The kill chain is getting faster. The battlefield is getting harder to stay connected to. This week on the Goat Rodeo Podcast, Garrett Smith, Simon Coon and Dave Caudle are joined by friend of the pod and fourth-wheel co-host Ben Rosen, Reveal Technology’s VP of Geospatial, for a conversation that starts at the tactical edge and somehow ends up in space. Ben brings experience from both sides of the defense-tech equation. Before joining Reveal, he served as an Army officer and later worked at DEVCOM C5ISR, where he was the sensor-to-shooter SME on the early Project Kill Web effort that eventually grew into Project Convergence. He also worked on advanced sensors and tactical AI before making the jump to Reveal. The crew starts with the future of targeting. \ As drones, sensors and strike capabilities move down to smaller units, targeting workflows may have to move with them. But accelerating the kill chain creates its own tension: how do you decentralize decisions without decentralizing the mission itself? Ben argues that technology and authority can move down the chain, but intent still has to remain coherent. Garrett takes it a step further: on a battlefield saturated with electronic warfare and jamming, highly networked systems can't be the only answer. Units at the tactical edge need the ability to operate when the network doesn't. From there, the conversation moves rapidly up the kill chain. The crew debates Anduril's Fury and the Air Force's Collaborative Combat Aircraft program, where the promise of venture-backed defense manufacturing ends and government procurement has to begin, and whether maintaining multiple vendors actually survives contact with defense budgets. Then comes Golden Dome. Simon makes the case that the full vision may collide with political and fiscal reality, while Garrett and Dave explore what pieces could survive—including ground- and space-based sensing, interceptors and the increasingly public reality of military capabilities in orbit. And finally: who controls the AI? A recent court fight involving Anthropic and the Pentagon kicks off a larger argument about whether technology companies should retain control over how their products are used after selling them to the military—and what responsibility defense-tech companies have to anticipate how warfighters will actually use the tools they build. Plus: Resident Evil, zombie survival strategy, D-Day, space weapons, Skynet, AI-induced psychosis and the future of drone-delivered e-bikes. It's a Goat Rodeo. Chapters00:00 Who controls defense technology after it's sold? 00:27 Welcome to Goat Rodeo: Ben Rosen joins the crew 00:59 Simon's zombie apocalypse survival strategy 02:19 Meet Ben Rosen 03:23 From the Army to Project Kill Web 05:08 Joining Reveal and leading Geospatial 05:42 How targeting is changing 08:04 Technology, effects and the actual objective 11:07 The connected kill chain vs. the tactical edge 12:33 Decentralizing decisions without losing intent 13:52 Fighting when the network goes down 14:59 D-Day and decentralized warfare 16:16 From Band of Brothers to autonomous aircraft 17:20 Anduril, Fury and the CCA program 21:55 Should defense tech rally Congress? 22:59 Where venture capital ends and procurement begins 27:35 Will CCA funding actually arrive? 28:19 Competition, vendor lock and defense acquisition 31:45 Is Golden Dome in trouble? 34:14 The problem with space-based interceptors 36:10 Who actually wins from Golden Dome? 37:08 America acknowledges weapons in space 38:06 What could space weapons actually look like? 41:35 Space as the highest echelon of targeting 44:04 A new space race 45:14 Anthropic vs. the Pentagon 46:06 Should tech companies control how the military uses their products? 48:10 Can defense technology really be “defensive only”? 50:01 The product-builder's dilemma 52:42 What happens when warfighters use technology in unintended ways 53:41 AI isn't always the right tool 54:41 From Skynet back to the infantry 54:51 Ukraine's drone-delivered e-bike 57:07 Ben signs off from Belfast Connect with Goat RodeoIf you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, leave a review, and share it with someone interested in defense technology, national security, geopolitics, or the future of warfare. Our PodcastNational security, defense tech, and geopolitics; serious topics, but that doesn't mean we have to be boring about it. The Goat Rodeo Podcast brings you military veterans turned defense insiders, breaking down the biggest stories shaping the future of warfare. Listen on other platforms: https://linktr.ee/GoatRodeoPodcast Connect with Goat RodeoIf you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, leave a review, and share it with someone interested in defense technology, national security, geopolitics, or the future of warfare. Our PodcastNational security, defense tech, and geopolitics; serious topics, but that doesn't mean we have to be boring about it. The Goat Rodeo Podcast brings you military veterans turned defense insiders, breaking down the biggest stories shaping the future of warfare. Expect sharp insights, unfiltered debates, and the occasional defense industry hot take, because let's be honest, this space can be a total goat rodeo. Listen on other platforms: https://linktr.ee/GoatRodeoPodcast
