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PODCAST

The Drone Ultimatum

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.

technology

All Episodes

01:03:08

Building Nuclear Reactors for the New Industrial Era...

The Drone Ultimatum ·

2026/03/06

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 both economic

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01:11:56

The Future of Space Security and Homeland Defense |...

The Drone Ultimatum ·

2026/02/27

Sign up for our newsletterClayton 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,

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00:55:31

Autonomous Cargo for the Navy: Shipboard VTOL...

The Drone Ultimatum ·

2026/02/20

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

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01:16:30

Reinventing Missile Production with Liquid Propulsion...

The Drone Ultimatum ·

2026/02/15

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

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00:56:53

Air Defense, Counter-UAS, and Re-Industrializing the...

The Drone Ultimatum ·

2026/02/06

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,

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01:04:47

Inside The Russia-Ukraine War: Capital, Tech, and...

The Drone Ultimatum ·

2026/01/30

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:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Substack⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Apple

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01:25:14

Shipbuilding, USVs, and the Economics of Naval...

The Drone Ultimatum ·

2026/01/24

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

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01:37:19

Building American Drones in the New Age of Drone...

The Drone Ultimatum ·

2026/01/17

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 XNeros Technologies WebsiteWe discuss why China’s

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00:52:16

Modern War’s Cost Problem and America’s Response |...

The Drone Ultimatum ·

2026/01/09

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 everything on

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01:18:37

Labs vs Startups, GR vs PEO, and Selling Into DoD...

The Drone Ultimatum ·

2026/01/02

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

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01:11:35

Understanding Modern China, From AI to Taiwan |...

The Drone Ultimatum ·

2025/12/19

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

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01:39:49

Scaling Edge AI and Robotics in the Real World |...

The Drone Ultimatum ·

2025/12/16

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 LinkedInLuxonisWe 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 matter

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01:03:46

Building Low-Cost Deep Strike Weapons for Modern War...

The Drone Ultimatum ·

2025/12/12

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 SystemsMike Weigand on LinkedInAventra 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 exquisite

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01:02:54

The Rare Earths Problem: Inside America’s Supply...

The Drone Ultimatum ·

2025/11/28

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 future

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00:59:22

Defense Production, China, and American Power |...

The Drone Ultimatum ·

2025/11/14

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 border

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01:19:45

Why True Drone Swarms Don't Exist Yet | Emma Bates

The Drone Ultimatum ·

2025/11/08

Emma Bates, co-founder and CEO of Cachai, joins the show to break down what true drone swarming actually means and why almost no one has achieved it. Drawing from her background in defense modernization and distributed systems, Emma explains how her team is building software that enables drones and autonomous systems to operate without a single point of failure. The conversation dives into distributed consensus, the difference between “common” and “consistent” operating pictures, and why the U.S

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00:27:34

How to Redefine Battlefield Logistics with 3D...

The Drone Ultimatum ·

2025/10/31

Dan Magy, co-founder and CEO of Firestorm, returns to the show for a live episode recorded at Battlefield 2027. Firestorm is building deployable, modular 3D printing systems that can manufacture drones, parts, and tools directly at the edge of operations — a game-changing capability for contested logistics.We discuss how Firestorm’s portable manufacturing units are reshaping military production, the lessons learned from early Army field tests, and how 3D printing is enabling faster repair and

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01:26:26

Jet Engines & Reinventing Oil Systems for Next-Gen...

The Drone Ultimatum ·

2025/10/25

Rob Sladen is the Chairman and CEO of Zulu Pods, a company pioneering next-generation lubrication and fluid delivery systems for aerospace and defense. Before founding Zulu Pods, Sladen spent 13 years at Pratt & Whitney designing jet engines — experience that now fuels his startup’s role as the “picks and shovels” behind future weapon systems.In this episode, we talk about how Zulu Pods’ “Tide Pod for jet engines” was invented, the state of DoD procurement, and why small defense startups face

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01:30:12

The GovCon Game: Relationships and Red Tape | John Ferry

The Drone Ultimatum ·

2025/10/18

John Ferry returns to the show for one of the most blunt conversations yet about the defense startup ecosystem. From the realities of selling to government and surviving the “valley of death” to the cultural dysfunction inside acquisition, Ferry lays out why so many startups die before getting their product fielded and what it actually takes to win.Steve and John discuss how relationships drive every contract, why SBIRs rarely translate to real programs, and how companies like Anduril changed the

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01:10:06

Inside AV Inc: Drones, Directed Energy, and Defense...

The Drone Ultimatum ·

2025/10/13

Church Hutton, Chief Growth Officer at AV Inc. (formerly AeroVironment), joins the show for a deep dive into the future of autonomous systems, directed energy, and defense innovation. A retired Army officer and longtime Hill staffer, Church brings an insider’s view of how national security priorities, procurement, and industrial competition with China are evolving.He shares how AV is doubling down on robotics, drones, and lasers following its merger with BlueHalo, and why the company’s investments

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70 results

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