In this episode, I sit down with Moshe Baum, Mechanical engineer, drone pilot, and co-founder of Wild West Systems.

Moshe’s path moves through very different environments: from working on the NAMER platform during his service in the IDF, to engineering roles in companies like Apple and SpaceX, and now building his own systems in Texas.

What made this conversation interesting is not just the experience, but the overlap between worlds that usually don’t speak the same language.

We talk about the connection between IDF methodologies, where systems are built for real use under pressure and the principles behind companies like Apple and SpaceX, where design, iteration, and execution are pushed to a different level.

Topics we covered:

• The difference between building systems that have to work in the field vs. systems built in controlled environments
• What Moshe took from Apple’s precision and SpaceX’s speed, and how those approaches translate into robotics today
• The gap between how autonomy is presented and what is actually possible in real-world scenarios
• Swarm systems, what is working today, and where the limitations still are
• Why proximity to real environments matters when developing hardware and autonomous systems
• The role of human control vs. autonomy in mission-critical operations
• Lessons from moving between Israel and the U.S. when it comes to building and deploying systems

This is a conversation about how different disciplines — military, engineering, and product thinking — come together when you’re building systems that are meant to operate in the real world.