Alle afleveringen
69 afleveringen, van nieuw naar oud
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E19 – Seagliders: The Next Innovation in Mobility
12 november 2023 · 41 min
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Mike and Jake host REGENT Co-founder & CEO Billy Thalheimer
to discuss Wing-In-Ground-effect (WIG) vehicles. Why do they refer to them as seagliders? What is the science and technology that makes them work? Why is there no pilot? Why is the Marine Corps is interested? Tune in for answers!For those interested in #military #technology #strategy #innovation #business #transportion
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Show Notes
(01:12) intro
(03:11) What are WIGs
(07:43) Flown by a captain?
(10:52) full scale mockup
(14:30) $60M Series A fundraise
(16:35) Marine Corps application
(22:03) electric vehicles in a Pacific fight?
(24:30) building a strong board of advisors
(25:57) certification and safety
(31:10) scale
(34:30) dual-use development
(36:14) Coast Guard interest?
(37:26) Why Rhode Island?
(40:15) outro
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E18 – NEWS: Israel, Congress, $1B defense tech bet, & more
29 oktober 2023 · 1 uur 10 min
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Mike, Jake, and Tim reunite to discuss the latest defense-related
news and happenings: Israel at war, Congress elects a Speaker, growing support for the $1B tech hedge against China, and how innovation really works.For those interested in #military #technology #strategy
#china #israel #innovation----
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• Mike Benitez LinkedIn
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Show Notes
(00:40 ) intro
(01:37) Israel/Gaza War
(33:07) Congress – the House gets a new Speaker
(44:30) the $1B defense tech hedge
(51:49) how innovation happens
(59:36) Air Force STRATFI-TACFI
(1:09:08) outro
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E17 – HTX Labs
1 oktober 2023 · 45 min
Mike Benitez hosts Scott Schneider, CEO of HTX Labs, to discuss
the future of learning. Hear about how a small startup pivoted into working with the Air Force and how they’ve used immersive learning in XR to change the way the Air Force trains aircraft maintainers and pilots. Lees meerFor those who like #military #technology #aviation #airforce
#learning #training #XR #VR----
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• HTX Labs email: collaborate@htxlabs.com
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Show Notes
(00:53) intro
(01:54) HTX Labs origin story
(05:22) what is XR
(07:10) EMPACT
(10:57) VR and Air Force pilot training
(13:58) the “aha” moment
(16:52) Pilot Training Next
(21:15) Crew chiefs and maintainers
(23:23) ATO/cybersecurity
(24:59) working with the Pentagon
(26:35) the importance of a contract vehicle
(33:10) SBIR story
(38:45) questions to ask XR/VR vendors
(44:13) outro
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E16 – Foreign Relations & China
3 september 2023 · 54 min
Former Australian diplomat John Fowler joins Mike Benitez to
unpack international relations. What is it? Why does it matter? Why is China
being so ambitious? What are they doing in South America? How’s a Taiwan invasion looking? All that and more! Lees meerFor those who like #military #technology #strategy #diplomacy
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• Mike Benitez LinkedIn
• International Intrigue newsletter
• @intintrigue X
• Taiwan Policy Act of 2022
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Show Notes
(01:28) intro
(04:35) what is diplomacy?
(09:31) military connection
(13:27) Monroe Doctrine
(21:19) Changing view on China
(22:52) Belt & Road Initiative
(26:54) BRI in Latin America
(30:34) Davidson Window
(33:52) Ukraine’s impact on China
(43:18) Impact of decoupling chip industry
(46:26) US policy on Taiwan
(52:00) outro
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E15 – Space Drugs & Hypersonics
13 augustus 2023 · 52 min
Mike and Jake host Varda Delian Asparouhov, Founders Fund
partner and co-founder of Varda Space Industries, to talk about venture capital investing, Varda’s efforts to make drugs in space, and why the Air Force is interested in using their orbiting pharmaceutical lab to help test hypersonic weapons. Lees meerFor those who like #military #technology #airforce #aviation #aerospace #space
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• Jake Chapman X (Twitter)
• Delian Asparouhov X (Twitter)
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Show Notes
(00:47) intro
(05:00) Varda’s connection to Palantir and Anduril
(06:22) Varda’s origin story
(08:58) how to find a co-founder
(11:42) why drugs
(13:23) naming the company
(15:39) the space capsule
(17:08) Falcon 9 launched into space
(19:00) why Ritonavir
(22:19) patent a space drug?
(26:47) stuck in orbit?
(28:27) how it comes back to Earth
(30:20) how the Air Force became a customer
(33:40) China’s hypersonic news
(34:23) Varda’s Air Force STRATFI contract
(37:14) Varda’s mission
(39:17) Silicon Valley and Congress
(42:48) Defense tech investing
(47:31) lightning round
(56:00) outro
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E14 – F-35 Fighter Jet Engine War
23 juli 2023 · 59 min
Mike brings Matt back on the show to help unpack the raging debate about which engine should power the F-35 fighter jet into the future. This episode covers all the details about the technology at the center of the debate, as well as the politics, history, and strategy in play. Fence in for some education and entertainment! Lees meer
For those who like #military #technology #airforce #aviation
#aerospace----
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• Matt MacGregor LinkedIn
• Pete & Matt’s Defense Acquisition Substack
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Show Notes
(00:44) intro
(02:15) the F-35 engine problem
(06:33) power & cooling
(08:38) cooling
(14:29) the 2 engine choices
(14:48) option 1: engine core upgrade
(19:32) sharks with lasers
(22:38) option 2: new adaptive engine
(33:16) adaptive engine history with the F-22
(35:12) 20 years of bad blood
(40:47) the feud goes public
(47:17) Congress weighs in
(49:26) impacts on industry
(50:36) 6th gen fighter engine program
(53:55) Mike's spicy take
(57:42) outro
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E13 – The Defense Budget: too much or too little?
25 juni 2023 · 1 uur 3 min
Mike, Jake, and Tim break down how the US military spends $850+ BILLION PER YEAR. Where does it all go? Who gets what? What are the trends to track? Is it too much money…or not enough? Tune in to find out. We'll make you smart on the defense budget—we guarantee it. Lees meer
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Show Notes
(00:30) intro
(02:39) joke time
(04:24) Jon Stewart’s interview
(05:54) the budget basics
(08:19) slices of the pie, by branch
(11:49) slices of the pie, by use
(12:47) RDT&E slice
(17:21) procurement slice
(26:37) personnel slice
(36:00) O&M slice
(37:10) Why O&M is so high
(39:10) innovation in production
(43:51) how much is enough? Toplines
(46:37) GDP
(51:25) NATO GDP
(54:16) balancing the budget
(56:32) defense vs. non-defense
(59:48) sequestration lessons not learned
( 1:02:17) outro
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E12 – How the Military Predicts the Future
4 juni 2023 · 1 uur 21 min
Mike hosts Air Force Colonel Don “Stryker” Haley to talk about how the US military predicts the future. Learn about how future concepts are created and war-gamed, and how that determines which technology should be prioritized for development to solve the right problems. Lees meer
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* Don “Stryker” Haley on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/don-stryker-haley/
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Show Notes
(00:44) intro
(04:32) setting the stage
(09:16) 2018 NDS
(12:06) JWC 1.0
(16:10) what wargames are for
(19:20) JWC 2.0 and Integrated Deterrence
(19:40) 4 functional battles – CJADC2
(23:17) JWC 3.0
(24:04) the problem with near-term wargaming
(26:27) Top Secret
(28:13) who looks at the future
(31:36) wargaming
(32:19) white/blue/red teams
(40:59) what operators get wrong
(45:10) a blitz may be a mistake
(47:30) Globally Integrated Wargames (GIWG)
(48:33) lots of secrets
(54:01) learning no one’s in charge
(57:17) what happens after wargaming
(1:00:46) the budgeting realities
(1:02:36) Agile Combat Employment (ACE)
(1:08:34) cruise missiles from cargo planes
(1:15:12) AI-powered drones (CCAs)
(1:19:13) outro
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#wargame, #wargames #airforcefutures #jointwarfighting #airforce #militaryplanning #militarytechnology #china #CCA #rapiddragon #collaborativecombataircraft #nationalsecurity #drones #cruisemissile #military #usmilitary #pentagon# strategy #technology #mil tech #military tech #airforce #air force #army #navy # marine corps #secrets
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E11 – Lockheed Martin Ventures
14 mei 2023 · 1 uur
Mike and Jake chat with Chris Moran, VP and General Manager of Lockheed Martin Ventures, for an inside look into why the world’s largest defense company invests hundreds of millions of dollars into tech startup companies. Lees meer
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* Lockheed Martin Ventures https://www.lockheedmartin.com/en-us/who-we-are/lockheed-martin-ventures.html
* Machina Labs https://www.machinalabs.ai/
* Norm Augustine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_R._Augustine
* Augustine’s laws https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augustine%27s_laws
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Show Notes
(01:03) intro
(03:08) icebreaker
(04:59) how Chris got into defense
(07:35) how Chris got into defense finance
(11:52) VC 101
(12:21) Lockheed’s investment track record
(14:32) how to exit an investment
(19:10) quantum use-cases
(20:30) Machina Labs
(23:02) investment tension
(25:11) times have changed
(32:20) dual-use hedge
(38:15) Lockheed Martin CEOs
(41:46) Kelly Johnson
(48:16) magic wand
(49:51) what everyone gets wrong about innovation
(52:17) graveyard of eVTOL companies
(55:13) lightning round
(58:45) outro
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E10 – Unmanned Fighter Drones
30 april 2023 · 54 min
Mike and Tim chat with Andrew “Scar” Van Timmeren from Blue Force Technologies to hear about their experience in the defense tech sector and how they are trying to punch above their weight class—by building an unmanned fighter jet drone. Lees meer
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* Blue Force Technologies https://blueforcetech.com/
* Scar’s LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewvt/
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Show Notes
(01:05) intro
(03:03) Scar intro
(05:52) BFT
(13:01) spicy take on digital engineering
(15:28) BFT's SBIR experience
(24:56) funding gaps
(25:47) valley of death
(34:47) end user vs. customer are not the same
(36:18) Fury
(37:35) practice squads
(43:27) mission-specific vs multi-role engineering
(46:30) autonomy and atrophy
(48:28) speed of business vs govt
(50:10) the ask – security and over-classification
(52:03) Mike's spicy take
(52:55) outro
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E9 – Tech Happenings
9 april 2023 · 59 min
Mike, Jake, and Tim reunite to catch up on three tech topics: the SVB bank run, national security concerns with TikTok, and the latest with generative AI. Lees meer
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* Ask Sage (GPT for US govt CUI data) https://www.asksage.ai
* Creating a task-driven autonomous agent using GPT4 https://yoheinakajima.com/task-driven-autonomous-agent-utilizing-gpt-4-pinecone-and-langchain-for-diverse-applications
* Jake’s AI book recommendation (Daemon, by Daniel Suarez): https://www.amazon.com/DAEMON-Daemon-Daniel-Suarez/dp/0451228731
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Show Notes
(00:31) intro
(1:25) Jake’s SVB steak dinner
(2:00) SVB bank run
(4:51) SVB and national security
(16:57) TikTok
(19:46) the upside of TikTok
(23:56) TikTok's algorithm after the hearing
(27:18) TikTok's big China problem
(34:08) The Restrict Act
(39:33) Generative AI
(41:08) BingAI vs ChatGPT
(43:53) AI story time
(44:55) Ask Sage
(49:18) ChatGPT for legal help
(58:42) outro
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E8 - Leading the Blue Angels & Thunderbirds
19 maart 2023 · 1 uur 16 min
Mike joins forces with The Afterburn Podcast’s John “Rain” Waters to co-host an epic interview with the Commander of the Air Force Thunderbirds AND the Executive Officer of the Navy Blue Angels. We go behind the scenes with both teams to learn about leadership, flying, teamwork in a way you’ve never heard before. Lees meer
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* The Afterburn Podcast https://www.theafterburnpodcast.com/
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Show Notes
(01:20) intro
(2:45) icebreaker
(10:06) sitting in the same room
(12:53) learning from each other
(13:55) T-birds rough period
(14:47) sometimes you can see culture
(15:40) cultural waves in the two teams
(16:36) the T-birds T-38 cultural era
(19:02) President Carter’s Crisis of Confidence
(26:02) Blue’s “glad to be here” culture
(27:59) how tough is the flying?
(29:44) there is no off-season
(33:37) team dynamics of an exemplar squadron
(35:08) The T-birds’ hangar
(36:27) contagious culture of excellence
(36:42) Agile Combat Employment
(37:27) Blue Angels' hangar
(39:57) how they travel
(43:28) authority and trust are key
(45:19) Fat Albert
(46:12) Van Halen M&Ms
(47:15) they’ve never canceled due to maintenance
(48:47) Angels on arrival
(50:01) debrief culture
(50:52) Fat Albert JATO
(52:18) Top Gun Maverick
(54:10) new Super Hornets
(57:30) T-Birds’ tricks to flying that good
(1:03:00) Angels’ tricks to flying that good
(1:04:43) counting feathers
(1:06:17) aiming to crash
(1:07:57) most memorable experience on the teams
(1:08:59) Chris Darnell
(1:14:12) outro
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E7 - Ukraine: 1 Year Later
24 februari 2023 · 45 min
Mike “Starbaby” Pietrucha joins Mike and Jake to talk about Ukraine on the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion. Hear about how it all happened, where the war stands today, what matters now, and what the future looks like for peace. Lees meer
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* NAFO https://nafo-ofan.org/
* Saint Javelin https://www.saintjavelin.com/
* Sign My Rocket https://signmyrocket.com/
* Amateur Hour Part II: https://warontherocks.com/2022/08/amateur-hour-part-ii-failing-the-air-campaign/
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Show Notes
(00:50) intro
(2:28) Starbaby becomes an expert
(3:51) the real invasion start
(9:03) why did Putin invade?
(12:14) Nazis?
(15:20) torture
(17:07) weather stalemate
(18:42) climate change?
(20:26) NAFO and the internet campaigns
(22:26) sponsor suicide boats
(23:05) foreign aid
(25:17) a lab to observe
(29:25) ground-launched SDB
(31:12) ATACMS
(31:44) Kerch Bridge
(33:22) logistics
(34:15) Russia’s inability to fight a war
(36:26) China is watching
(37:23) what does peace look like?
(41:23) Ukrainian’s take on peace
(44:25) outro
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E6 - Hypersonic Airplanes
12 februari 2023 · 1 uur 1 min
Hermeus CEO AJ Piplica joins us to talk about the hypersonic airplanes they’re building, breaking the SR-71 speed record, their go-to-market strategy, the parallels to Top Gun Maverick, and a ton of other stuff. Lees meer
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* AJ LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/ajpiplica/
* AJ Twitter https://twitter.com/AJ_Piplica
* Hermeus https://www.hermeus.com/
* Hermeus Twitter https://twitter.com/HermeusCorp
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Show Notes
(00:57) intro
(5:45) AJ’s origin story
(7:25) how old were you?
(8:24) not a space person
(10:11) sequestration
(10:48) missiles to aircraft
(12:41) Monospony the board game
(13:12) Raising money the right way
(15:04) the name?
(16:42) how Hermeus was funded
(18:33) AJ loves our ChatGPT rap song
(19:16) AJ's spicy take on defense profits
(22:06) climbing the food chain
(23:14) using a T-38 engine to go Mach 4
(24:08) Top Gun Maverick
(25:52) Quarterhorse
(28:52) breaking the SR-71 speed record
(31:04) Darkhorse
(33:41) avoiding the Valley of Death
(40:09) lobbying is the price of entry
(41:22) AJ's Christmas Tree
(46:05) why do it at all?
(49:00) Hermeus has one competitor
(51:28) Halcyon
(55:51) how the Pentagon prices things
(59:52) outro
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E5 - Military Tech Spending is Broken
29 januari 2023 · 1 uur 17 min
Merge Podcast Episode 5: Mike, Jake, and Tim pick apart some op-eds about military spending for research and development spending, innovation, and why the military sucks at getting tech to the warfighter. They also catch up on the news about grounded airplanes with NOTAM crash, ponder the legalisms of having secrets in a garage, and end with a discussion on some AI tools—and a surprise. Lees meer
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* Op-Ed 1: https://warontherocks.com/2023/01/leveraging-u-s-capital-markets-to-support-the-future-industrial-network/
* Op-Ed 2: https://news.bloomberglaw.com/federal-contracting/why-dod-should-get-out-of-the-r-d-business-mislav-tolusic
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Show Notes
(1:00) intro
(2:03) op-ed 1 – $$
(13:39) lab to field challenges
(15:55) IP
(17:10) cemented culture
(18:56) misaligned incentives
(20:11) op-ed 2 - defund R&D
(22:37) innovation time horizons
(23:36) proportion investing in R&D vs procurement
(25:07) Mike’s spicy take on R&D spending
(29:30) Tim on transitioning tech
(32:50) Congress spending cuts
(37:42) cut the Pentagon
(40:20) – how a bill becomes a law
(41:37) the deficit is a national security challenge
(42:39) NOTAMs down!
(47:34) Mike goes down a NOTAM rabbit hole
(47:55) military NOTAM website
(50:40) classified papers by a corvette
(59:01) ChatGPT or other AI news
(1:13:28) a rap song
(1:15:48) outro
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E4 - How the Pentagon Buys Stuff
15 januari 2023 · 1 uur 26 min
Mike hosts defense acquisition experts Eric Lofgren and Matt MacGregor to better understand just how hard it is for the US military to buy stuff. We also discuss a shortcut called a Middle Tier Acquisition (MTA), along with some examples you’ve probably heard of: B-52 engines, F-15EX fighter jets, and hypersonic missiles. Lees meer
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* Eric contact https://www.linkedin.com/in/elofgren/
* Eric’s Acquisition Talk https://acquisitiontalk.com
* Matt contact https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-macgregor77/
* Matt’s op-ed https://www.defenseone.com/ideas/2022/09/get-know-middle-tier-awesomeer-acquisition/377017/
* Pentagon Wars (full movie) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ir0FAa8P2MU
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Show Notes
(1:00) intro
(4:12) overview
(5:06) monopsony
(6:58) requirements
(9:04) Pentagon Wars
(20:45) acquisition strategy
(23:44) “joint”
(31:58) how much does it cost?
(35:38) the budget
(37:11) the PPBE
(43:06) what is the NDAA?
(45:38) what is an MTA?
(53:15) MTA examples
(53:27) B-52 engines
(1:01:00) IVAS (Army AR headset)
(1:05:06) F-15EX
(1:11:05) F-22 Link-16 and IRST
(1:11:50) ARRW (hypersonic)
(1:17:44) story time
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E3 - Nukes, Fusion, & ChatGPT
1 januari 2023 · 55 min
Mike Benitez is back with Jake Chapman and Tim Nolan to discuss Russian nukes in the news, a breakthrough in fusion, TikTok, and all things ChatGPT. Tim cheats on a pop quiz in real time, Mike discovers Jake’s secret past, and Jake opines on the value of a future PutinGPT.
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* Tim’s nuke article https://www.the-sun.com/news/6911324/putin-readies-nuke-launch-missile/
* ChatGPT https://chat.openai.com/chat
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Show Notes
(00:30) Intro
(1:24) Russia nuke news
(3:23) details don’t matter
(9:00) we finally read the article
(11:34) missile sponge
(14:18) pop quiz
(15:03) Tim explains fission
(16:55) Tim share’s his secret
(17:46) The best segway
(18:26) fusion in the news
(26:38) the next best segway
(28:32) Mike share’s his secret
(29:23) ChatGPT
(37:15) PutinGPT
(41:10) ChatGPT comments
(42:06) TikTok
(45:36) Jake’s TikTok spicy take
(49:02) You were a lawyer?!
(51:00) How to ban tiktok?
(53:32) ChatGPT writes the outro Lees meer -
E2 - Red Air
17 december 2022 · 1 uur 17 min
Host Mike Benitez brings the spirit of the Merge in a full court press to discuss Adversary Air—aka Red Air—in a way you’ve never heard. It’s an entertaining journey through the history, policy, technology, strategy, industry, and business of Red Air. Lees meer
Today’s guests:
* Kevin “Shaggy” Wilson
* Ryan “Stinger” Fishel
* Andrew “Scar” Van Timmeren
* Jeff “Vader” Brandon
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Links
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* Support us on Patreon
* Shaggy - Top Aces
* Scar - Blue Force Technology
* Vader - Kodiak Shack Podcast
* Stinger’s F-117 article: Train Like You Fight
* Jared Isaacman’s MiG-29
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* Website
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Show Notes
(1:28) – Guest Intros
(4:23) – What is adversary air?
(13:15) – the industry
(15:25) – Congress gets involved
(18:54) – how’s it going now (industry)
(22:46) – how’s it going now (fighter pilot)
(34:05) – Top Aces buys F-16s
(39:30) – F-117 red air
(47:08) – adversary drones
(52:07) – the cost of self-supporting adversaries
(55:21) – training is deterrence
(56:18) – training modernization
(1:04:27) – story time
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E1 - A Star is Born!
24 november 2022 · 52 min
Episode 1: A Star is Born! After too many excuses, the Merge newsletter’s Mike Benitez launches the inaugural Merge podcast! Co-hosting duties are shared with Jake Chapman (@VC) and Tim Nolan (@NatSecTim). In this episode, we talk about 3 things the newsletter has never covered in its 2-year existence: venture capital, TikTok, and American Dynamism. Lees meer
Show Notes:
(00:30) – the world’s most okayist defense podcast
(1:02) – Co-host intros
(3:58) – What is venture capital
(20:49) – Jake and the Army Venture Capital Corporation
(26:20 ) – TikTok and national security
(39:16) – WTH is ‘American Dynamisn’
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https://www.themerge.co/
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https://www.patreon.com/the_merge