Michael A. Brown

#ObsessivelyEnthusiasticInvestor #UnreasonablyEnthusiasticInvestor #IrrationallyEnthusiasticInvestor at REFASHIOND Ventures: The Industrial Transformation Fund. We look for the people we believe are doing the best work in Industrial Transformation & Supply Chain Technology; Attempting the impossible. Then we go all-in on them. With obsessive and unreasonable enthusiasm. Join us. #IndustrialTransformation #SupplyChain #Innovation #Technology #Startups #VentureCapital #DemandTheImpossible #UnreasonableEnthusiasm #ObsessiveEnthusiasm #IrrationalEnthusiasm

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VC investors are more interested than ever in the defense industry and defense technology. It could mark a proper sea change moment for investing in global security. Jason Rathje from Office of Strategic Capital leads the DoD's focus "on strategic capital needs where public support is required to attract private investment..." and "we hope to license our first funds ... where we provide loans to investors to increase early-stage investment in these very difficult technology areas." Katherine Boyle general partner at Andreessen Horowitz has said, "I don't think I've ever seen such excitement, enthusiasm for investing in defense tech across a wide variety of investment firms. I think it's something that pretty much every serious … traditional Silicon Valley investment firm has at least one partner who's focused on aerospace or defense." Not that there aren't challenges. Nick Beim , partner at Venrock: "You'll have to deal with an existing set of economic players who kind of don't want a lot of competition and may be more interested in doing something themselves and partnering with a company that's got a ready solution. So, there are a lot of risks." #defensindustry #defensetech Tholus Capital Ajax Defense https://lnkd.in/eqN68VKV 

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BIGGEST PRODUCT UPDATE YET!!! Over the past 6 months of the journey, our users have continually been asking for this one golden question: How much money is there for X? Up until now, you still had to piece the full picture together on our platform. No more. Create market sizings in minutes with competitors, funding offices and key stakeholders at your fingertips. We are so pumped for this next iteration of Usul and aren't slowing down anytime soon. Interested in multiplying your DoD capture? Book a demo here: https://lnkd.in/gbkrP3yk

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Excellent analysis. I can attest from my own and portfolio companies’ experience that IQT (In-Q-Tel) and Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) are extraordinarily effective at commercial efforts, DARPA on advancing great research, and there are another 3-5 units that do solid work. H/t Nicholas S. for surfacing this great post

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In a move to streamline technology transitions, Heidi Shyu, Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, has inaugurated the Transition Tracking Action Group (TTAG). This advisory body, established March 13, is set to harness advanced data analytics to track how the Department of Defense (DoD) delivers capabilities to the field. Chaired by the R&E's chief data officer, Cyrus Jabbari, and comprising senior representatives from the military services and offices under the Secretary of Defense, TTAG aims to improve the visibility and management of the DoD's technology transition processes. The goal of this initiative seeks to ensure the timely and cost-effective delivery of state-of-the-art systems and equipment to military personnel. To do this, the department will seek understand what the primary obstacles to transition are and if the measures it undertakes to improve outcomes are yielding desired effects. The TTAG will create a department-wide method to track technology transition and determine the reasons capability-enhancing technologies do or do not transition, to enable the Joint Force to deter and, if necessary, prevail in contested environments.

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Great news we have movement - time to accelerate the build allied model. The Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) is working quickly to determine how and where to spend the nearly $1 billion US Congress provided in March through the fiscal 2024 appropriations act. The $983 million allocation, nearly $800 more than what DIU received last year, will support the growing organization’s mission to help the United States Department of Defense quickly foster and field commercial capabilities in large numbers, according to DIU director Doug Beck. As reported, "due to prolonged budget deliberations in Congress that delayed the release of appropriations, DIU’s funding came more than five months into the fiscal year, presenting Beck’s team with the challenge of using that money in a short period of time". Beck didn’t discuss the specific initiatives DIU will funnel the funding toward — or what additional staff he might need to support these efforts — but said it will fall in four primary buckets: - accelerating existing programs, - launching new ones, - supporting projects housed within other DoD #innovation organizations, and - addressing some of the challenges commercial companies face as they try to work with the DoD. A pretty broad agenda. Hopefully allies and partner nations, particularly in the #indopacific, will not be forgotten as these programs are progressed in a multidomain environment. One that is becoming increasingly contested. #defence #defense U.S. Indo-Pacific Command Armatus.ai Bernice Glenn Kissinger US Army US Navy United States Air Force U.S. Space Command Defence Australia Pacific International Center For High Technology Research - PICHTR Japan - The Government of Japan Japan Ministry of Defense David Anderson #innovation #china #taiwan #technology Jerry McGinn, Ph.D. Tomoki Matsuo Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments (CSBA) Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) NATO Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA) https://lnkd.in/g6FWV3YT

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The Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) has been actively supporting startups since 2015, awarding contracts totaling $5.5 billion for innovations such as autonomous drones and cybersecurity software. While aiming for a quick turnaround in contract awards, the DIU faced delays in 2023. Despite awarding 90 contracts for pilot projects, only 10 progressed to military deals. To enhance its capabilities, the DIU plans to expand its staff and embed employees with combat commands worldwide. Looking ahead, the DIU seeks to expedite the integration of commercial technology into the military, focusing on confirmed Pentagon demand. With an increased budget, it aims to accelerate the transition from successful prototypes to actual contracts, ultimately helping startups secure recurring revenue through programs of record. #privatecapital #vc #venture #dualuse #innovation #defense #pentagon

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There you have it! Sydney Freedberg is always amazing at capturing real facts... and he sees beyond what others don't even begin to grasp. This is a great article from Breaking Defense about how to implement #GenerativeAI the right way, with tremendous and tangible outcomes but also the right guardrails. "Trust but verif-AI: Army will let genAI draft acquisition documents, with guardrails" Check it out! https://lnkd.in/gqkffkH7

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Today, the House Armed Services Committee Republicans held a hearing on Fielding Technology and Innovation: Industry Views on Department Of Defense Acquisition. If you stand anywhere near the arena of defense technology innovation, just the opening comments are a sufficient call to action. While emerging tech companies like Skydio, Shield AI, Saildrone, Applied Intuition, and Palantir Technologies spoke, they represented startups of all stages in an illuminating discourse about the change needed. While the services may have all the authorities they need, the authorities they have will lead to status quo solutions. Based on their statements, here are five solutions to real problems in the defense innovation ecosystem. 1. Surge American Small Drones to Ukraine and Scale Across U.S. Military: Provide small, dual-use drones to Ukraine to aid their defense and enhance U.S. military preparedness through real-world battlefield feedback. Additionally, drone procurement should be significantly scaled across all military levels to ensure mass availability in great-power conflicts. Leverage a real operating environment to rapidly iterate solutions that provide warfighting advantage. 2. Adopt Flexible, Portfolio-Based Acquisition to Keep Pace with Innovation: Shift to a portfolio-based acquisition model, allowing for faster integration and removal of technologies while using faster procurement pathways like Defense Logistics Agency’s Tailored Logistics Support (TLS) to acquire emerging capabilities quickly. 3. Create a Problem-Based Acquisition System with Flexible Budgeting:  Implement a problem-based acquisition system centered on solving real defense challenges with flexible resourcing, ensuring the Department of Defense can rapidly adapt to evolving threats and technologies. This can offset traditional acquisition systems focus on rigid requirements, which stifles innovation and delays meeting urgent needs. 4. Establish a Bridge Fund for Rapid Technology Deployment:  Create a dedicated "bridge fund" to immediately scale proven technologies from programs like the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), enabling deployment before formal budget appropriations are secured.  It is a long, fragile bridge across the Second Valley of Death between validating innovative technologies and deploying them at scale. 5. Streamline the Accreditation Process for Faster Adoption of Commercial Solutions: Simplify and standardize the Authority to Operate (ATO) process across the DoD, allowing faster integration of commercial technologies while reducing the burden on non-traditional defense companies.  Lower bureaucratic barriers that delay access to cutting-edge technologies. Congress and the DoD need to set the conditions that allow defense acquisition to match the speed and scale of industry innovation instead of throttling it, lest we end up with the X-15 Cruise Basselope, a solution that does not fit the problem despite being written to meet the "requirement".

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Nicholas Nelson, Senior Fellow for Emerging Tech & Policy at CEPA and is a Partner at MD One Ventures. Andrew Stiles, advisor on emerging technologies as a management consultant for nearly a decade. Kyra Terenzio, Management consultant specialising in emerging technology at a leading professional services firm. "Domain awareness is an ongoing challenge in countries with large Arctic land masses such as Alaska, where strained connectivity, power access, and extreme weather all hinder unmanned systems. NASA’s drone, Vanilla, flew for six hours in the Arctic totaling over 130 miles. Unique technology such as its internal heating system and anti-icing coating, if adapted to other robotic systems, could help make them more resilient, durable, and interoperable within the Arctic. Additionally, space-based intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (SB-ISR) sensors are critical. However, satellites historically struggle with connectivity, signal fidelity, and resolution quality due to snowfall, cloud coverage, wind, and precipitation. To tackle these, Canada funded the Enhanced Satellite Communication Project – Polar (ESCP-P), which will enable narrowband and wideband satellite communications including beyond line of sight. Polar-orbiting satellites, and the infrastructure to launch them, are also increasingly vital. Russia launched its Arktika-M satellite in December, the second of nine it plans to send into orbit by 2026. The seven NATO countries in the High North will need to expand their own space-based and ground-based communications, such as durable and portable 5G systems and polar-orbit satellites, to provide ubiquitous, rapid data transmission for NATO activity in the High North."

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Hwa Yu is CEO of Delta One LLC, a U.S. consulting firm on industrial cooperation and Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC). Brian Hobbs is a PhD candidate at Virginia Tech. "Discussions about an RDP-A between the U.S. and South Korea have been on and off since the late 1980s. Unsurprisingly, in Korea, the main reasons for not signing the RDP-A remain unchanged for almost four decades, even though its defense industry has become globally competitive and mature — exceeding 15 billion dollars in average annual defense industry exports and aiming to be among top four defense exporters globally by 2027. The greatest concern for Korean defense industries revolves around full and open mutual access to each other’s defense market. RDP-A opponents in Korea fear that the technologically advanced U.S. defense industry could dominate the market, weakening the local industrial base, if U.S. companies gain unrestricted access. Additionally, they argue that Korean companies would face stiff competition from 28 other RDP-A countries and that the DoD market open to foreign companies is actually not that big due to numerous restrictions designed to protect domestic companies, such as small businesses, despite the Buy American waivers. However, understanding how the RDP-A benefits both countries mitigates these concerns. First, the RDP-A is on one hand a framework for communicating about industrial cooperation and market access. Second, the RDP-A is meant to remove discriminatory barriers to procurement, to the extent mutually beneficial and consistent with national laws, regulations, policies, and international obligations. Third, any country can terminate the RDP-A. If the Korean government should find the RDP relationship to be detrimental, it can withdraw. Fourth, although historical data does not provide any consistent patterns of exports or imports, trends suggest that RDP-As tend to strengthen industrial cooperation overall, benefiting both sides of the partnership. Finally, all RDP-As have expiration dates, but none of the 28 countries with RDP-As have walked away from their RDP relationships. All have renewed their agreements, some which have remained in effect for several decades. The longevity of the agreements strongly suggests that membership in the U.S.-centered RDP-A network does not produce negative results among partner country defense industries. "

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DoD Weapon System Production and Sustainment at Risk: National Security Implications of Port Disruptions The recent U.S. port strike resolution may seem like a temporary reprieve, but it highlights significant vulnerabilities for the Department of Defense (DoD) supply chain—particularly in the context of weapon system production and sustainment. As labor costs rise and U.S. ports struggle with automation adoption, increased shipping fees and delays could severely impact the delivery of critical components needed for military platforms, from aircraft to precision-guided munitions. In a time of rising tensions with near-peer adversaries like China, these disruptions pose a real national security risk. The U.S. is already facing a $19 billion backlog in weapon transfers, including to key allies like Taiwan, and studies have shown that the U.S. could run out of long-range precision munitions in less than a week in the event of a major conflict. Supply chain vulnerabilities like these will only be exacerbated by rising costs and port inefficiencies. Furthermore, reliance on alternative foreign ports, particularly those in Mexico, where China has significant influence and investments, could introduce additional risks. Supply chain visibility in these ports is less robust, increasing the potential for foreign adversaries to exploit weaknesses in the defense industrial base. The DoD has already acknowledged its limited visibility into the lower tiers of its supply chain. This is a critical oversight that needs urgent attention, especially when many critical materials and electronic components are sourced from regions vulnerable to adversary control. The inability to track these vulnerabilities across the supply chain means delays and disruptions could cascade, undermining weapon system production and sustainment. To mitigate these risks, the DoD must accelerate its supply chain risk management efforts, modernize its industrial base, and reduce reliance on foreign ports by investing in domestic production capabilities. The development of “ever-warm” production lines for critical materials, as well as increased automation at U.S. ports, are key strategies that can enhance resilience and ensure the U.S. is prepared for any conflict scenario. Now more than ever, a robust, resilient, and secure supply chain is essential to maintaining military readiness and safeguarding national security. Govini #SupplyChainRisk #SupplyChainRiskManagenent #NationalSecurity #DoDLogistics #DefenseLogistics #WeaponSustainment #DefenseIndustrialBase #DefenseReadiness

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If an article references Reese's peanut butter cups, it's gotta be good. At the Sea Air and Space Conference earlier this month, RADM James Aiken articulated the data challenges experienced at the senior leader level to the individual analysts and operators, "what we didn't realize was the volume of data we were going to get at headquarters." There are more and more autonomous systems being developed everyday with even more sensors employed, in a plug-n-play approach to operations for specific missions. This is not expected to slow down anytime soon. Let's compound these challenges beyond just the scale of data. Those data points need to be fused with other autonomous systems being deployed, however each vendor has its own "interface". There is a major data scale issue, but also, each autonomous platform carries a proprietary data analysis platform. What I appreciate out of the article is the approach both RADM Aiken and RADM Kevin Smith are taking in addressing this with the Unmanned Maritime Autonomous Architecture. We, as partners to the DoD, need to get over the proprietary data formats, interfaces and infrastructure and deliver what the future is going to require. We don't have time to hold the government's data hostage. For the companies who do that, you are the problem! For Certus Core, we built Semantic Knowledge Graph software developed to follow ISO-21838/2 Basic Formal Ontology standards, to integrate data and map it from the autonomous systems, and the deployed associated sensors, developing a knowledge graph for the problem set which is fully compatible with analytic front end interfaces and is data agnostic. While sKG is one solution, it can be the Common Data Picture part of a suite of open architecture solutions which serve up relevant data so that the analysts or the GO/FO leaders have access to the same information, but they are able to use whichever interface they are familiar with.

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A few things to digest here: 1. Thank you Robert Metzger for volunteering all of your time to help make things happen. 2. A tax rebate or reduction is only available AFTER the fact, so that's not going to help much at all. Small businesses live or die on cash flow. 3. Any kind of loan - with interest - doesn't help the business, it just puts it further in debt. 4. Even if a business goes through with all of this, there is NO GUARANTEE they will ever win or renew a DiB contract. Ideas: Why not just have the government front the cost, and then deduct it from the payment? This would incentivize the government and prime contractors to use many different sub-contractors. Why not just use DIBCAC assessors to do the third party attestations? There is no training necessary.

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A potential DoD venture fellowship program would be wonderful news for the world of defence tech 🚀 We need more defence-minded VCs. Current defence investment usually happens under some sort of dual use, resilience or dynamism banner. But building for both defence and civilian worlds is a distraction. Defence alone is a massive enough market with a massive hunger for technology to justify a pure defence or defence-first focus. Not many "civilian" VCs get it. We also need more investment into "applied" defence technology. Something that can show early results within a year. All the deep tech investment (materials, quantum, bio etc.) under a "maybe it could have application in defence" should not be named defence tech. There are very urgent and clear needs to be solved for right now, around technologies that have a rather clear trajectory. https://lnkd.in/d2bS8-QV

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It is great to see the Army continue to push UAS/drone innovation forward, particularly through leveraging realistic training with one of its "Transforming in Contact" brigades. In assessing takeaways, it is critical to remain objective and assess where concepts are showing value to the warfighter and where experimentation exposes remaining gaps. A few thoughts on the coverage and why we may not actually want "Ukraine-style" employment of UAS: 🧪 Celebrate experimentation. Moving testing & experimentation from theory, to controlled demonstrations, to realistic testing is something to be commended. Kudos to 2/101, JRTC, and enablers on what looks like a very productive rotation. 🎯 Solving for effects. It is clear the "Lethal Unmanned Systems (LUS)" platoons were oriented on shortening the kill chain and delivering accurate & timely effects. That focus appears to have been a value-add, a strong indication of the utility of ISR capabilities that extend the reach and responsiveness of ISR organic to the brigade. 🕹️ Moving beyond drone pilots. While the LUS appears to have been a net positive, every company through brigade commander I've spoken to highlights the desire to stop "turning infantrymen into drone pilots" and allowing highly trained Soldiers to execute their core mission tasks, not be heads down on controls. There is a clear demand for truly autonomous solutions, that can be employed by all and fly & execute their mission without direct piloting. ✨ Limits on existing intelligence. The ingenuity is admirable, and many of us have built similarly hacked-together solutions, but committing valuable resources to watching video feeds and transmitting via "radio to the mortar section" are clear limitations. Where possible, it may help to shift the intelligence to the edge, and rely on the systems themselves to monitor, identify potential targets, and only pass this screened information back. 🏭 Getting to scale. While forces had multiple different systems available to them, their preferred solution wasn't available due to a "mechanical problem." We all know maintenance is a common limiting factor, but going from a small number of exquisite end items to large stocks of UAS, which look more like a supply stockpile than a fleet of vehicles, helps ensure Soldiers have the capabilities they need. What we owe as industry is getting UAS prices down to where they can be acquired at similar scale to ammunition and other classes of supply. Does that mean the rotation wasn't a success or the experimentation wasn't helpful? Far from it. It is exactly the thoughtful testing and analysis of lessons learned that can help forces realize what they're solving for - their version of what a force supported by autonomous, attritable, intelligent UAS looks like rather than simply shifting observations from Ukraine onto US formations.

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For those of us who are interested in comparatives associated with today's geopolitical vulnerabilities, this post is content rich and insightful. Thanks Ryan Pallas.

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