How do systems operate when GPS disappears?
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.
W…
The Merge
by The Merge
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.
Latest Episodes
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.
How did they do it, what is their strategy, and does the math make sense?
In this episod…
What does it actually take to get new technology into thehands of warfighters—and why is it still so hard?
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 t…
All modern hardware depends on good software, but in theU.S. military, most software sucks.
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 …
This is the untold origin story of the Fury CollaborativeCombat Aircraft (CCA), as told by those who lived it.
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 Technologi…
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).
They play an important—but largely misunderstood role—in national security.
What better way to un…
Mike sits down with Matt Hawkins and Nick LaRovere,co-founders of Pryzm.
Pryzm is building an Operating System for defense innovation—software that uses AI to generate capture intel to make sense of Pentagon budgets, Congressional legislation, program offices, and much more.
It’s AI to understa…
Chris "Snooze" Kurek, Rob “Trip” Raymond, and Erik“EZ” Brine chat with Mike “Pako” Benitez on all things fighter pilot culture—toast, roast, and lore.
Better known as Dos Gringos, Snooze, and Trip put out 4albums of fighter pilot songs that are famous (and infamous) in squadrons around the world. EZ…
Chris "Snooze" Kurek, Rob “Trip” Raymond, and Erik“EZ” Brine chat with Mike “Pako” Benitez on all things fighter pilot culture—toast, roast, and lore.
Better known as Dos Gringos, Snooze and Trip put out 4 albums of fighter pilot songs that are famous (and infamous) in squadrons around the world. …
Nooks co-founder and CEO Sean Blackman spills all thesecrets about what it takes to do classified business with the Pentagon.
Nooks is a venture-backed startup founded in 2021 to solve amassive pain point: access to classified offices and networks to perform sensitive national security work.
No…
Red 6 CEO and co-founder Dan Robinson discusses augmented reality for pilots, the military metaverse, and the future of high-end training and tactics development.
Red 6 was founded in 2018 around a revolutionary approach to military flight training called ATARS—the Advanced Tactical Augmented Real…
Mike sits down with Steve “Wingie” Wingfield to discuss the Joint Direct Attack Munition, aka the JDAM—the world’s first operational GPS-aided bomb.
Wingie played a big role in the Air Force, doing weaponsflight testing and requirements writing, then went on to have another career at Boeing working …
In this episode, Mike sits down with Dan Jablonsky, CEO ofUrsa Major, to discuss solid rocket motors and how Ursa Major is doing it differently.
Once dominated by just two suppliers, America’s SRM propulsion base has been stretched thin—leaving gaps exposed by today’s conflicts.
Dan explains how Ur…
Electronic warfare is a crucial element of armed conflict involving controlling and protecting the electromagnetic spectrum, which is vital for communication, navigation, and target identification.
EW also permits the disruption and denial of adversaries' use of the spectrum, hindering their abilit…
In this episode, Mike and Jake catch up on defense techhappenings.
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00:36 intro
03:31 defense tech investing
17:25 Anduril & Golden Dome
18:1…
Tomorrow’s fight will be fast, complex, and contested. Victory won’t come from a single platform, weapon, or payload—it will depend on how well everything works together.
That’s where modeling and simulation (M&S) matters.
This week, Raytheon (an RTX company) joins us to discuss how they are leadin…
Don’t miss our newsletter!That's where we drop weekly knowledge bombs to help you make sense of defense!
In this episode, Mike sits down with Sheila Cummings,founder, president, and CEO of Cummings Aerospace.
Cummings Aero started in 2009 supporting the Huntsville,Alabama missile market, but re…
Joe “Grip” Beissner, Director of Requirements and Capabilities for Radio Frequency Solutions at Raytheon, a business of RTX, joins us to discuss the cutting-edge AESA radars Raytheon delivers for our warfighters.
Jon "Stormin" Norman, Vice President of Requirements & Capabilities at Raytheon, a business of RTX, joins us to discuss the cutting-edge air-to-air and -surface weapons and effectors Raytheon delivers for our warfighters.
Don’t miss our newsletter! That's where we drop weekly knowledge bombs to help you make sense of defense!
In this episode, Mike sits down with Brett “Snappy”Abbamonte, a former Marine Corps F-35 pilot now at Advanced Strategic Insight (ASI) Inc.
Snappy is the program manager for ELITE (Expendab…