Rachel spent 30 years in the U.S. Navy and now leads The FORGE at UC San Diego, an initiative that bridges academia, industry and government to strengthen the regional defense industrial base. 

She's a central figure in the Southern California defense innovation community — leading the Innovating for National Security (i4NS) program, Defense
Innovation Community of Entities (DICE) Alliance and the Five Eyes Defense Innovation Alliance. 

Her reach extends globally through institutions like Sweden's Defense University and Estonia's University of Tartu, enabling innovation in transatlantic partnerships.

About Drone Wars

The Drone Wars Podcast serves the warfighters, builders and innovators who all share a common goal: get the best tech into the hands of those on the frontlines. 

Dan Magy, Co-Founder and CEO of Firestorm Labs, explores all things defense and geopolitics with experts in the industry. 

Robert Almonte spent 25 years at the El Paso, Texas Police Department and was appointed by President Barack Obama as the United States Marshal for the Western District of Texas in 2010 where he served until 2016.

He spent most of his career in narcotics investigations and retired as a Deputy Chief in 2003. 

 He has consulted for several prosecutors and law enforcement agencies regarding Mexican Cartel homicides and has testified as an expert witness in state and federal court regarding the Mexican Cartels.

About Drone Wars

The Drone Wars Podcast serves the warfighters, builders and innovators who all share a common goal: get the best tech into the hands of those on the frontlines. 

Dan Magy, Co-Founder and CEO of Firestorm Labs, explores all things defense and geopolitics with experts in the industry. 

Mike Flanigan is co-founder and CEO of Seasats, a San Diego-based company building long-range autonomous surface vessels for commercial and defense missions. This is his second time on Drone Wars — and he came back with stories.

We get into how Seasats recently sailed a Lightfish autonomous boat through the Taiwan Strait and found themselves tracking Chinese Navy warships along the way. Mike breaks down the asymmetry: a $100M+ corvette with 70+ sailors versus a sub-$1M boat operated remotely from San Diego. 

We also cover the state of the USV industry, the debate over large vs. small autonomous vessels, operating in the Indo-Pacific, their joint Navy/Marine Corps APFIT contract win, and how Seasats is using AI to cut a six-hour quality check down to 20 minutes.

Topics:

• Why San Diego is becoming the maritime autonomy capital of the U.S.
• Lightfish, Quickfish, Heavyfish — Seasats' product lineup
• Taiwan Strait transit & Chinese Navy encounter
• The real numbers behind U.S. USV production
• Large unmanned surface vessels: hype or hope?
• Mines in the Strait of Hormuz
• APFIT: joint Navy & Marine Corps contract win
• AI in physical manufacturing

About Drone Wars

The Drone Wars Podcast serves the warfighters, builders and innovators who all share a common goal: get the best tech into the hands of those on the frontlines. 

Dan Magy, Co-Founder and CEO of Firestorm Labs, explores all things defense and geopolitics with experts in the industry. 

Ben Haldeman is a space entrepreneur and engineer who founded LifeShip in 2019 — a company building monuments of Earth across space. LifeShip made history by placing the first-ever Pyramid on the Moon, carrying a seed bank, DNA archive, and cultural record for all of humanity. Before that, he was an early engineer at Planet Labs, launching hundreds of spacecrafts. He's on a mission to make humanity a galactic species that spreads life outward while protecting the one planet we call home.

About Drone Wars

The Drone Wars Podcast serves the warfighters, builders and innovators who all share a common goal: get the best tech into the hands of those on the frontlines. 

Dan Magy, Co-Founder and CEO of Firestorm Labs, explores all things defense and geopolitics with experts in the industry. 

Clark "Slider" Haymond is A former F-15E pilot with the U.S. Air Force and currently COO of Disruptive Electronic Warfare Machines (DEWM), taking the industry by storm with the DART system (DEWM's Attritable Radar Target).

Slider and Dan cover why the EW training gap is a real problem, the AI wingman question, and whether China is as big of a threat as we think. 

Check out https://dewm.io/ to learn more. 

About Drone Wars

The Drone Wars Podcast serves the warfighters, builders and innovators who all share a common goal: get the best tech into the hands of those on the frontlines. 

Dan Magy, Co-Founder and CEO of Firestorm Labs, explores all things defense and geopolitics with experts in the industry. 

Omar Javaid is a veteran tech executive with decades of experience scaling companies across semiconductors, software, AI, and communications. Before joining Rampart Communications as CEO in October 2025, he led Spectra7 as CEO and served as President of API Platform at Vonage where he helped drive a $6.2 billion acquisition by Ericsson. He has also held senior roles at Qualcomm, Motorola, Google, and Hewlett-Packard, and has founded two companies of his own. Check out https://rampartcommunications.com/.

About Drone Wars

The Drone Wars Podcast serves the warfighters, builders and innovators who all share a common goal: get the best tech into the hands of those on the frontlines. 

Dan Magy, Co-Founder and CEO of Firestorm Labs, explores all things defense and geopolitics with experts in the industry. 

Clark “Slider” Haymond is a former F-15E pilot with the U.S. Air Force and currently COO of Disruptive Electronic Warfare Machines. 

Check out DWEM: https://dewm.io/ 

About Drone Wars

The Drone Wars Podcast serves the warfighters, builders and innovators who all share a common goal: get the best tech into the hands of those on the frontlines. 

Dan Magy, Co-Founder and CEO of Firestorm Labs, explores all things defense and geopolitics with experts in the industry. 

Rob Sladen is Co-Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Zulu Pods, developing advanced fluid delivery systems for aircraft, drones, and high-performance platforms. 

Check out zulupods.com to learn more. 

About Drone Wars

The Drone Wars Podcast serves the warfighters, builders and innovators who all share a common goal: get the best tech into the hands of those on the frontlines. 

Dan Magy, Co-Founder and CEO of Firestorm Labs, explores all things defense and geopolitics with experts in the industry. 

Adam Fife is the Founder and CEO of Cencore Group, providing secure edge communications, physical security, and containerized solutions for global operations.

About Drone Wars

The Drone Wars Podcast serves the warfighters, builders and innovators who all share a common goal: get the best tech into the hands of those on the frontlines. 

Dan Magy, Co-Founder and CEO of Firestorm Labs, explores all things defense and geopolitics with experts in the industry. 

Brian Streem is founder and CEO of Vermeer, a company pioneering vision-based navigation systems for drones and autonomous platforms operating in GPS-denied environments.  

He transitioned from Hollywood drone cinematography to defense tech, leading Vermeer to secure millions in non-dilutive government contracts and expand operations into active conflict zones like Ukraine.

About Drone Wars

The Drone Wars Podcast serves the warfighters, builders and innovators who all share a common goal: get the best tech into the hands of those on the frontlines. 

Dan Magy, Co-Founder and CEO of Firestorm Labs, explores all things defense and geopolitics with experts in the industry.