The Merge

The Merge

Military technology, trends, and national security...presented with unique insights, salt, and wit from combat aviator veterans and industry experts. Fence in for interviews and anecdotes about the ins, outs, and happenings at the intersection of technology, industry, strategy, and policy of aerospace and national defense. Brought to you by The Merge newsletter.

  1. 1. FEB.

    E56 – The Fury Origin Story

    This is the untold origin story of the Fury CollaborativeCombat Aircraft (CCA), as told by those who lived it. Scott Bledsoe and Joe Murray join Mike to talk about Fury’s very beginning—way back to 2016. Now known as Anduril’s YFQ-44, Fury originated as an SBIR project from Blue Force Technologies and may go on to become a poster child of SBIR success stories. But it’s not all good news. The experience—and the decision to sell to Anduril—motivated Scott and Joe to start a new type of investment fund called the DoD Accelerator. DoD Accelerator bridges the gap between venture capital and private equity, addressing the ‘funding valley of death’ they faced and the factors that led to the decision to sell their company—and Fury—to Anduril. This is packed with never-before-revealed details and serves as the backdrop for a broader conversation about the realities of having a company in the defense industry.   Links • Sign up for the newsletter⁠! • Support us on ⁠Patreon⁠! • Scott Bledsoe • Joe Murray • WOTR High-Low Mix Part I • WOTR High-Low Mix Part II ----   Follow us on... • LinkedIn • Instagram⁠ • ⁠X⁠ • ⁠Facebook⁠ • ⁠Website⁠ ----   00:00 00:26 intro 01:50 Scott and Joe 07:21 DoD Accelerator 09:51 Fury origin story 11:24 SBIR 16:28 the high-low mix 17:11 writing to understand 18:29 F-117 19:04 no part 3 19:41 red air use-case 24:29 Bandit and ADAIR-UX 25:10 funding and the valley of death 28:04 the capital void 31:11 programs consolidate 32:28 Anduril acquisition 33:37 the small business divide 34:14 DoD Accelerator fit 36:12 Baxter Aerospace example 41:19 the cheat code 44:26 crystal ball 45:17 the prime cartel? 46:32 magic wand - IR&D policy change 49:10 policy hurts start-ups 52:51 DoD Accelerator focus areas

    54 Min.

  2. 18. JAN.

    E55 – Christine Fox: the REAL Charlie

    There is a strange set of organizations that live betweenindustry and government called Federally Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDCs) and University Affiliated Research Centers (UARCs). They play an important—but largely misunderstood role—in national security. What better way to understand it all than with a guest who’sone of the most famous pop-culture examples: Christine Fox. She was the real person who was portrayed as ‘Charlie’,Maverick’s civilian love interest, in Top Gun! She spent 40+ years working as an analyst in UARCs and a civilian leader at the Pentagon, culminating in serving as the acting Deputy Secretary of Defense. Today, she continues to serve as a Fellow at Johns HopkinsUniversity’s Applied Physics Lab (JHU APL), which is the nation’s largest UARC. This interview has a ton of inside baseball that you won’t find anywhere else!   Links • Sign up for the newsletter⁠! • Support us on ⁠Patreon⁠!   ---- Follow us on... • LinkedIn • Instagram⁠ • ⁠X⁠ • ⁠Facebook⁠ • ⁠Website⁠ ---- 00:00 intro 00:35 Top Gun 01:33 Christine Fox 02:53 origin of FFRFC & UARC 05:36 access to classified info 08:30 tech transfer 11:33 independence 14:42 threat analysis story 16:35 misunderstandings 20:29 software and competition 24:32 fix the gray 27:11 what if they disappear? 27:39 Navy Red Sea support 28:29 hypersonics 30:08 Golden Dome 31:01 whole of nation approach 38:20 2026 resolutions 39:42 closing remarks

    42 Min.

  3. 14.12.2025

    E54 – Pryzm: AI to understand the Pentagon

    Mike sits down with Matt Hawkins and Nick LaRovere,co-founders of Pryzm. Pryzm is building an Operating System for defense innovation—software that uses AI to generate capture intel to make sense of Pentagon budgets, Congressional legislation, program offices, and much more. It’s AI to understand the Pentagon. They help connect the dots between missions, markets, andpeople to power the future of national security.   Links • Sign up for the newsletter⁠! • Support us on ⁠Patreon⁠! • Pryzm homepage https://pryzm.io     ----   Follow us on... • LinkedIn • Instagram⁠ • ⁠X⁠ • ⁠Facebook⁠ • ⁠Website⁠ ----   00:00 01:43 intro 02:30 origin story 05:57 disclosure 07:07 2 PMs 08:47 Air Force tanker program 21:47 Golden Dome 28:12 sales vs business development 33:04 proactive vs reactive 34:59 intel to flip the script 37:56 a bubble? 41:18 flat toplines 43:05 requested vs executed 46:38 fundraise 48:27 DIU project 50:58 2026 outlook 55:29 outro

    56 Min.

  4. 10.12.2025

    E53 – The Fighter Pilot Spirit

    Chris "Snooze" Kurek, Rob “Trip” Raymond, and Erik“EZ” Brine chat with Mike “Pako” Benitez on all things fighter pilot culture—toast, roast, and lore. Better known as Dos Gringos, Snooze, and Trip put out 4albums of fighter pilot songs that are famous (and infamous) in squadrons around the world. EZ joined the duo to form Operation Encore in 2012, a non-profit that helps veterans get their music into the world. We dig into a century of fighter pilot history and traditions, from the origins of Dos Gringos, the squadron culture, roll call,Jermiah Weed, the ribbing and roasting, and all the camaraderie associated with military aviation. They recently brought all of that into their latest venture, Winglore Spirits, and are doing it in a unique way that brings you into the fold.   Links • Sign up for the ⁠newsletter⁠⁠! • Support us on ⁠⁠Patreon⁠⁠! • ⁠Winglore Spirits⁠ • ⁠Winglore Spirits⁠ investing • ⁠Dos Gringos⁠ YouTube channel   ----   Follow us on... • ⁠LinkedIn⁠ ⁠• Instagram⁠⁠ • ⁠⁠X⁠⁠ • ⁠⁠Facebook⁠⁠ • ⁠⁠Website⁠⁠ ----   00:00 01:47 Dos Gringos 17:22 Operation Encore 24:03 AI music 27:27 The culture and bar origins 34:27 Jermiah Weed 38:13 Winglore Spirits 42:03 Bogey Dope 43:16 Nickel on the Grass 45:29 Winglore squadron 50:42 the Nellis Club 52:02 Dos Gringos concert? 54:45 outro 55:04 Carlos jumps in 56:23 I wish I had a gun like the A-10

    58 Min.

  5. 25.11.2025

    E53 – The Fighter Pilot Spirit

    Chris "Snooze" Kurek, Rob “Trip” Raymond, and Erik“EZ” Brine chat with Mike “Pako” Benitez on all things fighter pilot culture—toast, roast, and lore. Better known as Dos Gringos, Snooze and Trip put out 4 albums of fighter pilot songs that are famous (and infamous) in squadrons around the world. EZ joined the duo to form Operation Encore in 2012, a non-profit that helps veterans get their music into the world. We dig into a century of fighter pilot history and traditions, from the origins of Dos Gringos, the squadron culture, roll call, Jermiah Weed, the ribbing and roasting, and all the camaraderie associated with military aviation. They recently brought all of that into their latest venture, Winglore Spirits, and are doing it in a unique way that brings you into the fold.   Links • Sign up for the newsletter⁠! • Support us on ⁠Patreon⁠! • Winglore Spirits • Winglore Spirits investing • Dos Gringos YouTube channel   ----   Follow us on... • LinkedIn • Instagram⁠ • ⁠X⁠ • ⁠Facebook⁠ • ⁠Website⁠ ----   00:00 01:47 Dos Gringos 17:22 Operation Encore 24:03 AI music 27:27 The culture and bar origins 34:27 Jermiah Weed 38:13 Winglore Spirits 42:03 Bogey Dope 43:16 Nickel on the Grass 45:29 Winglore squadron 50:42 the Nellis Club 52:02 Dos Gringos concert? 54:45 outro 55:04 Carlos jumps in 56:23 I wish I had a gun like the A-10

    57 Min.

  6. 25.10.2025

    E52 – Top Secret Offices

    Nooks co-founder and CEO Sean Blackman spills all thesecrets about what it takes to do classified business with the Pentagon. Nooks is a venture-backed startup founded in 2021 to solve amassive pain point: access to classified offices and networks to perform sensitive national security work. Nooks is attacking the problem in an innovative way called Classified-Infrastructure-as-a-Service (CIaaS), which is a subscription access to a nationwide network of classifiedworkspaces and IT. If you are in the defense industry—or even thinking about it—and there is even a sliver of a chance you will touch classified work, this episode is everything you need to know.   Links • Sign up for the newsletter⁠! • Support us on ⁠Patreon⁠! • Nooks website • Nooks LinkedIn   ----   Follow us on... • LinkedIn • Instagram⁠ • ⁠X⁠ • ⁠Facebook⁠ • ⁠Website⁠ ----   00:00 00:46 intro 01:49 Nooks 02:52 origin story 09:49 name and logo 12:30 locations and spaces 13:30 location and the real value unlock 17:57 COVID 19:20 fractional labs 20:06 fundraising for a weird company 22:01 information disadvantage 23:33 myth of hiring security clearances 30:00 SCIF 34:09 mobile SCIF 39:23 touchpoints and impact 42:13 security in shared spaces 46:48 the real impact 47:36 magic wand - crystal ball 49:50 make the problem go away secrets, top secret, military, technology, tech, defense, national security, air force, navy, army, marine corps, usmc

    52 Min.

  7. 05.10.2025

    E51 – Red 6 and the Military Metaverse

    Red 6 CEO and co-founder Dan Robinson discusses augmented reality for pilots, the military metaverse, and the future of high-end training and tactics development. Red 6 was founded in 2018 around a revolutionary approach to military flight training called ATARS—the Advanced Tactical Augmented Reality System—that creates virtual outdoor worlds to deliver threat-relevant,near-peer-level training scenarios. It’s much more than an augmented reality helmet—it's rethinking the entire pilot training and readiness experience.   Links • Sign up for the newsletter⁠! • Support us on ⁠Patreon⁠! • Red 6 homepage • Red 6 LinkedIn • Red 6 IG • Red6CEO IG   ----   Follow us on... • LinkedIn • Instagram⁠ • ⁠X⁠ • ⁠Facebook⁠ • ⁠Website⁠ ----   00:00 00:42 intro 01:41 origin story 05:22 thesis of Red 6 06:17 co-founder meeting 10:43 lack of adversaries to train against 16:03 realism that gets missed 17:58 surface threats 21:03 progress and iteration 25:25 all of the technical challenges 27:20 suspension of disbelief 30:37 replacing helmet-mounted cueing 32:09 Enders Game 34:18 the Red 6 name 35:59 UK Royal Air Force 38:33 manned + unmanned 45:08 validating tactics and training 51:34 quality vs quantity training 54:30 the technology is coming 55:21 flying 56:43 the chief morale officer

    58 Min.

  8. 14.09.2025

    E50 – JDAM: the GPS-Guided Bomb

    Mike sits down with Steve “Wingie” Wingfield to discuss the Joint Direct Attack Munition, aka the JDAM—the world’s first operational GPS-aided bomb. Wingie played a big role in the Air Force, doing weaponsflight testing and requirements writing, then went on to have another career at Boeing working on JDAM and other weapons. He’s one of the few people who got to see the entire storyarc, from the pain points in Desert Storm that started the whole thing, to other evolutions like Laser JDAM and extended range JDAM, and how those programscame to be. If you want a rare inside look at how one of the most successful acquisition programs in the past 30 years happened, this episode is for you.   Links • Sign up for the newsletter⁠! • Support us on ⁠Patreon⁠!   ----   Follow us on... • LinkedIn • Instagram⁠ • ⁠X⁠ • ⁠Facebook⁠ • ⁠Website⁠ ----   00:00 01:02 intro 05:43 JDAM name origin 06:56 accuracy spec origin 10:43 Desert Storm McPeak Memo 11:16 GAM before JDAM 12:29 Kosovo combat debut 14:39 40k for 40k competition 17:44 JDAM adoption 22:50 production feast & famine 25:19 9/11 demand signal 26:33 surging with standards 28:43 Iraqi Freedom GPS jamming 29:53 Laser JDAM origins 33:38 the impact 36:01 hitting moving targets 37:54 106 mph! 39:39 MOP 41:33 JDAM-ER 41:47 Ukraine 42:53 integration and modularity 43:41 aerial mining 46:22 outro   #military #airforce #navy #aviation #tech #technology #JDAM #boeing #GPS #defense #desert storm #iraq #syria #afghanistan #miltech #engineering #USA #security

    47 Min.
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Military technology, trends, and national security...presented with unique insights, salt, and wit from combat aviator veterans and industry experts. Fence in for interviews and anecdotes about the ins, outs, and happenings at the intersection of technology, industry, strategy, and policy of aerospace and national defense. Brought to you by The Merge newsletter.

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