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00:00The new C&O is a go, hear from Admiral Derek Cottle, the 34th Chief of Naval Operations,
00:06as he takes command. Plus, the Pentagon restricts Ukraine's use of US missiles against Russia.
00:13What's behind the decision? And what's in a name? Why the largest department in the
00:18executive branch could be pulling the trigger on a name change.
00:21Hello, and welcome to Weapons and Warfare, a show made for people who want to know more about our
00:32national defense. Our goal here is to help you have an informed conversation about what's happening
00:38with America's military. For Straight Arrow News, I'm your host, Ryan Robertson, and we start this
00:43week with a look inside a new facility from an emerging player in a very competitive market.
00:51It's a sound that's almost immediately identifiable, the personal drone. And for more than a decade,
01:04their numbers in the US have exploded. From hobbyists to YouTubers to news outlets and beyond,
01:12there are nearly one million drones in the skies of America. According to the Federal Aviation
01:18Administration, there are a total of 822,039 drones registered to commercial and recreational pilots.
01:28But it wasn't until Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine that the idea of taking these nimble,
01:33dependable, and most of all, affordable flying machines into combat became a widely accepted idea.
01:41For more than three years, American military leadership and entrepreneurs alike have been thinking about
01:47how best to arm American troops with drones of their own. At first glance, it might seem like supply
01:55should not be an issue, but the truth is an estimated 90% of the drones operating in the United States
02:02are Chinese-made, something that, pardon the pun, doesn't fly with American military leadership.
02:09Enter Performance Droneworks. This American innovator recently opened a brand new building designed
02:16specifically to speed up the development and production of PDW's C-100 multi-mission UAS and the AMFPV
02:26attritable munition. The 90,000-square-foot facility, dubbed Drone Factory One, is built to keep up with the
02:34growing demand from the Pentagon. I recently had the chance to visit with Ryan Gure, a friend of the
02:39show as well as PDW's CEO and co-founder, about why now is the right time to undertake a project like this.
02:47Our thesis is that there is a massive generational change occurring on the battlefield.
02:54Legacy U.S. primes, you know, really cannot win today's wars. And there is a massive shift occurring
03:02towards attributable robotics, which is what we specialize in. And we leverage commercial technologies,
03:09much like you see in the Eastern War in Ukraine or, you know, with Russia's use of the shot head,
03:14to develop and mass manufacture combat systems, you know, for tomorrow's war fighters.
03:21And what is, I mean, when you say you leverage commercial technologies, what does that mean?
03:26And how does that allow you to, you know, move quicker and iterate faster and all the things that the DOD is looking for?
03:35How does that all, you know, come into play by you being able to take advantage of commercial technologies?
03:41What doors does that open?
03:44Yeah, I mean, essentially, commercial technologies have reached such a point of maturity that you
03:50can develop weapons and scale them. And that's what we're seeing on the front lines in Europe.
03:56Now, 70 to 80% of all strikes are being delivered by a drone the size of a dinner plate using parts
04:02from Amazon and Alibaba. And they outperform legacy systems like the Switchblade.
04:09The Switchblade being an aerovironment loitering munition that was the first specific system
04:15chosen for the Pentagon's replicator program. But it's the nimbleness of Ukraine's innovators
04:21and the speed of technological growth that's pushing Guri and his coworkers.
04:26When you talk about scale and, you know, the US needing to make millions of these and, you know,
04:32your facility will be able to make 60,000 a month is, do you imagine that this is the first of several
04:40facilities that PDW will have? Or is PDW part of a larger picture of other manufacturers all
04:47contributing to that billions? I mean, what's kind of your, you know, crystal ball insight into that?
04:52Well, both. You know, there's room for a few PDWs out there. And, you know, the reason why we call
04:59it Drone Factory One is inferring that there'll be another. We believe that there needs to be an
05:03arsenal of small robotics on the front lines. There are a few companies, only a handful though,
05:08and they're still, you know, early stages that are aligned with us and in the style in which you make
05:13robotics. And we think that they're going to be greatly successful as well. I think what we're after
05:18is the end of these exquisite systems. We want to see a marketplace where users can rate and buy
05:23and choose what they want. We want to remove the red tape and these long programs of records.
05:28At this point, you might be wondering why Northern Alabama for this venture?
05:33For Geary and his team, the city's history in missile production and rocketry makes it an ideal
05:38place for PDW as it works to shape the future of unmanned technology.
05:43The location of the facility in Huntsville, Alabama, obviously not by chance. There's,
05:50you know, the location to different military facilities in the area. How is that going to
05:54help with the rapid iteration and the feedback loop with your closest customers?
06:00When we, you know, we started the company in Manhattan, which was no place for a defense company,
06:05we kind of looked across America as, you know, a great home. And we thought Huntsville was just
06:10perfect. We can find big fields to fly. Everyone is supportive of what we do. Culturally, it's
06:16wonderful and it's really cost-efficient. According to the company's press release with
06:21the establishment of Drone Factory One, PDW is introducing more than 500 new jobs in the
06:28greater Huntsville area and spurring an economic impact of more than $81 million per year.
06:34If you want to hear my entire conversation with Ryan, you can find that a little later this week on
06:39the Weapons and Warfare YouTube channel.
06:43Okay, folks, I'm joined now by senior producer and Air Force veteran Brett Baker for some headlines
06:48you may have missed. Brett, you feeling any better this week? I know last week you had
06:52some allergies you were dealing with. Yeah, I feel better. I don't sound a whole lot better,
06:56but I feel fine. It's just, yeah, my voice is not great. Probably going to Nebraska,
07:01Cincinnati at Arrowhead, didn't really help with the recuperation process. But you know,
07:06these are the pains you got to pay to be a fan. Absolutely. First world problems. All right,
07:11let's get to those headlines. 185 days after Admiral Lisa Franchetti was relieved of command,
07:19the Navy has its new Chief of Naval Operations. Admiral Darrell Cottle, a long-time submarine
07:25commander with 40 years of experience, is officially the Navy's 34th CNO. Those who know me best know that
07:33I am not one for standing by idle. I'm chomping at the bit to get after the work that lies ahead,
07:40to ensure that our Navy remains and forever will be the most dominant, lethal, incredible
07:45maritime fighting force the world has ever known. Admiral Cottle is now part of the Joint Chiefs of
07:51Staff and acts as an advisor to the President, the National Security Council, and the Homeland Security
07:56Council and the Secretary of Defense. Brett, with the prospect of a potential war in the Pacific
08:03with China, not a bad idea to have a, you know, submariner leading the Department of the Navy.
08:11No, that's a great point. And for sure, the man has-
08:13Chief of Naval Operations. Excuse me. Yeah.
08:15Sorry, go ahead. Yeah, those are the ones you don't want to, that's how you get emails.
08:20Yep, exactly. No, he's a man with a wealth of experience, probably more than ready for the job.
08:28He expressed that in his swearing-in speech, and I think, you know, it's a good choice. If they had
08:35to make a change, which we can debate the merits of that later, I think this man is a good choice for
08:41that position. The Pentagon has been quietly blocking Ukraine from using U.S.-made long-range
08:50army tactical missile systems, or ATACOMs, to strike targets inside Russia, limiting Kyiv's
08:56ability to employ these weapons in its defense against Moscow's invasion. The Wall Street Journal
09:02reported in late August on this subject, citing U.S. officials. The news came as U.S. President Donald
09:09Trump has grown more frustrated publicly over the three-year-old war and his inability to secure
09:15a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine. Brett, Biden had put restrictions on Ukraine when it came
09:20to using U.S. weapons, then he lifted them right before leaving office. So this restriction is sort
09:26of a return to normal for Ukraine. Right, which I think is unfortunate. I really think that it's
09:34important that they be allowed to have the freedom to use those munitions in the way that they best see
09:39fit. This is the kind of situation where whenever you have an advantage, you need to press it. You
09:46need to seize on it. And if you're tying a hand behind their back, that is not helping the cause.
09:52Right. Ukraine has developed some of their own long-range options like the Flamingo and the Neptune
09:59missile. They're trying to put those into mass production. Obviously, the U.S. has a lot more
10:04weapons than Ukraine does. And Mr. Trump, President Trump did put out on Truth Social that it's almost
10:13impossible to win a war if you don't strike your enemy where they live, seeming to acknowledge the
10:19fact that Ukraine needs to be able to hit Russians in Russia. So maybe this is a negotiating,
10:25like a bargaining chip that he's able to play against Putin if the ceasefire deal doesn't
10:30come to fruition. It hasn't yet. So we'll see how this goes. President Donald Trump is thinking
10:38about renaming the Department of Defense. Trump has mused about renaming the DOD to its original name,
10:44the Department of War. The name was changed in 1949. You know, Department of Defense,
10:52we won the World War I, World War II. It was called the Department of War. And to me, that's
11:00really what it is. It's defense is a part of that. But I have a feeling we're going to be changing.
11:06I'm talking to the people. Everybody likes that. Trump said the previous name had a stronger sound,
11:12and there might be an update on the potential name change over the next couple of weeks. And
11:17by the time this segment airs, Brett, I suppose we may have a Department of War,
11:22which, you know, honestly, may be a more apt name of the department. Not all of the actions
11:26taken by the DOD are strictly defensive in nature, after all.
11:30Right. But I do think that the name change, when that did occur, speaks more to the time and place
11:38where we are. It's about national defense. It's not about national war, right? Yes, war happens. Yes,
11:46we have partaken in those. But I think the time and place have changed. And why? Like,
11:56really, the big question is just why? It doesn't affect anything. So yeah, I mean,
12:03it's just another one of those things. It's like, okay, sure. Yeah, I can see that. One of the things
12:11that, you know, when I started hearing about this, from a logistics perspective, like think of all of the
12:18signs, branding, like, you know, from a marketing perspective, all of the,
12:23everything that says DOD will have to be changed, like everything from cards to signs to
12:31websites, letterhead, letterheads, all that stuff. So that's everything. That's going to be a lot
12:37of time and effort and energy. So yeah, obviously, this idea is being criticized by folks out there.
12:46There's arguments on both sides. I understand both sides of it. So maybe we have a Department of War
12:53right now, Brett, maybe we don't. We record this, obviously, before it publishes. So
12:59I guess, tell us in the comments section, folks, if we have a Department of War yet or not.
13:03Brett, always a pleasure. Look forward to seeing you next time.
13:07Next time, we'll be there.
13:09Okay, so record scratch, interrupt the program real quick. If you're paying attention to headlines,
13:14obviously you know that President Donald Trump did sign an executive order allowing Secretary of
13:21Defense Pete Hegseth to refer to himself as the Secretary of War and refer to the DOD as the
13:27Department of War. So we will have much more on this next week, but obviously wanted to update you
13:32because we recorded that last headline before the executive order was signed and then the executive
13:37order was signed. So now you have the most up-to-date information possible.
13:43Imagine a vehicle that combines the speed of an aircraft with the ease of a boat.
13:47It features three modes, float, foil, and fly. This winged passenger ferry is called the Paladin and
13:54could revolutionize coastal transportation or serve as a new type of warship. And that's why it's our
14:02weapon of the week. It looks like something someone in the 1960s might have imagined about the way
14:10people would travel in the year 2000. 25 years on and this winged passenger ferry gliding over the
14:17surface of Narragansett Bay could be the future of coastal transportation or a new option for military
14:24commanders operating in the littorals of the Pacific. Its maker, Regent Kraft, is betting on both.
14:3212 propellers line the 65-foot wingspan of the Paladin, a sleek ship with an airplane's nose.
14:40Regent Kraft is testing a prototype of this vessel that it calls a sea glider, a hybrid between a boat
14:46and an aircraft that exploits a physics phenomenon called ground effect, the same cushion of air that
14:53pelicans and seagulls ride when skimming ocean waves. So right now when seaplanes and flying boats
15:00try to take off from the water they're slapping the surface of the water they have very poor wave
15:04tolerance and that's why they're constrained to inland waterways lakes and rivers. Sea gliders by
15:10contrast have a hydrofoil that's an underwater wing we're taking that from the sailing world the
15:15racing world America's Cup and SailGP. These underwater wings called hydrofoils lift the sea glider out of
15:22the surface of the water giving us five feet of wave tolerance so that's basically a hurricane
15:26allowing us to accelerate up to about 50 to 60 miles an hour before we take off on the wing.
15:32The commercial version is designed to travel at 180 miles an hour making it possible to complete
15:38missions that last an hour on battery power tapping seven teslas worth of batteries on board.
15:45The vessel operates in waves up to five feet high for both takeoffs and landings making it ideal for
15:51routes connecting coastal destinations as well as over water routes linking islands.
15:57We also have extreme interest on the defense side we have 15 million in contracts with the U.S. Marine
16:04Corps today we are rapidly approaching larger programs acquisition programs and working not only in the U.S.
16:11but with our allied department of defenses and ministry of defenses on incorporating sea gliders into
16:18their defense and national security strategies. Regent is working with the Corps to repurpose the same
16:23wing in ground effect vessels for island hopping troops in the Pacific. Those vessels would likely
16:29trade electronic battery power for jet fuel to cover longer journeys and the marines are not the only
16:36ones interested. Regent has also built partnerships with the U.S. Special Operations Command and the U.S.
16:43Coast Guard Research and Development Center. In less than five years we have our full-scale prototype
16:49on the water with safety systems sufficient to take on human crew. I mean literally myself was on that
16:55sea glider earlier today and we are imminent within a couple years now of our first deliveries to both
17:01commercial and defense customers. 2027 sea gliders will be in operation in multiple places in the world.
17:08So we're starting to get some clarity on the fate of the Colorado Air National Guardsmen that we
17:15profiled back in episode 78 and that's the subject of this week's comms check.
17:23It now looks like the 2025 National Defense Authorization Act that calls for the transfer of
17:29nearly 600 air guard space professionals to the Space Force is likely to happen. That's after senators in
17:36the states most likely to be affected backed off their calls to stop the move. Senators John Hickenlooper
17:42of Colorado and Mike Krapow of Idaho proposed transferring guardsmen with space missions
17:48to the active duty Space Force as early as October. A move that's still facing strong opposition from
17:55governors and lawmakers advocating for a Space National Guard. The amendments allow a one-time voluntary
18:03transfer of the guardsmen while ensuring governors are consulted. The National Guard Association
18:09continues to advocate for a Space National Guard and the repeal of the controversial transfer proposal
18:16which could lead to talent loss. The Air Force has detailed units set for transfer starting October 1st,
18:242025, while the Space Force is developing a part-time service model that may differ from traditional structures.
18:33All opinions expressed in this segment are solely the opinions of the contributors.
18:39All right folks, that's going to just about do it for us this week at Weapons and Warfare. If you
18:43like what you heard and you want to help us in our mission to make stories of military matters and
18:49national defense more accessible for the average person, please like and subscribe to our social media
18:55feeds and download the Straight Arrow News app today. For my wrap this week, I'm going to spend just a few
19:01minutes talking about the issue of gun violence in the United States. Before you labeled me as just
19:07another liberal reporter who doesn't know anything about the subject though, I learned how to shoot
19:12with my granddad's Ruger 10-22 when I was 8 years old, and he taught me a healthy respect for firearms.
19:18My dad and I used to spend hours at the range or in a field plinking, or preparing for the zombie apocalypse,
19:25as we used to joke. And today I still own guns. So you can believe me when I say I support the Second
19:31Amendment. But I also grew up in the age of school shooter drills. When I was a freshman and sophomore
19:38in high school, I went to a school that was very close to Columbine High School. I actually knew Rachel
19:44Scott, one of the victims in that massacre. Since then, there have been more school shootings than I
19:50care to count in this country. It's happened so much that we can predict the reactions. Republicans
19:56say it's a mental health issue. Democrats say it's because of quick and easy access to guns. And in the
20:01middle are people screaming for change. Not much has changed though. After the assault weapons ban expired
20:08in the early 2000s, the only major restriction on firearms came with President Trump's bump stock
20:15ban in his first term. But even that was overturned. Congress keeps cutting funding for mental health,
20:20which certainly is not helping the problem. But last week, I was encouraged to hear President Trump
20:27speaking about the need for more mental health resources. He acknowledged the US has far too many
20:34active shooters and even supported the idea of reopening some psychiatric institutions. So people who may
20:42not need to go to jail or prison, but still need help, can get it. It's obviously still too early to tell how this
20:51all plays out exactly. But the fact Democrats and Republicans are both talking about more mental health
20:57resources, honestly, is just such a breath of fresh air in this conversation, which has gone on for far too long.
21:06For senior producer Brett Baker, video editor Brian Spencer, and motion designer Dakota Patio,
21:12I'm Ryan Robertson for Straight Arrow News, signing off.
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