Drone Wars

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**Drone Wars**

The preeminent podcast for all things drones, defense tech, defense policy, and modern warfare. Featured guests include industry leaders, policy experts, military warfighters, business titans, and many more. Hosted by Steve Simoni, co-founder and CEO of Allen Control Systems.

Latest Episodes:

Episode 5: Scott Sanders - Chief Growth Officer, Forterra Oct 25, 2024

Comment, leave a review, and follow for more!

Timestamps:

(0:00) Intro

(1:16) Pryzm, not sponsored

(1:56) Scott Being Early on Drone Warfare

(6:35) Drones in Urban Combat

(8:19) Takeaways From Ukraine War

(10:13) Military "Rustiness" & Turnover

(12:18) Putin's Interview with Tucker

(14:16) Acquired Podcast shout out

(15:50) How Forterra’s CEO got into the business

(18:07) Reality of DoD Procurement for Startups

(20:50) SBIRs: Pros and Cons

(23:18) Best Path for a New Defense Product

(26:37) Problems with "Cost + Fixed Fee"

(30:00) Is Building a Successful American Drone Company Possible?

(31:40) Should We Ban DJI Drones / TikTok?

(34:52) How Scott Got Into Anduril Early

(38:45) Anduril's Early Product Development

(44:02) Your Buyer Is Not Your User

(45:38) Issues with DoD's Detailed Requirements

(48:11) OSINT

(49:44) Testing Hard Tech Products

(52:02) Why a Self Driving Car on the Battlefield

(56:01) Risks of Forterra Business Model

(59:55) Buying An Autonomous Vehicle Off-the-Shelf

(1:04:16) Aliens & UFOs

(1:07:39) Outro

Scott Sanders is chief growth officer at Forterra - a leading provider of autonomous systems for ground-based movement in the working world.Before Forterra, Scott was Head of Business Development at Vannevar Labs and Senior Director for Anduril Industries’ Counter Unmanned Systems division, where he built the company’s acquisition strategy for its $1 billion SOCOM Systems Integration Partner program.

Episode 4: Ryan Farris - Co-founder and COO/CFO, Visto360.ai Oct 18, 2024

Follow, leave a review, and turn on notifications for new episodes weekly! Timestamps/Topics: (0:00) Intro (1:30) Ryan's Background (2:58) Problems with the Pentagon Process (5:01) Frustration with Lack of Innovation (9:00) Vulnerabilities on the Front Line (10:57) Drones Around Langley Air Force Base (16:26) Lasers Won't Stop Drones (WSJ Article) (24:18) Fight Drones with More Drones? (Anduril Bolt video) (26:51) Switchblade 300 vs the Bolt (29:15) Outdated Software Dev Process of Defense Primes (32:50) Engineering in Startups vs the Primes (35:30) Advice for Bootstrapping in Defense (38:59) How To Think About VC vs. Bootstrapped (40:40) AFWERKS Is Actually A Great Program (43:11) Being an Introvert & A Founder (44:14) The Issues with Big Defense Conferences/Events (45:48) The "Decade of Consequence" For China (50:43) Outro Ryan Farris is currently the co-founder and COO/CFO of Visto360.ai, a startup developing 3D computer vision applications for precise object detection. He previously co-founded and sold Orbital Effects, a small radar satellite company that revolutionized space based tactical ISR and effects. Ryan is a retired U.S. Navy officer who served at sea on several Aegis ships and in Washington DC at the White House, U.S. Senate, and Department of Defense. Post-retirement, Ryan co-founded Orbital Effects, a small radar satellite company that revolutionized space based tactical ISR and effects.

Episode 3: Brice Cooper - CSO, Allen Control Systems Oct 12, 2024

Brice Cooper is a former Green Beret, former head of SOCOM C-UAS, and the Chief Strategy Officer of Allen Control Systems. Follow for more! Leave us a review! Timestamps / Topics: (0:00) Intro (1:22) Brice's Army & Special Forces Experience (6:10) Autonomous Vehicles (8:08) SOCOM's Counter-Unmanned Systems Program Breakdown (10:12) Group 3 Interceptors (14:21) Small drone threats (Group 1 and 2) (17:35) Drone Swarms (19:06) Autonomous turrets for shooting down drones (21:55) Innovations Being Ahead of the Problem (23:32) Combining Autonomous Vehicles + Autonomous Weapons (24:04) Brice's Advice to Startups Working with the Government (30:03) How to Navigate Foreign Military Sales (31:13) The State of Ukraine & Foreign Affairs (38: 13) Conflicts Accelerating Defense Technology Usage (43:16) CCA Drama (47:01) Betting Markets & Steve's Startup Idea (51:58) Brice's Looking Ahead to Working in A Startup

Episode 2: Olaf Hichwa - Co-founder and CTO, Neros Technologies Oct 04, 2024

Olaf Hichwa is the co-founder and CTO of Neros Technologies, a defense tech startup building vertically integrated development of unmanned aerial systems at scale. Follow for more, leave us a review, and subscribe on YouTube as well!

Episode 1: Dhruva Rajendra - Co-founder and CEO, Deterrence Sep 27, 2024

Our premier episode featuring Dhruva Rajendra, co-founder and CEO of Deterrence, a defense tech startup company building advanced autonomous manufacturing systems. We talk about the drone problem, Steve Jobs, Chinese drone shows, munitions, and much more! Follow and leave a review, and subscribe to our channel on YouTube!

TRAILER | Episode 1: Dhruva Rajendra - Co-founder and CEO, Deterrence Sep 24, 2024

Don't miss our premier episode featuring Dhruva Rajendra, co-founder and CEO of Deterrence, a defense tech startup company building advanced autonomous manufacturing systems. Full episode drops Friday, Sept. 27th. Follow us and hit the bell to be notified right when the episode goes live!

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