The Merge

Mike “Starbaby” Pietrucha joins Mike and Jake to talk about Ukraine on the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion. Hear about how it all happened, where the war stands today, what matters now, and what the future looks like for peace.

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Links

* Sign up for our amazing newsletter https://www.themerge.co

* Support us on Patreon https://www.patreon.com/the_merge

* NAFO https://nafo-ofan.org/

* Saint Javelin https://www.saintjavelin.com/

* Sign My Rocket https://signmyrocket.com/

* Amateur Hour Part II: https://warontherocks.com/2022/08/amateur-hour-part-ii-failing-the-air-campaign/

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Show Notes

(00:50) intro

(2:28) Starbaby becomes an expert

(3:51) the real invasion start

(9:03) why did Putin invade?

(12:14) Nazis?

(15:20) torture

(17:07) weather stalemate

(18:42) climate change?

(20:26) NAFO and the internet campaigns

(22:26) sponsor suicide boats

(23:05) foreign aid

(25:17) a lab to observe

(29:25) ground-launched SDB

(31:12) ATACMS

(31:44) Kerch Bridge

(33:22) logistics

(34:15) Russia’s inability to fight a war

(36:26) China is watching

(37:23) what does peace look like?

(41:23) Ukrainian’s take on peace

(44:25) outro

Hermeus CEO AJ Piplica joins us to talk about the hypersonic airplanes they’re building, breaking the SR-71 speed record, their go-to-market strategy, the parallels to Top Gun Maverick, and a ton of other stuff.

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* AJ LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/ajpiplica/

* AJ Twitter https://twitter.com/AJ_Piplica

* Hermeus https://www.hermeus.com/

* Hermeus Twitter https://twitter.com/HermeusCorp

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* Website https://www.themerge.co

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Show Notes

(00:57) intro

(5:45) AJ’s origin story

(7:25) how old were you?

(8:24) not a space person

(10:11) sequestration

(10:48) missiles to aircraft

(12:41) Monospony the board game

(13:12) Raising money the right way

(15:04) the name?

(16:42) how Hermeus was funded

(18:33) AJ loves our ChatGPT rap song

(19:16) AJ's spicy take on defense profits

(22:06) climbing the food chain

(23:14) using a T-38 engine to go Mach 4

(24:08) Top Gun Maverick

(25:52) Quarterhorse

(28:52) breaking the SR-71 speed record

(31:04) Darkhorse

(33:41) avoiding the Valley of Death

(40:09) lobbying is the price of entry

(41:22) AJ's Christmas Tree

(46:05) why do it at all?

(49:00) Hermeus has one competitor

(51:28) Halcyon

(55:51) how the Pentagon prices things

(59:52) outro

Merge Podcast Episode 5: Mike, Jake, and Tim pick apart some op-eds about military spending for research and development spending, innovation, and why the military sucks at getting tech to the warfighter. They also catch up on the news about grounded airplanes with NOTAM crash, ponder the legalisms of having secrets in a garage, and end with a discussion on some AI tools—and a surprise.

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* Op-Ed 1: https://warontherocks.com/2023/01/leveraging-u-s-capital-markets-to-support-the-future-industrial-network/

* Op-Ed 2: https://news.bloomberglaw.com/federal-contracting/why-dod-should-get-out-of-the-r-d-business-mislav-tolusic

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Show Notes

(1:00) intro

(2:03) op-ed 1 – $$

(13:39) lab to field challenges

(15:55) IP

(17:10) cemented culture

(18:56) misaligned incentives

(20:11) op-ed 2 - defund R&D

(22:37) innovation time horizons

(23:36) proportion investing in R&D vs procurement

(25:07) Mike’s spicy take on R&D spending

(29:30) Tim on transitioning tech

(32:50) Congress spending cuts

(37:42) cut the Pentagon

(40:20) – how a bill becomes a law

(41:37) the deficit is a national security challenge

(42:39) NOTAMs down!

(47:34) Mike goes down a NOTAM rabbit hole

(47:55) military NOTAM website

(50:40) classified papers by a corvette

(59:01) ChatGPT or other AI news

(1:13:28) a rap song

(1:15:48) outro

Mike hosts defense acquisition experts Eric Lofgren and Matt MacGregor to better understand just how hard it is for the US military to buy stuff. We also discuss a shortcut called a Middle Tier Acquisition (MTA), along with some examples you’ve probably heard of: B-52 engines, F-15EX fighter jets, and hypersonic missiles.

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Links

* Sign up for our amazing newsletter https://www.themerge.co

* Support us on Patreon https://www.patreon.com/the_merge

* Eric contact https://www.linkedin.com/in/elofgren/

* Eric’s Acquisition Talk https://acquisitiontalk.com 

* Matt contact https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-macgregor77/

* Matt’s op-ed https://www.defenseone.com/ideas/2022/09/get-know-middle-tier-awesomeer-acquisition/377017/

* Pentagon Wars (full movie) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ir0FAa8P2MU

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Show Notes

(1:00) intro

(4:12) overview

(5:06) monopsony

(6:58) requirements

(9:04) Pentagon Wars

(20:45) acquisition strategy

(23:44) “joint”

(31:58) how much does it cost?

(35:38) the budget

(37:11) the PPBE

(43:06) what is the NDAA?

(45:38) what is an MTA?

(53:15) MTA examples

(53:27) B-52 engines

(1:01:00) IVAS (Army AR headset)

(1:05:06) F-15EX

(1:11:05) F-22 Link-16 and IRST

(1:11:50) ARRW (hypersonic)

(1:17:44) story time

Host Mike Benitez brings the spirit of the Merge in a full court press to discuss Adversary Air—aka Red Air—in a way you’ve never heard. It’s an entertaining journey through the history, policy, technology, strategy, industry, and business of Red Air.

Today’s guests:

* Kevin “Shaggy” Wilson

* Ryan “Stinger” Fishel

* Andrew “Scar” Van Timmeren

* Jeff “Vader” Brandon

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Links

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* Support us on Patreon

* Shaggy - Top Aces

* Scar - Blue Force Technology

* Vader - Kodiak Shack Podcast

* Stinger’s F-117 article: Train Like You Fight

* Jared Isaacman’s MiG-29

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Show Notes

(1:28) – Guest Intros

(4:23) – What is adversary air?

(13:15) – the industry

(15:25) – Congress gets involved

(18:54) – how’s it going now (industry)

(22:46) – how’s it going now (fighter pilot)

(34:05) – Top Aces buys F-16s

(39:30) – F-117 red air

(47:08) – adversary drones

(52:07) – the cost of self-supporting adversaries

(55:21) – training is deterrence

(56:18) – training modernization

(1:04:27) – story time

Episode 1: A Star is Born! After too many excuses, the Merge newsletter’s Mike Benitez launches the inaugural Merge podcast! Co-hosting duties are shared with Jake Chapman (@VC) and Tim Nolan (@NatSecTim). In this episode, we talk about 3 things the newsletter has never covered in its 2-year existence: venture capital, TikTok, and American Dynamism.

Show Notes:

(00:30) – the world’s most okayist defense podcast

(1:02) – Co-host intros

(3:58) – What is venture capital

(20:49) – Jake and the Army Venture Capital Corporation

(26:20 ) – TikTok and national security

(39:16) – WTH is ‘American Dynamisn’

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