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

The Pentagon is quietly shifting how it procures small turbine engines for drones and cruise missiles—buying them the same way airlines buy jet engine spare parts. Lucas and Luna break down the new 'engine-as-a-service' model, how it changes maintenance cycles, and what it means for defense primes like Honeywell and Williams International. They discuss a $2.4 billion multi-year contract that uses...

The Pentagon is quietly investing millions in additive manufacturing for naval shipbuilding, aiming to slash production timelines for critical submarine and surface ship components. Lucas and Luna break down how the Navy's new 'digital stockpile' for 3D-printed parts works, why it matters for deterrence, and what it means for defense contractors like Huntington Ingalls and General Dynamics. Plus:...

The Pentagon burns through roughly $10 billion worth of jet fuel annually, but it doesn't buy it like a gas station. This episode explores how the Defense Logistics Agency has quietly adopted financial hedging strategies — futures contracts, options, and swaps — to lock in prices and protect against supply shocks. Lucas and Luna walk through a concrete example: how a 2023 Brent crude spike would h...

This episode of The Defense Tech Podcast examines the Pentagon's new approach to acquiring cutting-edge AI models, using the Trump administration's recent approval of Anthropic's Mythos model for government use as the central case. Lucas and Luna discuss what it means for defense contractors when the Department of Defense buys AI not as custom-built software but as a commercial service, similar to...

The Pentagon is shifting how it funds and procures hypersonic propulsion, moving from classified bespoke programs to a commercial-style engine marketplace. Lucas and Luna unpack the new approach using a concrete example: the Air Force's recent solicitation for a 'modular hypersonic turbine' — essentially a jet engine that can run at Mach 5. They discuss why this matters for primes like RTX and L3H...

Episode 74 dives into the Pentagon's shift from bespoke, mil-spec nuclear components to commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) parts for nuclear command and control systems. Lucas and Luna explore how this move—dubbed 'commercial nuclear sourcing'—could cut costs by 40% and slash delivery times, using the Defense Logistics Agency's new streamlined acquisition pathway for radiation-hardened electronics. T...

Episode 73 of The Defense Tech Podcast explores a quietly radical shift in defense manufacturing: the Pentagon's push to 3D-print critical missile components at scale. Lucas and Luna break down a specific case — the Army's recent contract with a startup called Spree3D to print rocket engine nozzles for the Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System (GMLRS). They discuss how additive manufacturing could...

The Pentagon is betting big on electric warships, with a new wargaming project to test all-electric propulsion for future naval combat. In this episode, Lucas and Luna break down the strategic rationale: why electric drives offer stealth, efficiency, and power for directed-energy weapons. They examine the challenges—battery capacity, charging at sea, and the massive power requirements of railguns...

The U.S. Navy has quietly shifted its shipbuilding wargames to model electric-drive warships as the default platform for future surface combatants. Lucas and Luna dig into why the shift matters for contractors like General Dynamics and Huntington Ingalls, what it means for the current fleet buildout, and how the change is already showing up in recent contract language and R&D spending. They also l...

Episode 70 of The Defense Tech Podcast. Hosts Lucas and Luna break down the June 24, 2026 selloff in defense stocks triggered by Germany's decision to scrap major warship plans. Rheinmetall dropped 13 percent, and US primes like Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and General Dynamics each lost 4 to 7 percent in a single week. The hosts explain why a single European budget decision ripples through...

Episode 69 of The Defense Tech Podcast explores how the Department of Defense is overhauling its procurement of small unmanned aerial systems by adopting commercial best practices. Lucas and Luna break down the Pentagon's new 'Drone as a Service' pilot, which cuts acquisition timelines from years to weeks. They discuss the Defense Innovation Unit's latest contract with Skydio for 5,000 commercial-...

The Pentagon is overhauling how it buys rocket launches—moving from bespoke contracts to a model that looks a lot like an airline buying fleet capacity. Lucas and Luna break down the National Security Space Launch program's new 'fleet buy' approach, using real numbers: the Space Force's $5.6 billion Phase 3 lane 1 award to SpaceX, ULA, and Blue Origin, and what it means for companies like Rocket L...

Episode 67 dives into the Pentagon's new 'AI as a Service' procurement model, which lets commanders access machine learning models on demand instead of owning them. Lucas explains how the Defense Innovation Unit's 'Tradewind' initiative is reshaping contracting with a metaphor from the commercial cloud: you don't buy the data center, you buy the compute. Luna questions whether this model works for...

The Pentagon is spending over $1 billion annually on counter-drone systems, but it's not buying them the way it buys fighter jets. Lucas and Luna break down the new, faster procurement model: off-the-shelf commercial tech, modular software upgrades, and a $300 million contract to Anduril for an AI-enabled sentry tower system called 'Pulsar'. They discuss why the old acquisition model fails against...

The Pentagon's commercial satellite internet procurement has quietly shifted from emergency contracts to a structured, multi-vendor buying model. Lucas and Luna break down the new 'Proliferated Low-Earth Orbit' acquisition framework, how Starlink became the de facto backbone for Ukraine and now for deployed US forces, and what it means for legacy contractors like L3Harris and Northrop Grumman. The...

Episode 64 of The Defense Tech Podcast dives into the Pentagon's shift to 'proliferated architecture' for low-Earth orbit satellites. Lucas and Luna break down how the Space Development Agency is buying hundreds of small, cheaper satellites in two-year tranches, mimicking commercial electronics procurement. They examine Lockheed Martin's 5.4% drop over five days despite winning a key tranche, and...

In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the Pentagon's shift toward acquiring drone swarms through software-like contracts, focusing on the Replicator initiative and the new 'swarm-as-a-service' model. They discuss how this approach contrasts with traditional hardware procurement, using real data from Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman stock dips to underscore market skepticism about legacy prim...

Lucas and Luna dig into the Pentagon's new ‘Software Acquisition Pathway’ for drone swarms — a procurement reform that lets the military buy unmanned aerial systems the way it buys cloud subscriptions. They trace the shift from the old 10-year weapons development cycle to a model where contractors deliver algorithm updates every two weeks. Lucas points to the Replicator initiative's goal of fieldi...

The Pentagon's new Mobile Protected Firepower vehicle — the M10 Booker — is reshaping how the Army thinks about armored warfare in dense urban environments. Lucas and Luna break down the Booker's specs, its deployment to the 82nd Airborne, and what it means for defense contractors like General Dynamics and BAE Systems. They also discuss the broader shift toward lighter, more deployable armored veh...

In episode 60 of The Defense Tech Podcast, Lucas and Luna drill into a specific, unglamorous but critical piece of military infrastructure: the Pentagon's plan to build a rapid-response fleet for repairing damaged undersea cables. Drawing on a recent Government Accountability Office report and a $300 million contract vehicle awarded in March 2026 to companies like Subcom and ASN, they explore why...

Episode 59 of The Defense Tech Podcast explores the Pentagon's latest unconventional energy bet: space-based solar power. Lucas and Luna break down the Defense Innovation Unit's SBSP program, the $100 million prototype contract awarded to Northrop Grumman in April 2026, and the technical hurdles of beaming gigawatts from orbit. They discuss how this fits into the military's push for resilient ener...

Episode 58 of The Defense Tech Podcast explores the Pentagon's quiet shift toward reusable hypersonic flight vehicles. Lucas and Luna break down the DARPA and Air Force programs pushing for recovery and reflight of hypersonic testbeds, the cost implications versus expendable missiles, and what this means for the industrial base. They reference real market data: Northrop Grumman's stock is flat, wh...

Episode 57 of The Defense Tech Podcast dives into the Pentagon's accelerating investment in mobile ground robots for logistics and reconnaissance. Lucas and Luna examine the newly announced Robotic Combat Vehicle-Light program, which aims to field 3,000 unmanned ground vehicles by 2028. They discuss the $6.2 billion contract opportunity, the competitive landscape including incumbents like QinetiQ...

The Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is funding a project to build a nuclear fission reactor on the Moon by 2030 under the DRACO program. This episode explores why the Department of Defense needs lunar nuclear power — not for scientific exploration, but for energy-intensive military operations like persistent surveillance, surface mobility, and secure communication node...

Episode 55 examines the Pentagon's renewed investment in nuclear thermal propulsion for military spacecraft, a technology dormant since the 1970s. Lucas explains why the Defense Innovation Unit awarded a $34 million contract to Ultra Safe Nuclear Corporation in May 2026, and how this fits into the broader push for rapid maneuver in cislunar space. Luna questions whether nuclear engines can escape...