Episode notes
Don’t miss our newsletter! That's where we drop weekly knowledge bombs to help you make sense of defense! In this episode, Mike interviews retired Air Force Colonel John Warden. John is an Air Force pioneer who shaped how the modern world thinks about warfare—specifically the concepts of the operational level of war, parallel attack, and centers of gravity. He is most noted as the creator of Warden’s Five Rings and the architect of the Gulf War air campaign—but there’s much more than that. We talked about how his thoughts were shaped in Vietnam and the 1980s, how he ended up in the Pentagon,…
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 aerosp
More from The Merge
-
3 Mar 2025 · 38 min
The Future of Air Warfare: Radars (Sponsored)
Joe “Grip” Beissner, Director of Requirements and Capabilities for Radio Frequency Solutions at Raytheon , a business of RTX , joins us to discuss the cutting-edge AESA radars Raytheon delivers for our warfighters.
-
23 Feb 2025 · 22 min
The Future of Air Warfare: Weapons (Sponsored)
Jon "Stormin" Norman, Vice President of Requirements & Capabilities at Raytheon , a business of RTX , joins us to discuss the cutting-edge air-to-air and -surface weapons and effectors Raytheon delivers for our warfighters.
-
16 Feb 2025 · 53 min
E46 – Expendable Tech for F-35 Threat Training
Don’t miss our newsletter! That's where we drop weekly knowledge bombs to help you make sense of defense! In this episode, Mike sits down with Brett “Snappy”Abbamonte, a former Marine Corps F-35 pilot now at Advanced Strategic Insight (ASI) Inc. Snappy is the program manager for ELITE (ExpendableLower-cost Integrated Training Emitter), a compact, cost-effective system designed to mimic high-end surface-to-air missile (SAM) threats. Dive into how this innovative tech is reshaping training,enhancing readiness, and solving a critical warfighter problem—offering a firsthand look at how operators…
-
22 Dec 2024 · 43 min
E44 – Silent Arrow
Check out our newsletter , where we drop weekly knowledge bombs to help you make sense of defense! In this episode, Mike interviews Chip Yates, founder of Yates Electrospace Corporation. With a background in racing, Chip has made a name for himself by setting numerous world records as a pioneer in electric-powered motorcycles and airplanes. His journey took a strategic turn when he encountered a complex military challenge, leading to the inception of his company. Chip pivoted to defense, launching Silent Arrow—disposable cargo drones deployed from planes like the C-130. These drones must…
-
26 Nov 2024 · 38 min
E43 – The Laser-Guided Bomb
Sign up for our newsletter , where we drop weekly knowledge bombs to help you make sense of defense! Speaking of knowledge bombs, Mike hosts Ed Cobleigh to talk about Paveway: the laser-guided bomb. Ed flew 375 combat missions during the Vietnam War in the F-4 Phantom and was one of the first people to drop the Paveway laser-guided bomb in combat. He earned two Distinguished Flying Crosses and went on to attend Fighter Weapons School, where he remained in order to stand up the guided weapons division and teach Paveway LGB employment. Ed’s had a wild life beyond the Air Force and is now an…
-
20 Oct 2024 · 54 min
E42 – B-52 BUFF modernization
Don’t miss our newsletter! That's where we drop weekly knowledge bombs to help you make sense of defense! Mike hosts Col. Joseph Little, callsign “Little Joe,” to discuss how the US Air Force is modernizing the legendary B-52 BUFF to keep it flying into the 2050s—100 years after its first flight. Col Little is a B-52 Weapons Systems Officer, a US Air Force Weapons School graduate, a former test squadron commander, and currently serving as the Detachment 5 Commander of the Air Force Operational Test and Evaluation Center (AFOTEC), where he oversees the B-52J program. The B-52J modernization…
-
4 Oct 2026 · 27 min
E62 – Rethinking Aircraft Maintenance with Perfect Point EDM
Buying a fighter jet is the cheap part. Mike sits down with Jim Becker , President and CEO of Perfect Point EDM, to talk about the biggest line in any defense program: keeping the fleet flying. Perfect Point builds the E-Drill, which uses electro discharge machining (EDM) to pull aircraft fasteners. Founded in 2005, it turned a lab curiosity into a fielded tool that removes a rivet in about 30 seconds instead of 10 minutes, with no debris and almost no rework. Jim's take is blunt. The aircraft modernized, the maintenance tooling did not, and the industry keeps papering over it by leaning on…
-
30 Aug 2026 · 37 min
E61 – Rebuilding the Test Playbook with Nominal
Test is where new military hardware goes to wait. Mike sits down with Jenn Wilson, Head of Federal at Nominal, to talk about test and evaluation, the least glamorous gate between a program and the warfighter. Nominal builds test data infrastructure for hardware. Founded in 2022 by Anduril, Palantir, and Lockheed Martin alumni, it reached a $1 billion valuation in March. Jenn’s take is that acceleration comes from optimizing what you test for. Cutting test points is the wrong lever. Topics include: Test and evaluation as a mission enabler High rate, multimodal test data Real-time telemetry…
-
12 Jul 2026 · 44 min
E60 – GPS-Free Navigation
How do systems operate when GPS disappears? Mike sits down with Kara Kramer , Vice President ofRaptor Sales at Vantor (formerly Maxar Intelligence), to discuss one of the most important challenges facing modern autonomous systems: operating when GPS is jammed, spoofed, or completely unavailable. We discuss vision-based navigation (VBN), 3D geospatialintelligence, and why resilient autonomy depends on more than just the drone itself. From electronic warfare to contested operations, this conversation examines how software and spatial intelligence are enabling unmanned operations, and Vantor’s…
-
4 Jun 2026 · 43 min
E59 – Business Breakdown: Anduril
Anduril Industries raised $5 billion at a reported $61billion valuation—putting a nine-year-old defense tech company in the same conversation as legacy primes that have been building weapons for generations. How did they do it, what is their strategy, and does the math make sense? In this episode, Mike and Matthew take a deep dive inside Anduril’s products, revenue, contracts, and business strategy. They break down the Series H raise, the company’s rapid valuation climb, the difference between contract ceilings and booked revenue, and why visible federal obligations onlytell part of the…
Take it with you
The Melo app keeps playing with the screen off, works in the car and on your watch, wakes you to your station, and browses the whole catalogue offline. Free, no ads, no account.
