Drone Wars Podcast
The Drone Wars Podcast covers all things defense and geopolitics.
Created by Dan Magy, Founder and CEO of Firestorm Labs, its mission is to serve the warfighters, the builders and the innovators that all share one common goal: get the best technology into the hands of those on the frontlines.
Dan speaks with defense tech industry trailblazers, military leaders, venture capital experts, history buffs, engineers, pilots and more, diving deep into the most critical topics in the defense ecosystem.
Drone Wars Podcast
HIs Autonomous USV Ran Into Chinese Warships in the Taiwan Strait: Mike Flanigan
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Mike Flanigan is co-founder and CEO of Seasats, a San Diego-based company building long-range autonomous surface vessels for commercial and defense missions. This is his second time on Drone Wars — and he came back with stories.
We get into how Seasats recently sailed a Lightfish autonomous boat through the Taiwan Strait and found themselves tracking Chinese Navy warships along the way. Mike breaks down the asymmetry: a $100M+ corvette with 70+ sailors versus a sub-$1M boat operated remotely from San Diego.
We also cover the state of the USV industry, the debate over large vs. small autonomous vessels, operating in the Indo-Pacific, their joint Navy/Marine Corps APFIT contract win, and how Seasats is using AI to cut a six-hour quality check down to 20 minutes.
Topics:
- Why San Diego is becoming the maritime autonomy capital of the U.S.
- Lightfish, Quickfish, Heavyfish — Seasats' product lineup
- Taiwan Strait transit & Chinese Navy encounter
- The real numbers behind U.S. USV production
- Large unmanned surface vessels: hype or hope?
- Mines in the Strait of Hormuz
- APFIT: joint Navy & Marine Corps contract win
- AI in physical manufacturing
About Drone Wars
The Drone Wars Podcast serves the warfighters, builders and innovators who all share a common goal: get the best tech into the hands of those on the frontlines.
Dan Magy, Co-Founder and CEO of Firestorm Labs, explores all things defense and geopolitics with experts in the industry.