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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 (themerge.co).
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E63 – The Merge Origin Story
It started with an email to 300 fighter pilots. 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 E
E62 – Rethinking Aircraft Maintenance with Perfect Point EDM
Buying a fighter jet is the cheap part. Mike sits down with Jim Becker (https://www.linkedin.com/in/jim-becker-48449790/), President and CEO of Perfect Point EDM, to talk about the biggest line in any defense program: keeping the fleet flyi
E61 – Rebuilding the Test Playbook with Nominal
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 infras
E60 – GPS-Free Navigation
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
E59 – Business Breakdown: Anduril
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 thei
E58 – Dcode the Pentagon Buying Machine
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 in
E57 – The War on Bad Software (Defense Unicorns)
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 int
E56 – The Fury Origin Story
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
E55 – Christine Fox: the REAL Charlie
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 misund
E54 – Pryzm: AI to understand the Pentagon
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 legislati
E53 – The Fighter Pilot Spirit
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
E53 – The Fighter Pilot Spirit
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
E52 – Top Secret Offices
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 n
E51 – Red 6 and the Military Metaverse
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
E50 – JDAM: the GPS-Guided Bomb
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 wri
E49 – Ursa Major Solid Rocket Motors
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—lea
The Future of Air Warfare: Offensive Electronic Attack (Sponsored)
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
E48 – Golden Dome, DIU, and the Innovation Reckoning
In this episode, Mike and Jake catch up on defense techhappenings. Links • Sign up for the newsletter (https://www.themerge.co/)! • Support us on Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/the_merge)! • Website (https://www.themerge.co/) ----
The Future of Air Warfare: Modeling & Simulation (Sponsored)
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, Raythe
E47 – Cumming's Hellhound
Don’t miss our newsletter! (https://www.themerge.co/)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. Cumm
The Future of Air Warfare: Radars (Sponsored)
Joe “Grip” Beissner, Director of Requirements and Capabilities for Radio Frequency Solutions at Raytheon (https://www.rtx.com/raytheon/what-we-do/air), a business of RTX, joins us to discuss the cutting-edge AESA radars Raytheon delivers fo
The Future of Air Warfare: Weapons (Sponsored)
Jon "Stormin" Norman, Vice President of Requirements & Capabilities at Raytheon (https://www.rtx.com/raytheon/what-we-do/air), a business of RTX, joins us to discuss the cutting-edge air-to-air and -surface weapons and effectors Raytheon de
E46 – Expendable Tech for F-35 Threat Training
Don’t miss our newsletter! (https://www.themerge.co/) 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 Advan
E45 – Operational War w/ John Warden
Don’t miss our newsletter! (https://www.themerge.co/) That's where we drop weekly knowledge bombs to help you make sense of defense! In this episode, Mike interviews retired Air Force Colonel John Warden. John is an Air Force pioneer who sh
E44 – Silent Arrow
Check out our newsletter (https://www.themerge.co/), where we drop weekly knowledge bombs to help you make sense of defense! In this episode, Mike interviews Chip Yates, founder of Yates Electrospace Corporation. With a background in racin
E43 – The Laser-Guided Bomb
Sign up for our newsletter (https://www.themerge.co/), where we drop weekly knowledge bombs to help you make sense of defense! Speaking of knowledge bombs, Mike hosts Ed Cobleigh to talk about Paveway: the laser-guided bomb. Ed flew 375 co
E42 – B-52 BUFF modernization
Don’t miss our newsletter! (https://www.themerge.co/) That's where we drop weekly knowledge bombs to help you make sense of defense! Mike hosts Col. Joseph Little, callsign “Little Joe,” to discuss how the US Air Force is modernizing the le
E41 – Firestorm
Don’t miss our newsletter! (https://www.themerge.co/) That's where we drop weekly knowledge bombs to help you make sense of defense! Mike and Jake host Dan Magy, co-founder and CEO of Firestorm. Firestorm’s mission is to democratize the air
E40 – Air Force Weapons Czar
Don’t miss our newsletter! (https://www.themerge.co/) That's where we drop weekly knowledge bombs to help you make sense of defense! Mike and Jake host Andrew Hunter, the US Air Force’s chief weapons buyer. As the Assistant Secretary of the
E39 – Anduril & General Atomics CCAs
Don’t miss our newsletter! (https://www.themerge.co/) That's where we drop weekly knowledge bombs to help you make sense of defense! Mike hosts an exclusive episode to discuss the Air Force’s Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) program with
