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00:00An old bird gets new life and creates a viral moment, why a Blackhawk helicopter captured
00:06the nation's attention. Plus, it's the end of an era as the marines bid farewell to a battle-tested
00:13platform. And a long-lost diary sheds new light on little-known history about the day of days.
00:20Hello, everyone, and welcome to Weapons and Warfare, a show made for anyone who wants to
00:30know more about our national defense. Whether you served, are serving, or have never served,
00:37we want to give you the ability to have an informed conversation about what's happening
00:41with America's military. For Straight Arrow News, I'm your host, Ryan Robertson, and we start this
00:46week with a hot topic in defense circles, the Golden Dome. It's an ambitious initiative,
00:53and that's why it's the subject of this week's debrief.
00:58Thank you for being here in the Oval Office as we make a historic announcement about the Golden
01:04Dome Missile Defense Shield. We will truly be completing the job that President Reagan started
01:0940 years ago, forever ending the missile threat to the American homeland. Just one week into his
01:15second term, President Donald Trump announced plans for a Golden Dome missile defense system,
01:21building off the Reagan-era Star Wars initiative and Israel's vaunted Iron Dome.
01:27The president's plan, should it come to fruition, would be the largest and most expensive missile
01:33defense system ever built. The goal is straightforward. Protect America from all missile attacks.
01:40To this point, the plan is largely theoretical, but the wheels are starting to turn in the defense
01:46industry. In fact, at AUSA 2025, Aerovironment and Sierra Nevada Corporation announced a partnership
01:55to build the framework for a missile defense system at Grand Forks Air Force Base in North Dakota.
02:00This isn't a future threat. This is a today threat. And a today threat needs today-ready-now
02:07solutions and capabilities, which is why it's a natural fit for S&C and AV to come together
02:13to figure out what makes sense in the near term with some both kinetic and non-kinetic solutions.
02:20John Piat, S&C's executive VP for ISR, Intel, and Aviation, says the intention of the partnership
02:27is to create a blueprint for safeguarding not only this particular base, but other bases
02:33and critical infrastructure from a wide array of airborne threats. It's a job AV's president
02:39and CEO, Wahib Nawabi, says they can get started on right away, because the equipment already exists.
02:46We're producing these things. These are not prototypes. These are systems that have already
02:51been deployed in a certain fashion separately or independently or sometimes together. And both
02:56companies are actually producing them today in our factories, and we have the production capacity
03:00to deliver these things now. Another unique aspect of the venture is both parties are jumping in
03:06without any guarantee of landing a DoD contract for the initiative. This is the proactive way that we
03:12have to address the nation's needs today, and we can't always wait for a contract, which is important.
03:19Sometimes we've got to get ahead of it, and that's our approach to doing business together.
03:23We know the customer wants us to be agile, wants us to be fast, and you don't do that unless you
03:27invest early. And every weapon system and every effector and sensor you see on this platform,
03:32we've done that, particularly for our direct-to-energy, our counter-use RF, and our kinetic interceptor
03:37for next-generation counter-use missile. Every one of them, we invested early, including the
03:41manufacturing base, so we'll be ready when the nation needed it. A day before meeting with the
03:45press at AUSA, AVI announced much of the work to develop their system will happen at Grand Sky,
03:52the country's first commercial UAS business and aviation park that sits within the confines of
03:59Grand Forks Air Force Base. A key element of the plan is to deliver a cost-effective means for
04:05protecting American assets, meaning multi-million dollar missiles won't be used against smaller,
04:12cheaper systems. Traditional systems are going after those high-value threats with your high-value
04:18effectors, and that doesn't work against a thousand-dollar drone. What we're doing is deploying
04:24a system that leverages the point defense, expensive assets to take out those expensive threats,
04:31and then a distributed architecture that actually allows you to take out the lower dollar threats
04:36and even the high-dollar threats further out before they get to becoming a threat to the critical asset.
04:42According to Nawabi, one element the group believes will help in landing a piece of the
04:46golden dome pie is their approach to open architecture. We can say, for this site, at the
04:52level of criticality and the threat level, we can deploy the following suite of solution set,
04:58not just to our two companies, but anyone else's products and are welcomed as well.
05:02And also, the other feature of this is that because they're modular and interoperable,
05:06we will be able to actually increase capability over the life of these systems and installations.
05:12So, what's next? If all goes according to plan, the group says they'll expand the system to include
05:18Camp Grafton and Minot Air Force Base in northeastern and north-central North Dakota.
05:24And one quick post-script. After putting that story together,
05:29Aerovironment learned that they were chosen to supply the U.S. Army with its next-generation
05:35counter-UAS missile. Plus, they've snagged a hefty $95.9 million contract for the Army's
05:42long-range kinetic interceptor program. As part of this program, AV will be rolling out their
05:48Freedom Eagle-1 kinetic counter-UAS missile.
05:52It's time to break up with mainstream media and try something new.
05:57At Straight Arrow News, we're bringing back trustworthy journalism.
06:01Bringing you news, not noise.
06:05Bringing you facts, not fluff.
06:08Bringing you clarity, not chaos.
06:11We are.
06:12We are.
06:13We are Straight Arrow News, the news you've been looking for.
06:18For unbiased, straight facts, visit san.com.
06:22All right, we are joined now by senior producer and Air Force veteran Brett Baker for some headlines
06:29you may have missed. Brett, we've been on the road so much lately, it's kind of nice to just
06:33get back to a normal headline segment.
06:36Truly. As much as I enjoy the travel, it's nice to kind of get back into that home routine.
06:41If not for a long stretch, at least a little bit.
06:45Absolutely. And, you know, you get to see your cat, I get to see my kids. It's all good, right?
06:49It's all good.
06:52Speaking of being on the road, every year, there's something that captures the attention
06:57of the AUSA crowd.
06:59And this year's event was no exception.
07:02They took my job!
07:04They took their job!
07:05Sorry, Randy Marsh.
07:07Meet the U-Hawk.
07:08The good people at Sikorsky, that's a division of a Lockheed Martin company.
07:12Or is a division of Lockheed Martin, rather.
07:16So anyway, Sikorsky is experiencing a bit of a viral moment after introducing a repurposed
07:211992 UH-60L Blackhawk helicopter into the S-70 UAS U-Hawk.
07:30No pilot?
07:30Hey, that's no problem.
07:32It's now a versatile, autonomous, uncrewed aerial system.
07:35Think of it as a drone that goes to 11.
07:38What we have done is we have taken that aircraft, kind of given it a new life by installing our
07:44Matrix Autonomy stack on it.
07:46And then we've also modified the aircraft, turning it into a true UAS by removing the cockpit and
07:53the crew stations from the aircraft.
07:56Now when we did that, that enabled us to put in the clamshell doors and the ramp that you
08:01see behind you.
08:02So what this does is this enables the maneuver commander to have a increased payload capacity
08:10and also gives them additional flexibility in accomplishing their mission.
08:15Bentley says the U-Hawk can carry 7,000 pounds internally or you can throw a hook on it and it
08:22can lift up to 8,000 pounds externally while carrying an additional 2,000 pounds on board.
08:28Brett, plenty of oohs and ahs from the crowd when the U-Hawk showed what it can do.
08:34You know, I think just the size of it, you know, people think, oh, drone, and they think
08:38smaller, compact, agile.
08:42Putting an autonomous system on a craft this big that has such a storied history within the
08:47military, I think is definitely worthy of those oohs and ahs.
08:51And I think it's a really great innovation, you know, like the Secretary of the Air Force
08:58talked about innovating and innovating.
09:02And this is like one of those things like, okay, let's take a platform we have and let's
09:06take the autonomous intelligence that we have and put it in a package that makes that usable
09:12again.
09:13So I think, yeah, that was definitely worth some of the oohs and ahs.
09:16Yeah, absolutely.
09:17And from a, you know, a programming standpoint, the AI agent, whatever, you know, whether it's
09:25FSIZE or, you know, AVs or Shield AI, like whoever is flying, whatever computer agent is
09:32flying the vehicle or the thing, it doesn't really care how big it is.
09:36You know, it doesn't care if it's, you know, a small FPV-7 like from Redcat or if it's this
09:43giant, you know, U-Hawk, the pilot, AI pilot itself doesn't really care how big or how
09:50small it is.
09:51But to see the level of trust that industry and military leaders are now putting into the
09:57technology to control these larger things.
10:00I know there's a lot of people like, oh, it's Skynet.
10:02It's not.
10:04So I just, to your point, it's really cool, really interesting and a great repurpose of
10:09some older technology.
10:11It's the end of an era.
10:15The assault amphibious vehicle was officially decommissioned during a sundown ceremony at
10:20Camp Pendleton, California on September 26th.
10:25The ceremony honored both the vehicle's 53 years of service to the Marine Corps and the
10:29Marines and sailors who served with it while marking the transition to the Corps' next amphibious
10:36platform, the amphibious combat vehicle, which we've profiled here.
10:39Brett, AAVs were used by Marines in just about every deployment after Vietnam.
10:44So like Somalia, Grenada, Iraq, definitely got some use out of the platforms.
10:49For sure.
10:50You know, it's one of those iconic vehicles that the engineers and the builders and the
10:56guys who had the vision to put this thing together did such a good job that it became
11:02such a trusted piece of whatever the Marines were going to go off doing.
11:07But yeah, it is the end of an era.
11:10But I think it's a real tribute to those engineers and then the folks who kept it running all these
11:16years.
11:16Again, you just marvel sometimes at the rate these guys hit things out of the park, you
11:24know, like with the B-52.
11:25It's going to be flying for 100 years.
11:27That's crazy to think about that the AAV lasted, you know, as long as it has is a true tribute
11:33to those folks who are behind the initial project.
11:36You're right.
11:37Absolutely.
11:38And, you know, as good as the AAV is, the next amphibious combat vehicle that the Marines
11:45are going to be getting promises to be that much better.
11:48So, you know, who knows?
11:50Maybe it'll last for 150 years.
11:52Probably not, but we'll see.
11:54And finally, a really remarkable story out of China about that country's role in the success
12:00of D-Day.
12:01It's a long-forgotten diary, which was recently found in a Hong Kong tenement block that was
12:06scheduled for demo.
12:08The diary contains the writings of Lamping Yu, a Chinese officer who crossed the world with
12:14several comrades in arms from China to train and serve with Allied forces in Europe.
12:20So on June 6, 1944, the then 32-year-old Lam watched the landings in Normandy, France,
12:27unfold from aboard the battleship HMS Remilis.
12:32Three torpedoes were fired at us.
12:34We managed to dodge them, and we were, at the moment, turning around to adjust our firing
12:39position.
12:40The three torpedoes narrowly missed the ship on both sides, which was exceptionally fortunate.
12:46You know, if that torpedo had hit the ship, I wouldn't be alive.
12:50I wouldn't be, I wouldn't exist.
12:51That was Lam's daughter, Cao Ying Lam, who only learned of the diary's existence when
12:57a friend saw it on display at a museum with other pieces of China's naval history.
13:03More than 20 Chinese naval officers, including her father, were part of a group sent for training
13:08in the UK, an event he meticulously documented in his diary.
13:14Brett, the thing that really just kind of sticks out to me from this story is just how much is
13:19different now?
13:21I mean, China played a sizable role or a role in helping the Allies topple the Axis powers
13:26in World War II, and now it looks like former Allies are actually positioning for potentially
13:32World War III.
13:34Right.
13:34Well, I think for me, the thing that sticks out is as much as we think and as much history
13:39has been written about D-Day in World War II, there's still stories that have yet to be
13:44told.
13:45Um, this guy, uh, was, was part of a really remarkable journey, um, and lived to tell the
13:52tale, and fortunately that tale was recovered, um, but I just have to wonder how many more
13:57stories are there out there like this that are just so remarkable that we have yet to learn
14:02about.
14:02But yes, it is interesting also, though, to see a different place in time where, you know,
14:07China was, was on the side of the Allies and going against the axis of evil and, and
14:12hoping to, to, to root out that fascism.
14:15Um, so yeah, it's, it's a remarkable story all the way around, um, especially for that
14:20young lady who learned so much about her dad that she probably never would have known
14:24otherwise.
14:25Sure.
14:26Yeah.
14:26True.
14:27You bet.
14:28As I always say sometimes.
14:29All right.
14:30Brett, really appreciate you taking the time to join us as always.
14:32We'll see you again next week.
14:34Absolutely.
14:34In the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine, one of the most effective ways of stopping
14:45the Russians is creating minefields at the front lines.
14:48And one of the best ways to do that is with unmanned ground vehicles.
14:51And here to talk a little bit more about those is Ruslan, uh, with Rattel Robotics.
14:56You have these Rattel mine-laying, uh, unmanned ground vehicles behind us here.
15:01Kind of talk a little bit about what these systems can do and, and how, you know, how
15:05effective they are.
15:07So these small ones, uh, was designed specially in 2023 at the Chemic Aze drones.
15:13So we, uh, could afford like a distant enemy object destruction, heavy machine gun positions,
15:21shelters, uh, cars, logistical missions, uh, bridges, et cetera, et cetera.
15:26Uh, then, uh, our M.O.D. contacted us and, uh, told us like, hey guys, uh, we need to
15:33make, it is not cheap, like 2K, uh, you need to expand the possibility of mine-laying, et
15:41cetera, et cetera.
15:41So we designed this mine-layer add-on, which is on the top of the Chemic Aze drone.
15:46Uh, and, uh, the robot became available to, uh, uh, remotely land to anti-tank mines, and
15:54also he could be used at the, uh, uh, detonator, so he could rise the radio horizon from, uh,
16:02from robot to land mine with a radio detonator and explode the mine remotely.
16:07Um, then, uh, we, uh, became, like, in, in, at the end of the 2023, we had this, uh, intensified
16:17FPV, uh, impact on our combat field.
16:21So this stuff became, um, not so often used, like we are using, uh, less frequently, uh,
16:28small drones, but we, uh, developed our, uh, other product line, the logistical UGVs.
16:33They are specially designed to replace the, uh, human personnel, uh, on the tracks at the
16:40battlefront.
16:41So this one, uh, is called RATE LM.
16:44This is medium class, uh, logistical case of, uh, uh, case of, uh, UGV.
16:50It is specially designed to bring up to 450 kilos to a distance up to 40 kilometers.
16:58It is remotely operated, uh, fully electrically driven, uh, yes.
17:03It can be controlled by any possible, uh, radio, and also via internet.
17:11So, we had, like, uh, two teams who are operating, one from, like, 20 kilometers from the battlefront,
17:18and the other one with the possibility to raise the radio horizon in terms our, like, internet
17:23terminal has, has been damaged, or something like that.
17:27And almost 25 brigades are using this stuff at this day.
17:31Uh, so, uh, we are evolving.
17:34We are modifying our drones.
17:36We are trying to make them cheap and reliable enough to replace, like, people at the battlefront,
17:42so our robots can save human lives.
17:45And what kind of mission sets?
17:47I mean, obviously logistics, probably, you know, evacuations, dropping off materials.
17:52Can you mount, like, a, you know, rocket launchers and guns and stuff like that on top of it, too?
17:56So, uh, we drew our legs from the combat unit.
17:59Like, our core team is, uh, former veterans.
18:03Some of us are still in service.
18:05And, uh, we were designing this stuff as for us, and we are still, not only manufacturing,
18:11but using it at the battlefront as well.
18:13So, this truck can supply, uh, artillery teams, mortar teams, heavy bomber teams, FPV teams,
18:21et cetera, et cetera.
18:22If we are talking, uh, about the zero line, uh, we need to use, um, smaller UGVs with a lower
18:30profile.
18:31Because this truck is, like, visible.
18:34We are covering them with nets, with, uh, uh, thermal sheltering materials, et cetera,
18:40et cetera.
18:41But still, the price of this, whatever it is, uh, drone, can be, like, zeroed by one
18:49FPV optical wire.
18:51It has to be cheap.
18:52Like, this robot here in Ukraine costs from 20 to 25 grand, uh, considering what materials,
18:59what complication, et cetera, et cetera.
19:00If we look into a truck with, uh, uh, quality, uh, done, uh, UGV jammer, it costs even more.
19:09But replacing it with this stuff, we do not involve human personnel at the battlefront.
19:14We are delivering supply, ammunition, uh, drones, uh, gas, diesel, generators, et cetera,
19:22whatever you need.
19:23We are providing logistics to a position and evacuation from a position in case we need.
19:28Absolutely.
19:29Russell, I want to thank you so much for joining us today.
19:31Really appreciate your time.
19:35All right, folks, for CompsCheck this week, we were talking to a company that is trying
19:39to position itself as the prime contractor for all things autonomous and AI agent.
19:44So here to talk a little bit more about that is Matt George with Merlin Labs.
19:47Matt, thank you so much for joining us today.
19:49Hey, thanks for joining.
19:50I know the schedule is, uh, incredibly busy during AFA.
19:52Incredibly busy, but you guys have been incredibly busy.
19:55You announced that you're going public.
19:57You announced a couple of new partnerships with some other, you know, major manufacturers.
20:01Kind of walk me through all the things you guys have been doing.
20:04It's definitely been a busy year.
20:05We announced a couple of weeks ago that we're going public at the start of next year.
20:08And today we announced a major new partnership with GE Aerospace.
20:12In addition to some other partnerships that we've announced over the past couple of months
20:15in order to bring AI and autonomy off of the pitch deck and actually out into real operational
20:20service for the customers who very much need it.
20:23And for GE, you're talking about, you know, bringing autonomy into some of the tanker aircraft,
20:28correct?
20:29GE has thousands of aircraft that use their FMS as well as their digital backbone.
20:34And GE is the trusted provider for everything from freight companies all the way up to the
20:38KC-46, the KC-135, and a bunch of next generation tactical aircraft.
20:43So by teaming with GE, what we're able to do is take everything that we're doing, combine
20:48it with a pedigree that they've been working on for decades, and actually bring a real capability
20:53out to customers in weeks and months and not years.
20:56Absolutely.
20:57The other partnership that was announced a few weeks ago was with Northrop Grumman,
21:01obviously more of a defense contractor.
21:03But the technology that Merlin Labs is making is not specifically just for defense.
21:08It can be a dual use.
21:09I mean, commercial aviation can make use of this.
21:11We're building a pilot, just not a human one.
21:13So just like a pilot can grow up in the military and then transition out into the civil world,
21:18we're building something that is agnostic of what type of airplane it is.
21:21Clearly, we have to go specialize that based off of the tanker or commercial aircraft, but
21:26we're developing something that is truly agnostic, which allows us a lot of flexibility to work
21:30with folks like Northrop, work with folks like GE, and to deliver those solutions to customers
21:35to actually get their airplanes flying with AI.
21:37All right.
21:38So let's break it down to the brass tacks.
21:40If I'm sitting at home on my couch, I'm wondering, when is my, you know, United flight going
21:44to be flown by an AI agent, crystal ball, Matt, what do you think?
21:4820, 30 years.
21:49I think it's going to be a really long time before you're seeing a totally uncrewed aircraft,
21:56especially for civil air transport.
21:58And I include some small aircraft in that.
22:00I think the market really is going to be where we're focusing, which is on the military and
22:04cargo side.
22:05But you'll see some stuff from us in the coming months about how we're going to bring some
22:09of the AI and autonomy into those civil flight decks in a way that potentially improves
22:13safety, particularly given some of the accidents we've seen over the past year, where AI and
22:18autonomy can really augment human pilots to make commercial aviation much safer.
22:22Absolutely.
22:23Matt, thanks so much for joining us today.
22:24Really appreciate it.
22:25Thank you so much.
22:26All opinions expressed in this segment are solely the opinions of the contributors.
22:32All right, folks, for my wrap this week, I'm going to spend a few minutes talking about
22:36personal accountability and what I thought was a good example of it that happened recently.
22:42Graham Plattner is a United States Marine Corps veteran running for the Democratic Senate
22:47nomination in Maine.
22:49He's not a professional politician.
22:51He's an oyster farmer and he's making waves with his plain spoken down to earth ideas for
22:57helping people in Maine.
22:58When I tell people around here that I'm running for Senate, sometimes the initial reaction is,
23:03as is often the case, whenever someone reaches a certain level of stardom, social media did a deep
23:11dive on Plattner and found some concerning posts and evidence of a very suspect tattoo, a skull and
23:19crossbones on his chest that has been associated with German Nazis. Not a great look. He explained in
23:27recent interviews and in a video on his own social media that the former machine gunner got the ink overseas during his third
23:35deployment in the global war on terror. He admits he was drunk at the time and says he just picked something off a wall that he
23:42thought looked scary. Regardless of his politics or my level of belief in that story, I thought Plattner did the right thing after
23:51finding out the body art he'd worn for almost two decades was connected to the Nazi regime.
23:57He admitted he made a mistake. He admitted the tattoo was wrong and he allegedly covered it up with something else.
24:04A Celtic knot that he says better reflects who he really is as a person. He did not run from the cameras.
24:11He owned up to his mistakes and it would be nice if that's where the story ended, but it's not.
24:17Apparently after some more deep diving on his social media, CNN discovered evidence Plattner knew for years
24:25that his tattoo was tied to Nazis. Look, I get people make mistakes, dumb mistakes, but personal accountability
24:34is constant. It doesn't start and stop based on a person's current social or political stances or
24:41aspirations. The moment Plattner learned about the true nature of his tattoo just so happens to be the
24:49exact same moment he should have held himself to account. The world would be better if more of us
24:57did just that. And that's going to do it for us this week on Weapons and Warfare. Please don't
25:02forget to like and subscribe to all the Straight Arrow News social media feeds if you have not
25:08already and download the Straight Arrow News app today. We are working on a lot of great content
25:13for the show and the best way to make sure you stay up to date on all of it is downloading the app
25:19right now. In the meantime, for senior producer Brett Baker, video editor Brian Spencer,
25:24and motion artist Dakota Patio, I'm Ryan Robertson with Straight Arrow News, signing off.
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