Emerging Tech Horizons

Matt MacGregor, Fellow at the Acquisition Innovation Research Center and Senior Director for Strategic Growth at Anduril Industries, joins the podcast to discuss how Congress plans to fund Pentagon modernization programs. In this episode, they dive into the current state of the Congressional defense appropriations process and their implications for emerging defense technologies, including:   - Win...

How is DOD adopting autonomous technologies for both tactical missions and back-end work? How are industry and government working together to deliver those capabilities? Join Randy Yamada, Vice President at Booz Allen Hamilton overseeing technical teams and signal processing for control systems, as he discusses Booz Allen's engineering labs, how speed of technological change affects acquisition, a...

Jeff Janey is Chair of NDIA’s Munitions Technology Division, which facilitates technical dialogue between industry and government concerning the development, production, maintenance and demilitarization of munitions. We caught up with Jeff at the 2024 Future Forces Capabilities Conference (FFC) to discuss the state of play in munitions acquisitions, trends in emerging technologies like AI and dire...

Nick Perry, NDIA Armaments Division Chair and Director of Global Strategy and Defense Systems at Northrop Grumman, joins live from the floor of the 2024 Future Force Capabilities Conference & Exhibition to discuss the conference, the Armaments Division, and the impact of emerging technologies on armaments. Mr. Perry and host Arun Seraphin cover advancements in UAS and C-UAS, the new generation...

Matt Dooley, NDIA Robotics Division Chair and Defense Strategic Initiative Lead at Forterra, and Pat Acox, Head of Government Growth at Forterra, join live from the floor of the 2024 Future Force Capabilities Conference & Exhibition. They discuss featured robotics panels at the conference, how the Robotics Division is focusing on multi-domain operations and cross-industry collaboration, and th...

DOD's new Acquisition Innovation Research Center brings together the best minds in academia with experts in defense acquisition to help address some of the thorniest and most challenging acquisition challenges facing the Pentagon. Join Dr. Dinesh Verma, Executive Director of the Acquisition Innovation Research Center, as he discusses the AIRC's research portfolio, how it is helping to addr...

How has Estonia, a country of just 1.5 million people, blessed with few natural resources, developed a flourishing defense technology sector? For this NATO and EU member, and vibrant democracy, necessity is the mother of invention. Estonia, where the prime minister is often just an email away, has often been praised for its pioneering efforts in digital “E-government.” Less well-known may be the l...

How well is the DoD positioned to field systems at the speed of relevance? Has the DoD effectively used additional Congressional acquisition authorities and its new Adaptive Acquisition Framework to deliver warfighting capabilities at a lower cost and accelerated schedule? Shelby Oakley, Director, Contracting and National Security Acquisitions, for GAO joins today’s podcast episode to discuss the...

Join us for Part Two of the discussion of the ReaganInstitute’s 2024 National Security Innovation Base Report Card with Rachel Hoff (Reagan Institute) and Dale Swartz (McKinsey & Company). What data and methodologies were used to determine the grades? Why did DOD get a failing grade for “customer clarity”? Is the defense market getting more or less interesting to VCs and other private investor...

What is the 2024 National Security Innovation Base (NSIB) Report Card? Have U.S. grades improved since last year? How have venture capital and private equity played a role in defense innovation? Why did we get a D in defense modernization? Rachel Hoff, Policy Director at the Ronald Reagan Institute, and Dale Swartz, Partner at McKinsey & Co., Silicon Valley join the podcast to discuss how the...

What delineates surrogate from intelligent drone swarms? What are the threats, vulnerabilities, and consequences associated with these systems to the U.S. homeland, especially as these technologies evolve? Dr. Daniel Gerstein, Senior Policy Researcher and Professor of Policy Analysis at Pardee RAND Graduate School, joins today's podcast episode to discuss a recently published report titled, &q...

How healthy is the U.S. defense industrial base? What challenges does it face at a time of accelerating innovation, regulatory challenges, and the need to scale up productive capacity while strengthening supply chains? The National Defense Industrial Association's (NDIA) own Jen Stewart, Executive Vice President for Strategy and Policy, joins today's episode to unpack NDIA's Vital Sign...

Description: What are the emerging technologies that will shape future national defense and how will they be fielded? Ahead of the upcoming Emerging Technologies Conference, Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering Heidi Shyu joins to preview timely conference topics including government-industry partnerships to accelerate procurement pathways, Counter-Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS...

Energy is critical for anything we do. Power beaming is an emerging technology that could reshape how we generate and distribute energy and how our devices and autonomous systems are powered. Today’s guest is Tom Nugent, CTO and Co-founder of PowerLight Technologies. Tom walks us through power beaming and what it might provide to both the Department of Defense and commercial industry. Tom is the a...

In an era where the Global Positioning System (GPS) is increasingly under threat by jamming and other anti-satellite capabilities, what does the future hold for military-grade Position, Navigation, and Timing (PNT)? Today's guest is Dr. Alison Brown, President and CEO of NAVSYS Corporation. Alison and NAVSYS focus heavily on this work, providing a variety of PNT solutions. On this episode, Ali...

How did the Fiscal Year 2024 appropriations bill impact DoD's critical technology areas and technology transition efforts for emerging technologies? What changed in the Fiscal Year 2025 President's Budget Request? Join us for a conversation with Dr. Reed Skaggs, Lewis Burke's Chief Strategy and Business Operations Officer, and Jacob Winn, one of NDIA ETI's own Associate Research Fe...

In this episode, our guest Arun Gupta describes how strong collaboration between business, government, and society can lead to opportunities to impact social challenges, such as climate change, cybersecurity, disease outbreaks, food insecurity, and education. Arun is the co-author of the book, “Venture Meets Mission,” which explains what is required to join people, purpose, and profit together for...

DESCRIPTION: How is the science and technology relationship between the United States and India evolving? What can we do to increase U.S.-Indian defense industry cooperation? The India-U.S. Defense Acceleration Ecosystem, aka "INDUS-X", was established in June 2023 to deepen this national security collaboration and build a "defense innovation bridge" between the two countries....

Tune in for Part 2 of our conversation with Lara Sayer, the PPBE Reform Commission's Executive Director, and Jennifer Santos, one of the study's Commissioners who served alongside ETI's own Arun Seraphin. We continue to discuss the PPBE Reform Report's findings. How do the Department's budget plans interact with Congressional appropriations? How can the Department design better...

What is DoD's Planning, Programming, Budgeting, and Execution (PPBE) system, and how does it succeed and fail to direct resources to the correct programs and projects to ensure that the best-performing capabilities are quickly and affordably delivered to the warfighter? The Legislative Commission on Planning, Programming, Budgeting, and Execution (PPBE) Reform recently published its final repo...

Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for International and Industry Engagement Justin McFarlin joins the podcast to discuss the Department of Defense’s National Defense Industrial Strategy, and its implications for defense industry. The NDIS offers a strategic vision to build a modern defense industrial ecosystem, including deep cooperation between the U.S. government, private industry, and allie...

Tune in for Part 2 of our conversation with Moshe Schwartz, President of Etherton and Associates, as we continue to discuss the FY2024 NDAA and what it will mean for national security and emerging technologies. We also touch on defense issues related to small businesses, regulation, and Congressional oversight. Part 1 is available here: https://youtu.be/72I2cAUQ5Po Read the FY2024 NDAA: https://ww...

What is the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA)? Who produces it, and what does it mean for national security? What did the recently-passed Fiscal Year 2024 NDAA mean for emerging technologies? Tune in for a conversation with Moshe Schwartz, President of Etherton and Associates, to discuss all of this and more in-depth information about this year’s NDAA. This episode discusses new provisions...

In this Part 2 episode, guests Mark Neice and Rebecca Wostenberg continue their discussion of ETI’s recently released report, Directed Energy Weapon Supply Chains: Securing the Path to the Future. The report assesses the state of directed energy weapon supply chains while providing actionable recommendations for their development, health, and resilience. Part 1 is available here: https://www.youtu...

In this episode, guests Rebecca Wostenberg and Mark Neice discuss key findings and recommendations from ETI’s recently released report, Directed Energy Weapon Supply Chains: Securing the Path to the Future. This report assesses the state of directed energy weapon supply chains while providing actionable recommendations for their development, health, and resilience. Find the report here: https://ww...