The Merge
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Military technology, trends, and national security...presented with unique insights, salt, and wit from combat aviator veterans and industry experts.
Fence in for interviews and anecdotes about the ins, outs, and happenings at the intersection of technology, industry, strategy, and policy of aerospace and national defense.
Brought to you by The Merge newsletter.
Afleveringen
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E64 – Autonomy Is a Software Problem
1 november 2026 · 39 min
The Pentagon wants thousands of autonomous systems. The question is who builds them and how fast. Lees meer
Joey Arora sits down with Paul Lwin, Co-Founder and CEO of Havoc, to talk about collaborative autonomy and why the path to mass runs through software, not shipyards.
Havoc builds autonomy software that turns commercial platforms into autonomous systems across sea, air, and land. Founded in January 2024, the company has integrated on more than 200 vessels without owning a single shipyard.
Paul's take is direct. Don't reinvent the boat. Partner with the people who already build thousands of them.
Topics include:
• Collaborative autonomy and human-on-the-loop control
• Software-defined hardware and the 90/10 split
• The CSBC Taiwan partnership and in-country production
• Operating without persistent comms
• Two acquisitions before the company's third birthday
• The Rhode Island maritime innovation cluster
• Moving from prototype to production contracts
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Links
• Sign up for the newsletter! https://www.themerge.co/
• Support us on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/the_merge
• Havoc homepage https://www.havocai.com/
• Paul LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-lwin/
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E63 – The Merge Origin Story
25 oktober 2026 · 18 min
It started with an email to 300 fighter pilots. Lees meer
Joey Arora turns the tables on Mike "Pako" Benitez to get the full origin story of The Merge.
Mike spent 25 years on active duty between the Marine Corps and Air Force, flew the F-15E Strike Eagle, and graduated from the Air Force Weapons School. During COVID in 2020, he saw the defense world had nothing like the newsletters the startup world lived on. So he built one.
Six years later, The Merge runs three days a week, with a premium tier and a podcast.
Topics include:
• Writing op-eds on active duty
• Marine Corps enlisted to Air Force weapons systems officer
• The first newsletter in November 2020
• How Save Rounds and On the Radar were born
• The three audiences Mike writes for
• Merge Premium and the Thursday deep dive
• From newsletter survey to podcast
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Links
Sign up for the newsletter! https://www.themerge.co/
Support us on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/the_merge
Mike LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/mike-benitez/
Joey LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/joeyarora/
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LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/themerge
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/merge_newsletter/
X https://x.com/MergeNewsletter
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/themergenews
Website https://www.themerge.co/
Chapters
00:39 intro
01:37 getting into writing
02:45 a newsletter for defense
03:26 the first email
04:12 fun as the driver
04:48 how "on the radar" started
05:37 Mike's military career
06:21 Marine Corps to Strike Eagle
07:26 why it's called The Merge
08:35 editorial philosophy
09:33 the birth of Save Rounds
10:04 the three audiences
12:23 Merge Premium
14:51 the sixth anniversary
15:27 why the podcast exists
16:45 what's next
17:32 outro
#defensetech #podcast #military #newsletter #originstory #airforce #marinecorps #nationalsecurity #defenseindustry #f15e #strikeeagle #veteranfounders #militaryt…
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E62 – Rethinking Aircraft Maintenance with Perfect Point EDM
4 oktober 2026 · 27 min
Buying a fighter jet is the cheap part. Lees meer
Mike sits down with Jim Becker, President and CEO of Perfect Point EDM, to talk about the biggest line in any defense program: keeping the fleet flying.
Perfect Point builds the E-Drill, which uses electro discharge machining (EDM) to pull aircraft fasteners. Founded in 2005, it turned a lab curiosity into a fielded tool that removes a rivet in about 30 seconds instead of 10 minutes, with no debris and almost no rework.
Jim's take is blunt. The aircraft modernized, the maintenance tooling did not, and the industry keeps papering over it by leaning on a shrinking pool of skilled mechanics.
Topics include:
Operations and maintenance as the biggest cost in a program
Electro discharge machining applied to fastener removal
Cutting a 10 minute rivet job down to 30 seconds
Eliminating foreign object debris and rework on titanium airframes
Why maintenance tooling never modernized
Winning over risk-averse engineers with the material science case
The shrinking pool of skilled aircraft mechanics
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Links
Sign up for the newsletter! https://www.themerge.co/
Support us on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/the_merge
Perfect Point EDM homepage https://www.ppedm.com/
Perfect Point EDM LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/perfect-point-edm/
Jim LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/jim-becker-48449790/
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Website https://www.themerge.co/
Chapters
00:00
00:28 intro
02:06 the MRO space
02:53 the founding story
04:38 from the Marine Corps to Boeing
06:10 framing the rivet problem
07:01 tooling stuck in the 60s
07:43 titanium and steel fasteners
08:54 no FOD, no mess
09:46 the three step process
10:27 four to five times faster
10:49 killing t…
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E61 – Rebuilding the Test Playbook with Nominal
30 augustus 2026 · 37 min
Test is where new military hardware goes to wait. Lees meer
Mike sits down with Jenn Wilson, Head of Federal at Nominal, to talk about test and evaluation, the least glamorous gate between a program and the warfighter.
Nominal builds test data infrastructure for hardware. Founded in 2022 by Anduril, Palantir, and Lockheed Martin alumni, it reached a $1 billion valuation in March.
Jenn’s take is that acceleration comes from optimizing what you test for. Cutting test points is the wrong lever.
Topics include:
Test and evaluation as a mission enabler
High rate, multimodal test data
Real-time telemetry and closing the test loop
DARPA CIPHER Forge and digital twins
Closing the sim to real gap
The F-35 crowdsourced flight data program
Knowledge parity between primes and government testers
Links
Sign up for the newsletter! https://www.themerge.co/
Support us on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/the_merge
Nominal homepage https://nominal.io/
Nominal careers https://nominal.io/careers
Nominal LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/nominal-inc/
Jenn LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifer-t-wilson
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Instagram https://www.instagram.com/merge_newsletter/
X https://x.com/MergeNewsletter
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Website https://www.themerge.co/
Chapters:
00:00
00:32 intro
01:47 why this, why now
02:32 test is not sexy
03:47 test as an afterthought
05:40 more data, less insight
07:18 where the name comes from
07:54 the founding story
10:43 Mike is a user
11:16 streaming telemetry in real time
13:14 design of experiments
15:17 the Fid Labs acquisition
16:31 DARPA CIPHER Forge
19:35 closing the sim to real gap
20:21 the commercial side
23:31 lessons from Ukraine
25:00 F-35 crowdsourced flight data
27:15 fleet bugs found in days
29:07 combined test force
31:50 experimental operations unit
32:34 speeding up test
33:09 the pilot taking fire
34:21 knowled…
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E60 – GPS-Free Navigation
12 juli 2026 · 44 min
How do systems operate when GPS disappears? Lees meer
Mike sits down with Kara Kramer, Vice President ofRaptor Sales at Vantor (formerly Maxar Intelligence), to discuss one of the most important challenges facing modern autonomous systems: operating when GPS is jammed, spoofed, or completely unavailable.
We discuss vision-based navigation (VBN), 3D geospatialintelligence, and why resilient autonomy depends on more than just the drone itself. From electronic warfare to contested operations, this conversation examines how software and spatial intelligence are enabling unmanned operations, and Vantor’s unique approach.
This isn’t just about navigation—coordinate generation and targeting elements are equally important.
Topics include:
• Vision-based navigation
• 3D geospatial intelligence
• Targeting without GPS
BONUS: Kara also shares her professional journey and how she got into the defense industry!
Whether you're building autonomous systems, working indefense technology, or simply interested in where drone technology is headed, this episode provides an inside look at one of the fastest-moving areas in aerospace.
TOGETHER WITH VANTOR.
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Links
• Sign up for the newsletter!
• Support us on Patreon!
• Vantor home page
• Vantor Raptor product page
• Raptor inquiries
• Vantor on LinkedIn
• Kara Kramer on LinkedIn
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00:00
00:01:11 intro
00:01:54 Vantor history
00:03:26 Raptor origins
00:03:59 Vantor backstory
00:05:39 The SpaceX of VBN
00:06:32 Raptor VBN
00:10:11 issues with GPS
00:12:44 pre-GPS terrain nav
00:13:46 the Hub
00:15:20 no hardware?
00:17:57 how it all works
00:20:47 geo-registered coordinates
00:26:27 Kara's journey in defense
00:28:24 Vantor in Drone Dominance
00:35:19 Vantor partnerships
00:39:02 contrarian takes
00:40:37 fast cheap good triangle
00:42:01 final thoug…
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E59 – Business Breakdown: Anduril
4 juni 2026 · 43 min
Anduril Industries raised $5 billion at a reported $61billion valuation—putting a nine-year-old defense tech company in the same conversation as legacy primes that have been building weapons for generations. Lees meer
How did they do it, what is their strategy, and does the math make sense?
In this episode, Mike and Matthew take a deep dive inside Anduril’s products, revenue, contracts, and business strategy. They break down the Series H raise, the company’s rapid valuation climb, the difference between contract ceilings and booked revenue, and why visible federal obligations onlytell part of the story.
They also examine Anduril’s expanding product portfolio, anddebate the core question behind the company’s $61B price tag: Is Anduril the future of defense industrial production, or is the market pricing in near-flawless execution?
Topics include:
- Anduril’s $5B Series H and $61B valuation
- The gap between reported revenue and visible federalobligations
- Why Special Operations and the Border Patrol matter morethan most people realize
- The $20B Army enterprise vehicle—and why it is a rail, not acheck
- Barracuda, Fury, Arsenal-1, and hyperscale defensemanufacturing
- How Anduril compares to Lockheed, Northrop, GeneralDynamics, RTX, and Palantir
- The bull and bear case for Anduril’s long-term strategy
- What to watch next: IPO timing, task orders, deliveries, andrevenue growth
- The real bet: for Anduril to justify today’s valuation, ithas to grow from a $2B revenue company into a $20B+ revenue company very quickly.
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00:00
00:34 intro
01:20 Premium newsletter!
02:10 Anduril intro
02:26 Matthrew intro
04:32 Anduril 101
06:52 Anduril's fundraising
07:25 the next 24 months
07:38 revenue breakdown
08:23 happenings between the r…
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E58 – Dcode the Pentagon Buying Machine
26 april 2026 · 51 min
What does it actually take to get new technology into thehands of warfighters—and why is it still so hard? Lees meer
In this episode, Mike sits down with the co-founders ofDcode, Meagan Metzger and Meg Vorland, to unpack the reality behind defense innovation, acquisition reform, and the flow of capital into the sector.
Dcode operates at a unique intersection—working withstartups, investors, and the Pentagon—giving them a rare, inside-out view of how the system really works.
We break down why most acquisition reform efforts fallshort, whether recent policy changes are hitting the right targets, and what conventional wisdom in defense innovation is simply wrong.
If you’re trying to understand how defense actually getsbuilt, funded, and fielded—this is the inside baseball.
Links
• Sign up for the newsletter!
• Support us on Patreon!
• Dcode website
• Dcode Capital portfolio
• Dcode LinkedIn
• Meagan Metzger LinkedIn
• Meg Vorland LinkedIn
• CTRL + ALT + DEFENSE podcast
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00:00
00:44 intro
01:19 Dcode origin story
04:55 founders, funders, and fighters
09:27 acquisition reform
12:32 risk vs the no-monster
15:58 buying speed vs rigor
16:44 contracting officer shortage
17:55 bigger worse contracts
21:04 defense catalyst
21:57 leadership and training
23:05 the bigger picture
25:33 budget line-item consolidation
28:16 pass a budget
30:41 investing in companies
36:05 misconceptions
38:28 colors and fallout
39:33 conflicts of interest
41:03 RAIC
41:30 300
42:12 pilot programs
46:42 fielding
47:29 magic wand
48:49 crystal ball
50:19 outro
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E57 – The War on Bad Software (Defense Unicorns)
28 maart 2026 · 42 min
All modern hardware depends on good software, but in theU.S. military, most software sucks. Lees meer
Rob Slaughter, co-founder and CEO of Defense Unicorns, joins the show to unpack why this is happening and what they are doing to fix it.
We dive into the rise of “software as a weapon system,” therole of open-source software in national security, and how Defense Unicorns is building an air-gapped, platform-agnostic software delivery model designed for real-world military environments.
This episode is a must for anyone in defense. You’ll learn a ton about software—we guarantee!
Links
• Sign up for the newsletter!
• Support us on Patreon!
• Rob LinkedIn
• Defense Unicorns website
• Defense Unicorns LinkedIn
• Defense Unicorns X
• Defense Unicorns YouTube
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00:00
00:43 intro
01:09 Defense Unicorns name
04:28 origin story
06:38 the 3 I's
08:46 software sustainment burden
09:13 wrong incentive structure
12:31 software as a weapon system
14:39 rising tech debt
16:18 open source
18:46 open is more secure?
20:43 SBOM
22:24 solutions
23:05 fighter jet software updates
24:43 submarine software
25:52 UDS
27:05 disconnected software
28:34 Chinese software underneath US systems
30:48 competition
33:43 crystal ball
35:15 $136M fundraise
37:56 magic wand - fixed price contracts
40:14 McDonald's ice cream
#AI #Technology #Tech #Innovation #Cybersecurity #youtube #Military #DefenseTech #MilitaryTech #Startup #Software #Business
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E56 – The Fury Origin Story
1 februari 2026 · 54 min
This is the untold origin story of the Fury CollaborativeCombat Aircraft (CCA), as told by those who lived it. Lees meer
Scott Bledsoe and Joe Murray join Mike to talk about Fury’s very beginning—way back to 2016.
Now known as Anduril’s YFQ-44, Fury originated as an SBIR project from Blue Force Technologies and may go on to become a poster child of SBIR success stories. But it’s not all good news.
The experience—and the decision to sell to Anduril—motivated Scott and Joe to start a new type of investment fund called the DoD Accelerator.
DoD Accelerator bridges the gap between venture capital and private equity, addressing the ‘funding valley of death’ they faced and the factors that led to the decision to sell their company—and Fury—to Anduril.
This is packed with never-before-revealed details and serves as the backdrop for a broader conversation about the realities of having a company in the defense industry.
Links
• Sign up for the newsletter!
• Support us on Patreon!
• Scott Bledsoe
• Joe Murray
• WOTR High-Low Mix Part I
• WOTR High-Low Mix Part II
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00:00
00:26 intro
01:50 Scott and Joe
07:21 DoD Accelerator
09:51 Fury origin story
11:24 SBIR
16:28 the high-low mix
17:11 writing to understand
18:29 F-117
19:04 no part 3
19:41 red air use-case
24:29 Bandit and ADAIR-UX
25:10 funding and the valley of death
28:04 the capital void
31:11 programs consolidate
32:28 Anduril acquisition
33:37 the small business divide
34:14 DoD Accelerator fit
36:12 Baxter Aerospace example
41:19 the cheat code
44:26 crystal ball
45:17 the prime cartel?
46:32 magic wand - IR&D policy change
49:10 policy hurts start-ups
52:51 DoD Accelerator focus areas
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E55 – Christine Fox: the REAL Charlie
18 januari 2026 · 42 min
There is a strange set of organizations that live betweenindustry and government called Federally Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDCs) and University Affiliated Research Centers (UARCs). Lees meer
They play an important—but largely misunderstood role—in national security.
What better way to understand it all than with a guest who’sone of the most famous pop-culture examples: Christine Fox.
She was the real person who was portrayed as ‘Charlie’,Maverick’s civilian love interest, in Top Gun! She spent 40+ years working as an analyst in UARCs and a civilian leader at the Pentagon, culminating in serving as the acting Deputy Secretary of Defense.
Today, she continues to serve as a Fellow at Johns HopkinsUniversity’s Applied Physics Lab (JHU APL), which is the nation’s largest UARC.
This interview has a ton of inside baseball that you won’t find anywhere else!
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00:00 intro
00:35 Top Gun
01:33 Christine Fox
02:53 origin of FFRFC & UARC
05:36 access to classified info
08:30 tech transfer
11:33 independence
14:42 threat analysis story
16:35 misunderstandings
20:29 software and competition
24:32 fix the gray
27:11 what if they disappear?
27:39 Navy Red Sea support
28:29 hypersonics
30:08 Golden Dome
31:01 whole of nation approach
38:20 2026 resolutions
39:42 closing remarks
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- Categorieën
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- Elke maand
- Lengte
- Meestal 45 min
- Afleveringen
- 62
- Eerste aflevering
- 24 november 2022
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