The Merge

Test is where new military hardware goes to wait.
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
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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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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 knowledge parity with the primes
35:18 a billion dollar valuation
36:03 hiring at Nominal
#defensetech #podcast #military #testandevaluation #flighttest #digitaltwins #darpa #f35 #autonomy #nationalsecurity #airforce #dualuse #militarytechnology

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.

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
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• 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 thoughts
 
#defensetech #dronetechnology #autonomy #gps #jamming #electronicwarfare #uas #drones #militarytechnology #geospatial #navigation #navigation #pnt #isr #aerospace #defenseinnovation #nationalsecurity #intelligence #intel #military

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 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 raises
14:10 last 5 years of sales
15:47 counter-UAS
18:22 Steve vs Steve approach
19:14 C-UAS durability?
21:04 Altius
21:52 comparing valuations
23:21 sources of new revenue
23:33 Barracuda
24:08 CCA program
27:28 Lattice
28:20 Eagle Eye
31:18 Golden Dome
35:08 Anduril's strategy
38:53 next acquisition?
41:25 wrap-up

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 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

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 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
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• 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