The CET Brief

David Yahid
  • 5.0 (2)
  • Tech News
  • Updated weekly

The CET Brief: Combat-Proven Defense Intelligence Bridging the gap between the Israeli front line and the U.S. Defense Industrial Base (DIB). Every episode of The CET Brief features a technical intake with founders of the world’s most resilient defense technologies. We bypass the marketing noise to focus on the "Signal": high-TRL capabilities, battle-tested performance in contested environments, and U.S. sovereign readiness. Hosted by the CET Sandbox, this series provides U.S. DIB with direct access to the operational pedigree and technical moats

  1. 22 hr ago

    The Recovery Problem: Amitai Peleg on Sealartec and the Future of Autonomous Naval Sustainment

    The missing piece in autonomous marine defense is not the boat - it's the ability to get it back, refuel it, and keep it operating. Amitai Peleg, Co-Founder and CEO of Sealartec, reveals how his team is solving the logistics bottleneck that has kept unmanned surface vessels from scaling, and why that breakthrough could change naval operations worldwide. David Yahid of CET Sandbox sits down with Amitai to unpack the hard truth behind marine robotics: launching a drone boat is easy, but recovering it in rough seas is the real barrier to mass deployment. Amitai explains how Sealartec turned that overlooked problem into a patented system for autonomous launch, recovery, docking, and refueling - technology that is already being demonstrated with major defense players. You'll discover: Why autonomous boats still need a "landing" solution before they can become truly usefulHow a Navy experience and a mechanical engineering background sparked the companyThe garage-built prototype that led to a working sea trial in harsh conditionsHow Sealartec moved from first funding to live demonstrations with the US Navy and US Coast GuardWhy autonomous refueling may unlock far larger scale than launch and recovery aloneAmitai shares how Sealartec's systems are now being tested and deployed with organizations including BAE Systems, Israel Aerospace Industries, the US Navy, the US Coast Guard, and other global maritime partners. He also explains why the company is shifting toward the US market, building local production strategies, and preparing for a future where autonomous vessels can operate longer, farther, and at greater scale. This episode is essential listening if you're interested in defense technology, autonomous systems, marine robotics, or the infrastructure that makes unmanned fleets actually viable. If you've ever wondered what it takes to turn a launch-and-recovery bottleneck into the backbone of the autonomous navy, this conversation lays it out.

  2. 3 Sept

    Owning the Spectrum: Meir Friedland on Sensorz and the Future of RF Threat Detection

    Spectrum dominance is becoming a battlefield necessity, and Sensorz is building the stack that helps militaries detect, classify, and react to RF threats in subseconds. Meir Friedland explains why the old way of handling signals intelligence is breaking under the pressure of drones, GPS spoofing, software-defined radios, and an exploding number of waveforms. I sat down with Meir Friedland, Co-Founder and CEO of Sensorz, to unpack how a company can turn deep communications intelligence expertise into an end-to-end defense platform. Meir shares how Sensorz went from identifying a gap in the commercial spectrum space to delivering turnkey solutions for tactical units, border security, force protection, and strategic defense customers. You'll discover: What "spectrum dominance" actually means in practice - from detection to rapid reactionWhy modern battlefields are creating an invisible wireless war that most systems were never designed to handleHow Sensorz combines algorithms, C2 software, and its own receivers and SDRs into one vertically integrated offeringWhy accessibility matters as much as raw technology, and how the team is making complex RF data usable for non-expertsHow the company builds models and signal libraries while keeping customer data sovereign through its RF Studio pipelineMeir also breaks down the three customer archetypes Sensorz serves - highly tactical teams that need speed and simplicity, large-scale deployers securing borders and armored vehicles, and strategic operators facing unknown signals where every day saved can change the outcome of a mission. He explains how feedback from the field, especially in Israel, is accelerating product development and revealing use cases they did not expect. This episode is a sharp look at what it takes to build defense technology for a spectrum that is growing more crowded, more dynamic, and more contested by the day. Essential listening if you care about electronic warfare, SIGINT, defense innovation, or how real-world field requirements shape breakthrough products.

  3. 27 Aug

    Swarm Defense at Scale: Ido Bar-On on Skapion and the Future of Counter-Swarm Interception

    Drone swarms are changing the math of modern air defense. A single interceptor going up against a single drone was always an economically strained equation — but when the threat is dozens or hundreds of coordinated drones arriving at once, traditional systems start to break down entirely. In this episode, David Yahid speaks with Ido Bar-On, Co-founder and CEO of Skapion, about building a purpose-built counter-swarm system for that reality. Ido walks through why swarm warfare represents a distinct threat category rather than a scaled-up version of single-drone defense, and why he believes hard kill interception — not jamming or soft kill alone — is essential for large, long-range threats like Shahed-class UAVs. The conversation centers on a theme that runs through the whole discussion: defense technology has to be designed for scale and producibility from day one, not retrofitted onto an impressive demo. In this episode: Why simultaneous mass drone attacks demand a fundamentally different defense architecture than single-engagement systemsThe case for hard kill interception over soft kill for large, high-payload threatsDesigning a mobile, standalone system that can sense, decide, and intercept without relying on external connectivityDeployability across platforms like trailers, vessels, and helicopters, and what that flexibility means operationallyRethinking the cost curve of asymmetric warfare through low-cost interceptorsWhat it takes to move counter-swarm technology from demo to fielded, producible systemSkapion is building for a battlefield where the threat no longer arrives one at a time — and where the winning system will be the one built for scale from the start.

  4. 20 Aug

    On the Trigger, Not the Joystick: Elad Amar on PYRRHUS and the Future of Warfighter Tech

    In Gaza, Elad Amar watched soldiers drop their rifles mid-contact to pick up a joystick, just to get eyes in the sky. That single tradeoff, weapon readiness for situational awareness, became the problem he built a company to solve. In this episode of The CET Brief, David Yahid talks with Elad Amar, CEO and founder of PYRRHUS Aeronautics, about LADRS, a weapon-mounted remote system that lets soldiers control drones without ever leaving their weapon. Elad, an IDF reserve captain and infantry officer with deployments in Gaza and Lebanon, explains how firsthand combat experience shaped the product, why the device mounts on a rifle like a PEQ-15 to let soldiers aim, laser-designate a target, and task a drone in one motion, and why PYRRHUS built the system to be both hardware-agnostic and drone-agnostic so units can adopt it without replacing their existing fleets. Joined by co-founder and CTO Dr. Leandro Gryngarten, a Georgia Tech-trained aerospace engineer, and guided by advisors including General Eric Wesley and John Spencer, Elad frames PYRRHUS's approach as "physical AI" for the battlefield: pushing sensors, compute, and data access down to the individual warfighter instead of leaving it back at headquarters. In this episode: PYRRHUS's first product: a weapon-mounted remote system that lets soldiers control drones directly from the rifleElad's path from IDF reserve captain and infantry officer, with deployments in Gaza and Lebanon, to founderCo-founder Dr. Leandro Gryngarten's role leading hardware and systems engineering, with a PhD in aerospace engineering from Georgia TechHow advisors General Eric Wesley and John Spencer shape the team's thinking on scalability and U.S. Army integrationThe "aha moment" in Gaza that exposed the cost of switching from rifle to joystick under contactHow the system mounts on the rifle, PEQ-15 style, so soldiers can aim, laser-designate, and task a drone without letting go of their weaponThe mission behind the design: staying "on the trigger and not on the joystick"Elad's "physical AI" framing, bringing sensors, compute, and data closer to the warfighter instead of headquartersThe addition of a stronger integrated laser, driven directly by soldier feedbackWhy PYRRHUS is building a modular platform designed for future capabilitiesWhy the system is drone-agnostic, letting units keep their current fleet while adding rifle-based controlAs Elad puts it, staying on the trigger and off the joystick isn't just a design principle. It's the difference between reacting to a threat and losing the initiative entirely.

  5. 13 Aug

    Owning the Spectrum: Onn Fenig on R2 Wireless and the Future of Passive RF Sensing

    Modern drones don't need to trust GPS, and they don't need to broadcast their intentions. They can spoof coordinates, hop between multiple links, and go dark whenever it suits them. For years, counter-drone detection assumed emitters would play by the rules. R2 Wireless was built on the realization that they won't. In this episode of The CET Brief, David Yahid sits down with Onn Fenig, CEO of R2 Wireless, to talk about ODIN, the company's passive RF sensing platform for detecting, classifying, and geolocating wireless emitters without ever transmitting a signal. Founded by Dr. Yiftach Richter after his work in SIGINT exposed the limits of brute-force drone detection, R2 Wireless has grown into a dual-use platform tested across Israel's borders, NATO exercises, and multiple U.S. Army units, with a fully owned subsidiary now operating out of Austin, Texas. Onn walks through why passive sensing matters in GPS-denied and electronically contested environments, how ODIN extends beyond drone detection to catch IMSI catchers, tactical radios, and satellite comms, and why the electromagnetic spectrum is becoming the next high ground in modern conflict. In this episode: R2 Wireless's mission: a dual-use platform for passive RF detection, wireless threat detection, and geolocation across military, homeland security, and infrastructure use casesDr. Yiftach Richter's SIGINT background and the consulting work that exposed the limits of brute-force drone detectionWhy GPS dependence breaks down in real conflict, and the case for detection that doesn't trust what an emitter claimsField validation across Israel's borders, NATO exercises, the UK and German Ministries of Defense, and U.S. Army unitsDetection beyond drones: IMSI catchers, tactical radios, cell phones, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and satellite commsWhy passive sensing means zero emissions, and how ODIN augments radar and other sensors without adding exposureHardware built on commercial off-the-shelf components, deployable in minutes on drones, vehicles, masts, tripods, or a soldier's backpackScaling in the U.S.: the Austin subsidiary, DIU program work, and R2's first commercial agreement with the DoWFlexible commercial models, from amortized military contracts to subscription-based sensing as a serviceWhy Onn believes the electromagnetic spectrum is the new high ground, and how cheap drones and jammers are rewriting war economicsAs Onn puts it, the platforms still selling standalone sensors the old way are fighting yesterday's war.

  6. 6 Aug

    Revolutionizing RF Simulation: Daniel Ferber and Barr on RFix AI and the Future of Wireless Testing

    Testing RF systems has always meant one of two things: expensive lab hardware or expensive field time. Neither scales, and neither works when the environment you're trying to replicate is a battlefield, not a bench. In this episode, I sit down with Daniel Ferber and Barr, founders of RFix AI, who set out to solve that problem with software instead of steel. Their platform simulates complex RF transmission scenarios without the racks of equipment traditionally required, running instead on standard hardware, including smartphones and basic laptops. What makes their approach different is the architecture. RFix AI's simulations don't depend on cloud infrastructure, which means they can run fully air-gapped, a critical requirement for defense clients who can't risk sensitive RF data touching an external network. Combined with a lightweight footprint, that opens the door to use cases ranging from missile communication testing to AI model training to telecom network planning, all without the cost and lead time of physical test ranges. We get into: The military RF challenges that pushed the founders toward building a simulation-first alternativeHow the team's mixed background in aviation engineering, army service, and software shaped the productThe technical case for running high-fidelity RF simulation on minimal hardwareWhy air-gapped, cloud-independent deployment is a differentiator for defense buyersRFix AI's current footprint with Israeli clients and its roadmap into the U.S. defense sectorHow program managers can get hands-on with a demo directly through the RFix AI websiteDaniel and Barr's pitch is straightforward: RF teams shouldn't need a warehouse of equipment to know if their system will work in the field.

  7. 31 Jul

    Eyes Off the Satellites: Yonatan Samet on Sightec and the Future of GPS-Denied Drone Autonomy

    The modern battlefield has made GPS unreliable. Jamming, spoofing, and degraded signal environments are now standard operating conditions, and most drone systems weren't built for that reality. Yonatan Samet is the CTO of Sightec, an Israeli defense tech company that has spent years solving exactly that problem. Sightec builds vision-based autonomy software that allows drones and UAVs to navigate, operate, and land precisely without any dependence on GPS. The team is an unusual mix: AI engineers and veteran UAV pilots who have flown in the environments the technology is designed for. That combination, Yonatan argues, is what separates a system that works in the lab from one that survives in the field. Their two flagship products, NavSite for GPS-denied navigation and Terrasite for precision landing, are already deployed across more than 4,000 systems globally, across defense and commercial operators, and across a wide range of aircraft types. Integration takes under three days. In this conversation, we get into: Why GPS degradation and jamming have become the baseline challenge for drone operators worldwideHow vision-based autonomy addresses the pilot bottleneck and reduces the cognitive load on operatorsThe difference between NavSite and Terrasite, and how they work togetherWhat it means to be combat-proven, and why that matters when selling to defense customersHow easing Israeli export regulations has opened up international market accessSightec's flexible business model, from one-time sales to subscriptions, and why customer support is central to the strategyThe roadmap beyond flight safety into mission-specific autonomy capabilitiesYonatan's perspective is shaped by a career moving between automotive autonomy and defense UAVs, and he's clear about what that transition taught him: full-cycle integration and end-user understanding aren't optional. They're the product.

  8. 23 Jul

    The Field Power Problem: Omer Hiram on IonFlux and the Future of Energy in Constrained Environments

    Getting power to the front line has always been a logistics challenge. Getting clean, reliable, on-demand energy there, without a supply chain built around gaseous hydrogen or diesel generators, is a different problem entirely. Omer Hiram is the co-founder of IonFlux, an Israeli energy tech company building a system that generates hydrogen and electricity directly in the field, using solid aluminum fuel pods and water. No external power source. No hydrogen transport. The aluminum reacts with water to produce hydrogen on demand, which is then converted into usable electricity. The fuel itself is solid, stable, and far easier to move than pressurized gas. It's a genuinely different approach to field power, and the use cases it opens up are wide-ranging. In this conversation, we get into: Why generating hydrogen on demand is a fundamentally safer and more logistically manageable alternative to transporting itHow the system powers drones, radios, batteries, and off-grid equipment without heavy infrastructureThe design philosophy behind keeping it simple enough for end users while still being scalableWhere IonFlux sits on the path from proof of concept to military pilots and U.S. market entryWhy logistics, safety, and weight are as central to the product as the underlying chemistryThe team's vision for backup power, field operations, and energy resilience across military and civilian contextsOmer's core argument is practical: solid fuel pods that react with water are easier to store, safer to move, and more deployable in constrained environments than anything built around conventional hydrogen logistics. The question isn't whether field power needs to improve, it's whether the solution can actually survive the last mile.

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About

The CET Brief: Combat-Proven Defense Intelligence Bridging the gap between the Israeli front line and the U.S. Defense Industrial Base (DIB). Every episode of The CET Brief features a technical intake with founders of the world’s most resilient defense technologies. We bypass the marketing noise to focus on the "Signal": high-TRL capabilities, battle-tested performance in contested environments, and U.S. sovereign readiness. Hosted by the CET Sandbox, this series provides U.S. DIB with direct access to the operational pedigree and technical moats

Information

  • Creator
    David Yahid
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    23
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © David Yahid
  • Show Website
    The CET Brief