Jamie Goettler (CRO, BTX Precision) breaks down what’s actually happening inside U.S. advanced manufacturing right now.

Demand across defense, aerospace, semiconductors, and medical devices is surging at the same time, but the real story is on the supply side. Can U.S. manufacturing actually scale to meet it?

We cover reshoring, tariffs, precision manufacturing constraints, and what it takes to rebuild the industrial base.

Topics include:

• Why demand is rising across multiple industries at once

• The real bottlenecks in U.S. manufacturing capacity

• What reshoring looks like in practice

• The role tariffs play in accelerating domestic production

• Why precision manufacturing is uniquely difficult to scale

Questions answered in this episode:

• Why is U.S. manufacturing demand increasing?

• Can the U.S. reshore production at scale?

• What are the biggest constraints in advanced manufacturing?

LINKS

Follow Jamie on LinkedIn

BTX Precision Website

Full episode transcript

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Rick Harlow, founder of NovaSpark Energy, joins the show to break down how his company turns water into hydrogen for military drones, backup power, and off-grid energy systems.

The conversation covers defense use cases, disaster response, critical infrastructure, data center demand, and why on-site hydrogen production could eliminate major supply chain bottlenecks. Rick also shares his path from telecom and early IoT into startups, defense, and energy entrepreneurship. This is a practical discussion about resilience, logistics, and where hydrogen may actually make sense in the real world.

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Patrick Blumenthal (Investor at Anomaly Fund) returns to break down how venture capital actually works in defense, what makes founders worth backing, and how geopolitical realities shape investment decisions.

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The conversation spans Iran, great power competition, and the second-order effects of U.S. strategy on global markets and startups. Patrick also shares how he evaluates companies, why certain founders consistently outperform, and where defense tech is still misunderstood by investors.

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Jocelyn Kinsey, Partner at DFJ Growth, joins us for a deep dive into defense tech investing, startup strategy, and the realities of building in the national security ecosystem.

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Jocelyn Kinsey on LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jocelyn-kinsey/

DFJ Growth Website:

https://dfjgrowth.com/

DFJ Growth has been investing in deep tech for decades, including early bets on SpaceX.

In this conversation, Jocelyn explains how the firm approaches growth-stage investing—and why defense is fundamentally different from traditional venture categories.We cover:

• Why defense is a hit-driven industry, not SaaS
• The surge of capital into defense and whether it’s a bubble
• Lessons from SpaceX and Palantir on working with government
• How modern drone warfare is reshaping defense priorities
• The need for layered counter-drone systems
• Why detection remains one of the hardest problems
• What investors look for in defense founders and teams
• The importance of marketing, lobbying, and go-to-market

If you’re building or investing in defense tech, this episode is a clear look at how the game actually works.

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Jim's book, With My Shield

Former U.S. Army Ranger James Lechner joins the podcast to discuss modern warfare, drone combat, and the lessons the West should be learning from Ukraine.Lechner shares experiences from Mogadishu to advising Ukrainian units near the front lines, explaining how urban combat works in practice and why counter-drone systems are becoming essential on the modern battlefield.

The conversation explores drone swarms, fiber-optic drones, AI targeting, and the limits of airpower in modern conflicts.We also discuss NATO, the future of warfare in the Pacific, and what Western militaries must learn from Ukraine’s battlefield innovations.

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Isaiah Taylor, founder and CEO of Valar Atomics, joins the show to discuss why energy is becoming a national security issue. Valar is building small modular nuclear reactors designed to deliver scalable, grid-independent power for industrial infrastructure, military installations, and emerging technologies like AI.

In this episode, Isaiah explains why energy production is falling behind advances in AI, robotics, and manufacturing and why that gap matters for both economic competitiveness and defense readiness. He also breaks down Valar's approach to radically simplifying reactor design so they can be manufactured and deployed at scale.

We discuss the global nuclear race with China, how modular reactors could power military bases and industrial capacity, and why the real opportunity isn’t selling reactors, it’s producing abundant electricity.

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Clayton Swope, Deputy Director of the Aerospace Security Project and Senior Fellow in the Defense and Security Department, joins us to break down the real state of U.S. space and missile defense.

We dig into how the Pentagon is thinking about space resilience, missile warning, and emerging threats from China and Russia.

Clayton explains where policy, budget, and strategy are aligned and where gaps still exist.We also get into the industrial base behind space systems, acquisition friction, and what “resilience” actually means in practice. If you work in defense, space, or national security policy, this conversation connects the dots between strategy and execution.

LINKS

⁠Follow Clayton on LinkedIn⁠

Would Airstrikes Against Iran Work? (article by Clayton Swope)

The Pentagon Should be a Better Customer (article by Clayton Swope)

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Today we’re joined by Charles Acknin and Isaac Roberts from Skyways, the Austin-based aerospace company building long-range autonomous cargo aircraft for real logistics missions.

We dig into why Skyways went defense-first, how they turned early Marine Corps interest into a long-running Navy contract pipeline, and what it takes to fly autonomous VTOL cargo off ships in rough conditions. The conversation gets tactical on the tradeoffs of VTOL and hybrid propulsion, plus what “scale” actually means when you’re building a 1,000+ mile range platform.

We also zoom out into startup execution versus fundraising, the realities of selling into DoD, and how automation is reshaping internal ops across defense tech.

LINKS

Skyways

Follow Charles on LinkedIn

Follow Isaac on LinkedIn

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Chandler Luzsicza, Founder and CEO of Galadyne, joins us to break down why he’s betting on liquid propulsion to reinvent long-range missile production. A former SpaceX engineer who started working on liquid rockets as a teenager, Chandler is now building containerized, scalable missile platforms designed to bypass the bottlenecks of traditional solid rocket motors.

We get into supply chain fragility, why ammonium perchlorate is a strategic constraint, and how commercial space engineering culture can modernize missile development. Chandler also explains Galadyne’s 1,000km-class strike platform, recruiting tactics to pull “new space” talent into defense, and why production at scale — tens of thousands per year — is the real deterrent.

It’s a candid conversation about propulsion, venture backing from Andreessen Horowitz, and the ethics of building weapons in a world where “peace through strength” is more than a slogan.

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Heather Armentrout, President and General Manager of Kongsberg US, joins the show for a candid look at how a European defense leader is scaling real production inside the United States.

We cover NASAMS, CROWS, and how lessons from Ukraine are shaping air defense, counter-UAS, and “affordable mass.” Heather breaks down what it actually takes to deliver programs of record: supply chain, manufacturability, and why production is the hard part.

We also talk about Kongsberg’s US expansion, new facilities, and how partners think about China, export controls, and re-industrializing the arsenal of democracy. Practical, inside-baseball, and heavy on execution.

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