Drone Wars Podcast

Lito Villanueva is a U.S. Air Force veteran, a communications specialist, and was most recently a combat drone pilot in Ukraine.  Born in the Philippines and raised in a military family in California, he served in the Air Force before working with the U.S. Army Signal Corps, and supporting Joint Special Operations Command through a Special Missions Unit.  Following Russia’s full-scale invasion of...

Lito Villanueva is a U.S. Air Force veteran, a communications specialist, and was most recently a combat drone pilot in Ukraine.  Born in the Philippines and raised in a military family in California, he served in the Air Force before working with the U.S. Army Signal Corps, and supporting Joint Special Operations Command through a Special Missions Unit.  Following Russia’s full-scale invasion of...

This episode dives into the most prominent shifts in the combat history of UAVs. Dan covers UAV tech from the following eras:   Radio-Controlled Aerial Weapons (WWI 1917).  Reconnaissance UAVs (Cold War & Vietnam1950s-1970s).  UAVs in the 90s (Desert Storm).  UAVs in Iraq and Afghanistan (2001-2021).  Mass-Scale, Low-Cost Drone Warfare (Russia-Ukraine War, 2022 - Present).  About Drone Wars Th...

Mike Sims is the Co-Founder and CEO of Empirium, a unified marketplace platform connecting verified buyers and suppliers across aerospace, defense and manufacturing.  This episode covers:   9/11 moment that made him drop everything to join the fight.    Arabic language mastery.   Becoming a Marine Raider.   About Drone Wars The Drone Wars Podcast serves the warfighters, builders and innovators who...

Mike Sims is the Co-Founder and CEO of Empirium, a unified marketplace platform connecting verified buyers and suppliers across aerospace, defense and manufacturing.  This convo covers:   Why China dominates 45% of global manufacturing & how we became dangerously dependent.   Building a trusted defense/aerospace marketplace.   Amplifying the voices of end-users.  About Drone Wars The Drone War...

Ellen Chang is a deep-tech investor focused on the maritime and space domains. She is Managing Director at CapZone Impact Investments, and Co-Founder and Co-President of Wharton Aerospace. She served the U.S. Navy as an Intelligence Officer, later working on JP Morgan’s aerospace team and founding a B2B aviation parts sourcing startup.  She spent 12 years at Northrop Grumman, holding leadership ro...

Ellen Chang is a deep-tech investor focused on the maritime and space domains.  She is Managing Director at CapZone Impact Investments, and Co-Founder and Co-President of Wharton Aerospace. She served the U.S. Navy as an Intelligence Officer, later working on JP Morgan’s aerospace team and founding a B2B aviation parts sourcing startup.  She spent 12 years at Northrop Grumman, holding leadership r...

Chad McCoy is a Co-Founder and the Chief Growth Officer at Firestorm Labs. He’s a Special Operations Veteran and retired Chief Master Sergeant from the United States Air Force’s 24th Special Tactics Squadron. The convo covers: -Importance of a military background as a defense tech founder. -Speeding up DoD adoption. -Firestorm’s strategy. -Winning the Pacific. About Drone Wars The Drone Wars Podca...

Dan reacts to his 12 most viral drone moments on LinkedIn of 2025. Check out his top posts below: 12. Counter UAS Fishing 11. Chinese Robo-Cop Drone 10. Counter UAS Fishing Nets 9. Autonomous Aerial Construction 8. Russia’s Pearl Harbor 7. Tempest in a Suitcase 6. The Quad Bomber 5. Balloon-Launched 'Eagle' 4. Robo Dog Drone 3. Liaowan-1 2. Narco Sub 1. Chicken drone About Drone Wars The...

Joslyn Tarr is a seasoned UAS engineering leader with deep expertise in aircraft development and systems engineering.  She’s worked for several defense companies including Kratos and General Atomics, loves all things aviation and is currently pursuing her private pilot's license.  Not to mention she’s our very own Senior Vice President of Engineering here at Firestorm Labs.    This convo cove...

Jamie Dimon is the CEO of JP Morgan Chase, a global financial services firm with assets of $3.2 trillion and operations worldwide. He’s been one of the most influential voices on Wall Street for the last 2 decades. JP Morgan Chase recently announced the Security and Resiliency Initiative (SRI), a $1.5 trillion, 10-year plan to facilitate, finance and invest advanced manufacturing, defense, energy,...

Larsen Jenson is a 2x Olympic medalist, former U.S. Navy Seal and founder of Harpoon Ventures and Vector Defense. Their convo covers: - Founders must thrive in discomfort. - Startup failure in the U.S. vs other countries. - Why Harpoon invested in Firestorm. 00:00 – Intro. 01:41 – The Origin Story: From almond farming to Olympic Silver and Bronze medals. 04:10 – Joining the Navy SEALs: Seeing the...

Larsen Jenson is a 2x Olympic medalist, former U.S. Navy Seal and founder of Harpoon Ventures and Vector Defense. They dive into: - Founding one of the first defense tech VCs before anyone in Silicon Valley cared. - Geopolitical urgency and rapid tech progress. - VC trends: why physical products are making a comeback. Timestamps: 00:00 – Intro: The "Tequila Story" and the shift in defens...

Founder of Anduril, Palmer Luckey recently appeared on the #1 podcast in the world, the Joe Rogan Experience. Founder and CEO of Firestorm Labs, Dan Magy reacts to key moments of the show. Topics include: - Dan Driscoll’s AUSA talk. - National security and private companies. - China’s commercial vessels building to military standards. - Should the U.S. become the world’s gun store? About Drone War...

Brandon Florian has over 20 years of experience in aerospace and defense at Northrop Grumman and Starburst. He’s the Co-Founder and Chief Commercial Officer of Grid Aero, building rugged, long-range autonomous aircrafts to revolutionize cargo logistics at scale.  They cover:  Grid Aero is building a “pickup truck of the skies”.   Which top defense primes work the best with startups?  What separate...

“Defense is an away game; we’re not going to be able to fight our way in”  Stephen Rodriguez is the Founder of One Defense and an Operating Partner at DCVC. He invests in and serves on the boards of leading defense-tech companies, including Applied Intuition, Firestorm, Ursa Major, Mach Industries, and ZeroMark. He chairs Booz Allen’s Defense Technology Board, leads Blue Forge Alliance as Chairman...

Stephen Rodriguez is the Founder of One Defense and an Operating Partner at DCVC. He invests in and serves on the boards of leading defense-tech companies, including Applied Intuition, Firestorm, Ursa Major, Mach Industries, and ZeroMark. He chairs Booz Allen’s Defense Technology Board, leads Blue Forge Alliance as Chairman and serves as a Commission Director at the Atlantic Council.  This episode...

Ex-SpaceX Dragon Capsule software lead, Karthik Gollapudi, built two-fault-tolerant systems that flew astronauts to the ISS. He left to found Sift, an AI platform that automates testing, manufacturing and observability for rockets, rovers and autonomous fleets.  This episode covers:  How Sift reduces cognitive load and speeds up manufacturing.   Simplifying complex cloud IT infrastructure.  Hire f...

Ex-SpaceX Dragon Capsule software lead, Karthik Gollapudi, built two-fault-tolerant systems that flew astronauts to the ISS. He left to found Sift, an AI platform that automates testing, manufacturing and observability for rockets, rovers and autonomous fleets.  This episode covers:  - SpaceX’s young staff & the push for automating everything.  - Same job in 12 months = failure.   - Bootstrapp...

A VC pro covers AI ethics, a boom of domestic jobs in tech, and why the gov needs to get out of the way.   Hamlet Yousef is a Managing Partner and Co-Founder at Irongate Capital Advisors, where he leads investments in early-stage technologies that strengthen national defense. He has worked with organizations ranging from startups to Fortune 100 companies across disruptive and emerging technology s...

A VC managing partner discusses lessons from Ukraine, UAS disrupting warfare economics and “venture tourists”.   Hamlet Yousef is a Managing Partner and Co-Founder at Irongate Capital Advisors, where he leads investments in early-stage technologies that strengthen national defense. He has worked with organizations ranging from startups to Fortune 100 companies across disruptive and emerging techno...

Are our adversaries building ethical AI?  Dive into it on the pod with Lt. Col. Joshua “Cabo” Gunderson, former combat pilot, and former Commander of the Air Force F-22 Demo Team. Since leaving active duty, he serves in the Nevada Air National Guard as an F-22 Subject Matter Expert, works for a private company as a corporate pilot flying the Challenger 300 aircraft, and consults for aviation clien...

Are our adversaries building ethical AI?  Dive into it on the pod with Lt. Col. Joshua “Cabo” Gunderson, former combat pilot, and former Commander of the Air Force F-22 Demo Team. Since leaving active duty, he serves in the Nevada Air National Guard as an F-22 Subject Matter Expert, works for a private company as a corporate pilot flying the Challenger 300 aircraft, and consults for aviation clien...

General David H. Petraeus (US Army, Ret.), is a Partner in the global investment firm KKR; Chairman of the KKR Global Institute; and Chairman of KKR Middle East. He is also a member of the boards of Optiv and OneStream; a Strategic Advisor for Semperis, Advanced Navigation, and Ontic; a personal venture investor; the Kissinger Fellow at Yale's Univ's Jackson School; a speaker with the Wa...

General David H. Petraeus (US Army, Ret.), is a Partner in the global investment firm KKR; Chairman of the KKR Global Institute; and Chairman of KKR Middle East. He is also a member of the boards of Optiv and OneStream; a Strategic Advisor for Semperis, Advanced Navigation, and Ontic; a personal venture investor; the Kissinger Fellow at Yale's Univ's Jackson School; a speaker with the Wa...