The Drone Ultimatum

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How The Iran War is Changing Defense Tech Investing | Patrick Blumenthal Mar 20, 2026

Show notes

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.

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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 evaluates companies, why certain founders consistently outperform, and where defense tech is still misunderstood by investors.

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How Defense Tech Investors Evaluate Startups | Jocelyn Kinsey (DFJ Growth) Mar 19, 2026

Show notes

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.

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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 conversation, Jocelyn explains how the firm approaches growth-stage investing—and why defense is fundamentally different from traditional venture categories.We cover:

Why defense is a hit-driven industry, not SaaS
The surge of capital into defense and whether it’s a bubble
Lessons from SpaceX and Palantir on working with government
How modern drone warfare is reshaping defense priorities
The need for layered counter-drone systems
Why detection remains one of the hardest problems
What investors look for in defense founders and teams
The importance of marketing, lobbying, and go-to-market

If you’re building or investing in defense tech, this episode is a clear look at how the game actually works.

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Former Army Ranger on Drone Warfare, Ukraine, and The Future of War | James Lechner Mar 13, 2026

Show notes

Jim's book, With My Shield

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.

The conversation explores drone swarms, fiber-optic drones, AI targeting, and the limits of airpower in modern conflicts.We also discuss NATO, the future of warfare in the Pacific, and what Western militaries must learn from Ukraine’s battlefield innovations.

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Building Nuclear Reactors for the New Industrial Era | Isaiah Taylor, Valar Atomics Mar 06, 2026

Show notes

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 both economic competitiveness and defense readiness. He also breaks down Valar's approach to radically simplifying reactor design so they can be manufactured and deployed at scale.

We discuss the global nuclear race with China, how modular reactors could power military bases and industrial capacity, and why the real opportunity isn’t selling reactors, it’s producing abundant electricity.

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The Future of Space Security and Homeland Defense | Clayton Swope Feb 27, 2026

Show notes

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 space systems, acquisition friction, and what “resilience” actually means in practice. If you work in defense, space, or national security policy, this conversation connects the dots between strategy and execution.

LINKS

⁠Follow Clayton on LinkedIn⁠

Would Airstrikes Against Iran Work? (article by Clayton Swope)

The Pentagon Should be a Better Customer (article by Clayton Swope)

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Autonomous Cargo for the Navy: Shipboard VTOL Logistics at Scale | Charles Acknin & Isaac Roberts Feb 20, 2026

Show notes

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 means when you’re building a 1,000+ mile range platform.

We also zoom out into startup execution versus fundraising, the realities of selling into DoD, and how automation is reshaping internal ops across defense tech.

LINKS

Skyways

Follow Charles on LinkedIn

Follow Isaac on LinkedIn

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Reinventing Missile Production with Liquid Propulsion | Chandler Luzsicza, Galadyne Feb 15, 2026

Show notes

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 culture can modernize missile development. Chandler also explains Galadyne’s 1,000km-class strike platform, recruiting tactics to pull “new space” talent into defense, and why production at scale — tens of thousands per year — is the real deterrent.

It’s a candid conversation about propulsion, venture backing from Andreessen Horowitz, and the ethics of building weapons in a world where “peace through strength” is more than a slogan.

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Air Defense, Counter-UAS, and Re-Industrializing the US Defense Base | Heather Armentrout, Kongsberg US Feb 06, 2026

Show notes

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, new facilities, and how partners think about China, export controls, and re-industrializing the arsenal of democracy. Practical, inside-baseball, and heavy on execution.

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Inside The Russia-Ukraine War: Capital, Tech, and Geopolitics | Perry Boyle and Denys Gurak Jan 30, 2026

Show notes

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)

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MITS Capital Website

In this episode, we sit down with Perry Boyle and Denys Gurak, founding partners of MITS Capital, one of the most active Western capital allocators into Ukraine’s defense and dual-use ecosystem. We break down the on-the-ground state of the war, how Ukrainian buying works across decentralized units, and why cost and scale now decide outcomes. Then we get specific on what tech is actually useful, where NATO approaches break down, and what a “war economy” looks like when innovation has real urgency. We close on the geopolitics: why China’s role is central, why energy infrastructure matters, and what this conflict signals for the future of security in Europe.

Shipbuilding, USVs, and the Economics of Naval Autonomy | Austin Gray Jan 24, 2026

Show notes

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, and why peace-time TAM and price-times-quantity matters for defense startups.

We also cover the Navy’s acquisition reorg and what it means for autonomy buyers on the inside. The conversation closes on carrier strike group integration, loyal wingman concepts for destroyers, and why missile capacity and sustainment are the real constraints.

Austin Gray on X

Blue Water Autonomy

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