeter to 1,000 pound bombs. WAR Inc. is building a single facility where raw materials go in one end and a complete round comes out the other. A combat Marine who served in Fallujah and Sangin before stints at Microsoft and a professional race team, Jon breaks down how frontline feedback from Ukraine drives new munitions development and why American-owned manufacturing is non-negotiable for the DIB. Topics discussed: - Owning technical data packs for munitions from 40mm to 1,000 lb bombs - Building vertically integrated manufacturing for complete rounds - Using frontline feedback from Ukraine to develop new TDPs - Project ONI consortium for full system-of-systems delivery - Why deployable manufacturing may not pencil for real operations - Pushing past 80-year-old munition designs with new technology - Keeping defense manufacturing American-owned and American-built - Raising capital as a lean veteran-owned defense company Listen to more episodes:  Apple  Spotify  YouTube Website

What happens when you design ships for full autonomy from day one instead of retrofitting crewed vessels? At Saronic Technologies, it meant removing living quarters, plumbing, and human-centric systems, then building navigational autonomy and automated ship systems capable of operating 30 to 40 days without human contact. Vibhav Altekar, Co-Founder and CTO, walks Dave through building over 300 Corsairs in under two years, betting early on fully passive sensing for contested RF environments, and the first-ever rescue of a downed aircrew by an unmanned vessel. Topics discussed: Designing autonomous vessels from scratch versus retrofitting crewed ships Building intelligent agents as the foundation for collaborative autonomy Operating fully passive in GPS-denied and contested RF environments Bridging the air-water gap between UAVs and UUVs Encoding mariner expertise into a digital captain for challenging seas Competing with Chinese shipbuilding through autonomous production Partnering with Castellion to launch hypersonic weapons from unmanned platforms Reducing developer-to-ocean testing cycles to 48 hours Listen to more episodes:  Apple  Spotify  YouTube Website

Anita Antenucci, Founder and Managing Partner of 3Wire Partners, has spent three decades and roughly five hundred deals watching the defense capital stack evolve. Venture capital typically funds ten companies knowing only one or two will survive. As more defense suppliers depend on VC money, government risks inheriting that attrition, potentially losing 80% of those providers.  Anita explains why proving a prototype in the field is scarcer than the ability to scale, where she sees the strongest deal flow, and why she asks every founder whether they want to be bought or backed. Topics discussed: Matching founder timelines to the right class of private capital Venture capital attrition risk inside the defense supply chain Why battle-tested proof matters more than ability to scale How family offices fill a gap fixed-timeline funds cannot The "messy middle" of connectivity, compute, and cyber protection Space as a military domain driving deal flow and capital Programs of record competing with faster acquisition pathways Demand signal clarity as the biggest capital inefficiency Listen to more episodes:  Apple  Spotify  YouTube Website

Persistent Systems won a $120 million tactical networking award without a program of record. Their Wave Relay MANET served as the network backbone during Project Convergence Capstone 5, a combined arms breach exercise that became the precursor to the Army's Next Generation Command and Control (NGC2) architecture. Jon Patrick, VP of Business Development for Army and SOCOM at Persistent Systems, spent 26 years in DoD acquisition before crossing to industry. He tells Dave how two-year tranche buys reshape risk for bootstrapped companies, what it takes to scale from 150 to 750 network nodes, and where AI fits at the tactical edge. Topics discussed: How government language shifts reshape small business IR&D decisions Two-year tranche buys replacing base-plus-four contract structures MANET versus mesh networking at the tactical edge Scaling NGC2 from 150 nodes to 750 at brigade level Building a defense networking company for 18 years without VC AI addressing terminal data fatigue on tactical networks Going directly to SOCOM operators to find real requirements Financial-industry security as an alternative to Type 1 encryption Listen to more episodes:  Apple  Spotify  YouTube Website