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.
Episodes
93 episodes
35,000 Cartel Drone Flights Across the U.S. Border A Year: Robert Almonte
Robert Almonte spent 25 years at the El Paso, Texas Police Department and was appointed by President Barack Obama as the United States Marshal for the Western District of Texas in 2010 where he served until 2016.He spent most of his care...
HIs Autonomous USV Ran Into Chinese Warships in the Taiwan Strait: Mike Flanigan
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 in...
Putting a Pyramid on the Moon and Spreading Life Beyond Earth: Ben Haldeman
Ben Haldeman is a space entrepreneur and engineer who founded LifeShip in 2019 — a company building monuments of Earth across space. LifeShip made history by placing the first-ever Pyramid on the Moon, carrying a seed bank, DNA archive, and cul...
How a Fighter Pilot Is Disrupting Electronic Warfare Training: Clark "Slider" Haymond
Clark "Slider" Haymond is A former F-15E pilot with the U.S. Air Force and currently COO of Disruptive Electronic Warfare Machines (DEWM), taking the industry by storm with the DART system (DEWM's Attritable Radar Target).Slider and Dan ...
Comms is the Backbone of National Security: Omar Javaid
Omar Javaid is a veteran tech executive with decades of experience scaling companies across semiconductors, software, AI, and communications. Before joining Rampart Communications as CEO in October 2025, he led Spectra7 as CEO and served as Pre...
The Unglamorous Tech Powering the Drone Revolution: Rob Sladen
Rob Sladen is Co-Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Zulu Pods, developing advanced fluid delivery systems for aircraft, drones, and high-performance platforms. Check out zulupods.com to learn more.
The Warfighter is the Ultimate Innovator: Adam Fife
Adam Fife is the Founder and CEO of Cencore Group, providing secure edge communications, physical security, and containerized solutions for global operations.
Inside Ukraine's Hidden Drone Factories: Brian Streem
Brian Streem is founder and CEO of Vermeer, a company pioneering vision-based navigation systems for drones and autonomous platforms operating in GPS-denied environments. He transitioned from Hollywood drone cinematography to defen...
Why 9 Out of 10 Drones in Ukraine Miss Their Targets: John Dulin
John Dulin is Founder and CEO of Modern Intelligence, empowering defense withresponsible A.I. to outsmart, outpace, and overwhelm the enemy.
Tesla Invented the Drone in 1898 and We're Still Copying It: George Dougherty
George Dougherty is a scientist, business strategist, senior military leader, and author of Beast in the Machine. Dan and George cover: - Why the largest tank battle in history (1943) was spearheaded by robot ta...
Frontline Ukrainian Drone Operator Speaks Out and Warns America: Illya Sekirin
Illya Sekirin is a Ukrainian Canadian who volunteered to fight for Ukraine in 2022 and was trained as a drone operator. In addition to frontline service, he worked as a translator for the Ukrainian General Staff and became an unofficial advisor...
Ukraine's Elite Drone Unit Explains 65KM Bombers & Mothership FPVs: Major Yurii "Phoenix"
Yurii “Phoenix” is a Major and the commander of the training group of the legendary UAV unit Lasar’s Group (National Guard of Ukraine). He is one of the key representatives of the unit, responsible for the search, implementation, and combat tes...
The Pacific War Plan, Information Warfare, and Leading Marines Into Battle: Duane Blank
Duane Blank is a 25-year veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps, where he held multiple command roles including Commanding Officer of Company C, 1st Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion. He previously served as a Marine Officer Instruc...
We Need to Treat American Warfighters Better: Joe Musselman
Joe Musselman is the Founder and Managing Partner of Bravo Victor Venture Capital (BVVC), an early-seed and series A venture capital fund. He also led the firm’s creation and backing of School House, a unique venture capital/...
New Wave of Consolidation in Defense Tech? Garrett Smith
Garrett Smith is the Founder and CEO of Reveal Technology, delivering a suite of AI products that generate critical intelligence, autonomy and decision dominance for tactical military and public safety users. Garrett and Dan cover ...
Fiber Optic Drones in Ukraine Could Shape America's Future of Warfare: Troy Smothers
Troy Smothers is a former U.S. Marine Corps infantry sergeant who had the opportunity to train alongside Ukrainian soldiers and develop a deep appreciation for the people and culture of Ukraine. Following Russia’s invasion, he tra...
This is the Drone Wars Podcast
This podcast was started to give a voice to small defense companies in an industry dominated by massive primes. Our platform has now evolved into something more multifaceted. We’ve expanded our conversations into a sp...
What Defense Gets Wrong About C-UAS: Nathan Mintz
Nathan Mintz is Co-Founder and CEO of CX2, fighting to deliver spectrum dominance for the United States and our Allies.
The Frontlines Need this Contested Logistics Solution: Ian Muceus
Ian Muceus is our Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer here at Firestorm. He started his career: - Studying under the “father” of the F-22 (Bruce Wright). - Designing aircraft for NASA’s Ames Research Center. ...
Recoverable Systems Are The Future of Drone Warfare: Jeff Wright
Jeff Wright is the Founder and CEO, SplashOne Robotics, the world’s first technology company to develop and dominate low-altitude air superiority.
Data Overload Can Be Deadly: Jackie Barbieri
Jackie Barbieri is the CEO and co-founder of WhiteSpace, a defense tech company applying advanced AI to real-world national security and operational challenges. Her work bridges AI, defense innovation, and operator-inform...
Stanford Dropout Turned AI Founder at 20: Jarren Reid
Jarren Reid is the CEO and Co-Founder of Usul, an AI platform that helps companies win government contracts across 60+ nations. Its goal is to build a global marketplace for governments to buy products quickly, starting with defense.
The AI Arms Race with China: Andy Markoff
Andy Markoff is a former Special Operations Officer in the 2nd Marine Raider Battalion, and currently the Co-Founder and CEO of Smack Technologies, which uses deep reinforcement learning and machine learning to accelerate critical decision-maki...
