The Defense Tech Podcast with Fexingo: Government Contracting, Aerospace, and Military Tech

The Defense Tech Podcast with Fexingo: Government Contracting, Aerospace, and Military Tech

By FexingoBusiness
Download on the App Store

The Defense Tech Podcast with Fexingo: Government Contracting, Aerospace, and Military Tech episodes

  • The Army's New Long-Range Cannon Is a Budget Nightmare

    The US Army's Extended Range Cannon Artillery (ERCA) program promised to fire shells 70 kilometers, but after a string of test failures and cost overruns, the Pentagon is rethinking the entire approach. Lucas and Luna break down how a $4.5 billion program got stuck, why Northrop Grumman's stock (NOC) is up anyway, and what this means for the future of artillery versus drones. Plus: how the Army's pivot to precision-guided rockets is reshaping the defense supply chain.

    #ExtendedRangeCannon #ERCA #ArmyArtillery #DefenseBudget #NorthropGrumman #LongRangePrecision #M109 #PrecisionStrike #DroneWarfare #DefenseTech #MilitaryTech #GovernmentContracting #Pentagon #ArmyModernization #FireSupport #FexingoBusiness #BusinessPodcast #Business

    Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo

    10 min
  • The Drone Swarm Dilemma Facing the Pentagon

    Lucas and Luna dive into the Pentagon's latest struggle with drone swarms, focusing on the Defense Department's new 'Replicator 2.0' initiative announced in April 2026. They break down how low-cost autonomous systems are challenging traditional defense procurement, using the recent Red Sea engagements as a case study. Lucas highlights a key number: the U.S. Navy shot down Houthi drones costing $2,000 each using missiles worth $2 million per kill, exposing an unsustainable cost imbalance. Luna brings up L3Harris's new 'Viper' electronic warfare pod, designed to counter swarms at scale, and they discuss whether the defense primes like RTX and LMT can pivot fast enough. The conversation touches on the stock moves this week—RTX up nearly 3%—and what the Replicator program means for smaller defense tech startups.

    #DroneSwarm #Replicator2.0 #Pentagon #DefenseProcurement #L3Harris #RTX #LockheedMartin #HouthiDrones #RedSea #CostImbalance #AutonomousSystems #MilitaryTech #Aerospace #DefenseTech #GovernmentContracting #BusinessPodcast #FexingoBusiness #DefenseInnovation

    Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo

    7 min
  • The Navy's Shipbuilding Crisis Is a Budget Disaster in Slow Motion

    Episode 3 of The Defense Tech Podcast with Fexingo dives into the US Navy's deepening shipbuilding crisis. Lucas and Luna examine how cost overruns, delayed deliveries, and a shrinking fleet are straining the defense industrial base. With Huntington Ingalls down over 2% this week and the Navy facing a 355-ship goal that keeps slipping, they break down the economics behind the headlines. Specific cases include the USS John F. Kennedy carrier delivery delay, the Columbia-class submarine cost curve, and why shipbuilding inflation outpaces broader defense inflation. If the Navy can't buy ships at predictable prices, the entire naval strategy is at risk. A conversation for anyone who wants to understand the real numbers behind military readiness.

    #USNavy #Shipbuilding #DefenseBudget #HuntingtonIngalls #LittoralCombatShip #ColumbiaClassSubmarine #USSJohnFKennedy #NavalWarfare #Pentagon #CostOverrun #DefenseIndustry #Business #Technology #FexingoBusiness #BusinessPodcast #DefenseTech #MilitaryTech #GovernmentContracting

    Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo

    10 min
  • The Quiet Revolution in Hypersonic Defense Testing

    In this episode of The Defense Tech Podcast, Lucas and Luna dive into the overlooked bottleneck holding back hypersonic weapons: ground testing. With Northrop Grumman (NOC) up 0.6% in the past week and the Pentagon pushing for operational prototypes by 2028, they explore how a new wave of private test facilities—like Mach 7 wind tunnels and plasma-jet chambers—are shortening development cycles. Lucas explains why the real race isn't just about speed, but about building enough test capacity to iterate before rivals do. They reference recent headlines on US-China tech rivalry and the implications for defense primes like Lockheed Martin (LMT) and RTX. No broad overview—just a focused look at the unsung infrastructure that could determine who wins the hypersonic race.

    #Hypersonic #DefenseTesting #NorthropGrumman #LockheedMartin #RTX #WindTunnel #MilitaryTech #Pentagon #ChinaTech #USDefense #Technology #Business #DefenseContracting #Aerospace #Innovation #FexingoBusiness #BusinessPodcast #DefenseTechPodcast

    Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo

    6 min
  • The F-35 Logistics Crisis That Could Reshape Fighter Jet Economics

    In the debut episode of The Defense Tech Podcast, Lucas and Luna anchor on a single number: the F-35 program's $1.5 trillion lifetime sustainment cost — a figure that exceeds the GDP of most nations. They unpack how Lockheed Martin's logistics model is under pressure as the Pentagon pushes for performance-based contracts, and what that means for the broader defense industrial base. With the 30-year Treasury yield topping 5.19% and mortgage rates surging, they connect rising borrowing costs to the Pentagon's tightening budget scrutiny. Lucas explains why Pratt & Whitney's engine core upgrade, not the fancy sensors, might be the most consequential decision for the Joint Strike Fighter fleet through 2040. Luna raises the question of whether commercial best practices from Amazon's supply chain can actually work for stealth fighters. No hot takes, just a focused look at how the business of defense works — and where it's breaking.

    #DefenseTech #F35 #LockheedMartin #PentagonBudget #FighterJets #SustainmentCosts #PrattAndWhitney #Logistics #GovernmentContracting #MilitaryTech #Aerospace #TreasuryYield #Business #Technology #FexingoBusiness #BusinessPodcast #DefensePodcast #JointStrikeFighter

    Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo

    10 min

About The Defense Tech Podcast with Fexingo: Government Contracting, Aerospace, and Military Tech

From the publisher's feed

Defense contracting isn't just F-35s and carrier groups. Lucas and Luna break down the actual economics of military tech: how aerospace primes like Lockheed, RTX, and Northrop Grumman manage multi-year fixed-price development contracts, what the DoD’s new CMMC cybersecurity rules mean for small subcontractors, and why the Navy’s Columbia-class submarine program is a case study in industrial-base risk. Each episode starts with a real number — a contract award value, a quarterly P&L line from a defense prime, a Pentagon budget line item — and builds a conversation around it. Lucas, a former defense correspondent, brings the policy and accounting; Luna, a tech-market analyst, connects the programs to publicly traded supply chains and venture-backed startups trying to break into classified markets. No classified information, no defense-blog speculation — just the business logic behind the weapons systems you read about in the news. Why does a missile cost $4 million? How does a shipbuilder hedge against steel tariffs? And what happens when a startup wins a Small Business Innovation Research grant for a prototype that the Air Force actually wants to buy? This is the business of national security, one budget line at a time.