Army enhancing soldier experiences, modernizing office space: Weapons and Warfare

Dec 11, 2024 at 03:00 AM CST

This week on Weapons and Warfare, Ryan Robertson delves into the Army's efforts to modernize office spaces for today's soldiers. — Image credit: Janson Communications

This recording was made using enhanced software.

This week on Weapons and Warfare, host Ryan Robertson delves into an innovative aspect of military evolution: the Army’s efforts to modernize office spaces for today’s soldiers. Gone are the days of monotonous, sterile environments; Ryan explores how the Army is reimagining workspaces to boost productivity, morale and troop collaboration.

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Also featured in this episode:

The U.S. moves to arm Ukraine with counter-drone technology.
Hurricane Hunters call it a wrap on a busy 2024.
The USS Zumwalt gets fit for hypersonic weapons.
Weapon of the Week: AeroVironment’s P-550 drone. With advanced reconnaissance capabilities and high-tech sensors for real-time intelligence, the P-550 is set to transform aerial surveillance on the battlefield.

You can subscribe to the Weapons and Warfare podcast on the platform of your choosing here.

Ryan Robertson is the anchor of the Straight Arrow News video podcast Weapons and Warfare. He wore many hats in his career — from photographer to news director — and firmly believes honest journalism will save our Republic.

Tags: Drones, Hurricane season, Russia-Ukraine War, Surveillance, U.S. Army, Ukraine, Ukraine aid, Weapons

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[RYAN ROBERTSON]

HELLO AND WELCOME TO WEAPONS AND WARFARE; FOR STRAIGHT ARROW NEWS, I’M YOUR HOST RYAN ROBERTSON. JUST AHEAD ON THIS WEEK’S EPISODE, AS EACH BRANCH OF THE AMERICAN MILITARY WORKS TO MODERNIZE FOR FUTURE CONFLICTS, THE ARMY IS LOOKING BEYOND THE BATTLEFIELD TO KEEP ITS SOLDIERS IN THE FIGHT.

ONE WAY IT’S DOING THAT IS BY TAKING A PAGE OUT OF THE HG-TV PLAYBOOK AND REMODELING THE MODERN WORKPLACE. FORGET HOME IMPROVEMENT THIS IS OFFICE IMPROVEMENT. AND AS I LEARNED, IT’S WAY MORE IMPORTANT THAN YOU MIGHT THINK

ALSO– WE VISIT WITH ONE OF THE FIRST COMPANIES NAMED TO THE D-O-D’S REPLICATOR INITIATIVE. SEE HOW AEROVIRONMENT IS WORKING TO BRING EVEN MORE DRONE POWER TO THE FIGHT. BUT FIRST, SOME HEADLINES YOU MAY HAVE MISSED.

THE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION IS PUTTING ON A FULL-COURT PRESS TO HELP UKRAINE BEFORE LEAVING OFFICE IN JANUARY. JUST AFTER THANKSGIVING, SECRETARY OF STATE ANTONY BLINKEN MADE A VISIT TO BRUSSELS, BELGIUM, TO MEET WITH NATO FOREIGN MINISTERS.

THAT WAS ON THE HEELS OF THE STATE DEPARTMENT ANNOUNCING PLANS TO SEND UKRAINE AN ADDITIONAL $725 MILLION IN MILITARY ASSISTANCE, INCLUDING COUNTER-DRONE SYSTEMS AND MUNITIONS FOR ITS HIGH MOBILITY ARTILLERY ROCKET SYSTEM– WHICH COULD MEAN MORE OF THE LONGER-RANGE MISSILES ARE HEADED TO THE BATTLEFIELD.

IT WAS UNCLEAR WHETHER THE MUNITIONS FOR THE HIMARS ARE THE COVETED ATACMS —OR ARMY TACTICAL MISSILE SYSTEM — BUT KYIV’S MAKING ITS REQUESTS PRETTY CLEAR– PRESSING FOR MORE OF THE LONGER-RANGE MISSILES TO STRIKE ADDITIONAL TARGETS INSIDE RUSSIA.

PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN PLEDGED TO SPEND ALL OF THE MILITARY ASSISTANCE FUNDS CONGRESS APPROVED THIS YEAR FOR UKRAINE BEFORE THE END OF HIS TERM ON JANUARY 20.

THERE IS WIDESPREAD SPECULATION ABOUT WHAT THE NEW TRUMP ADMINISTRATION WILL MEAN FOR UKRAINE AS THE INCOMING PRESIDENT PROMISED TO END THE CONFLICT IN A DAY

THE HURRICANE HUNTERS ARE HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS.

WITH THE 2024 ATLANTIC AND PACIFIC HURRICANE SEASONS ENDING NOVEMBER 30, THE 53RD WEATHER RECONNAISSANCE SQUADRON AT KEESLER AIR FORCE BASE CAN REST EASY, AT LEAST FOR A LITTLE WHILE.

THE UNIT FLIES WC-130J SUPER HERCULES AIRCRAFT TO COLLECT WEATHER DATA FOR NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER FORECASTS. IT FLEW 107 MISSIONS INTO 12 OF THE 18 NAMED STORMS IN THE ATLANTIC AND TWO OF THE 13 TROPICAL CYCLONES IN THE PACIFIC. ALL TOLD, THE HUNTERS FLEW MORE THAN 1,100 HOURS.

THE UNIT’S OPERATIONS AREA SPANS HALF THE PLANET– FROM THE MID-ATLANTIC TO HAWAII. THIS YEAR, THE UNIT DEPLOYED FIVE TIMES, ONCE WAS A RELOCATION OF AIRCRAFT TO KELLY FIELD, TEXAS, TO GET OUT OF THE PATH OF FRANCINE, WHICH IMPACTED LOUISIANA AS A CATEGORY 2 HURRICANE.

ALTHOUGH HURRICANE SEASON IS OVER, THERE IS NO OFF-SEASON FOR THE GROUP WHO ARE NOW PREPARING FOR THEIR WINTER SEASON OPERATIONS SUPPORT OF ATMOSPHERIC RIVERS AND WINTER STORM RECONNAISSANCE.

HENRY FORD ONCE SAID “THE ONLY REAL MISTAKE IS THE ONE FROM WHICH WE LEARN NOTHING.” AND IT LOOKS LIKE THE NAVY IS TAKING THOSE WORDS TO HEART.

THE NATION’S MARITIME SERVICE IS IN THE PROCESS OF RETROFITTING THE FIRST OF ITS THREE STEALTHY DESTROYERS WITH THE FIRST SHIPBORNE HYPERSONIC WEAPON.

WORKERS AT A SHIPYARD IN MISSISSIPPI ARE FITTING THE USS ZUMWALT WITH MISSILE TUBES, REPLACING THE DUEL TURRETS OF A GUN SYSTEM THAT WAS NEVER INSTALLED BECAUSE THE ROUNDS IT WOULD USE WERE ABOUT A MILLION BUCKS A POP.

THE COURSE CORRECTION COULD LEAD TO THE NAVY MAKING UP GROUND ON THE RUSSIANS AND CHINESE, WHO ARE ALREADY TESTING SIMILAR TECHNOLOGY.

ABLE TO MANEUVER WHILE TRAVELING AT SPEEDS EXCEEDING MACH 5, OR FIVE TIMES THE SPEED OF SOUND, HYPERSONIC WEAPONS ARE SIGNIFICANTLY MORE DIFFICULT TO INTERCEPT.

ALL THREE OF THE ZUMWALT-CLASS DESTROYERS WILL EVENTUALLY BE FITTED WITH FOUR MISSILE TUBES, WITH EACH ONE CARRYING THREE MISSILES, FOR A TOTAL OF 12 HYPERSONIC WEAPONS PER SHIP.

THE NAVY SAYS THEY WANT TO BEGIN TESTING THE SYSTEM ABOARD THE ZUMWALT IN 2027 OR 2028. IF YOU WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT THIS STORY–I DID A FULL REPORT YOU CAN FIND AT SAN.COM

[RYAN ROBERTSON]

WORKING IN BORING PLACES PRODUCES BORING RESULTS…AND BOREDOM LEADS TO BURNOUT.

I MAY BE AGING MYSELF A BIT… BUT IT’S LIKE THAT SCENE IN JOE VERSUS THE VOLCANO WHERE TOM HANKS’ CHARACTER IS WORKING IN A DINGY OFFICE…WHILE THE FLUORESCENT LIGHTING SLOWLY CRUSHES HIS SOUL.

[RYAN ROBERTSON]

IT WAS JUST ABOUT ENOUGH TO MAKE HIM WANT TO JUMP INTO A VOLCANO FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!

BUT WHILE OLD, BORING, SOUL-CRUSHING WORKPLACES OFFER PLENTY OF COMEDIC VALUE–IT’S ALSO A REAL PROBLEM. EVEN IN TODAY’S MILITARY.

AND THAT’S THE SUBJECT OF THIS WEEK’S DEBRIEF.

IN THE CIVILIAN WORLD–ENGAGED WORKERS DRIVE HIGHER PROFITS. IN THE MILITARY–ENGAGED WORKERS DRIVE INNOVATION, ARE MORE LIKELY TO RE-ENLIST, AND CAN BE THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MISSION SUCCESS AND FAILURE.

THE U-S ARMY’S INSTALLATION STRATEGY CALLS FOR ALL OF THE BRANCH’S FACILITIES–BOTH LIVING AND WORKING SPACES– TO RIVAL THE CIVILIAN SECTOR IN FUNCTIONALITY, QUALITY, RESILIENCE AND SUSTAINABILITY.

THAT INCLUDES OVER-SEAS FACILITIES – LIKE THE NEW HEADQUARTERS OF THE U-S ARMY’S INSTALLATION MANAGEMENT COMMAND IN CLAY KASERNE GERMANY.

SO, HOW DOES THE ARMY GO ABOUT TURNING IMCOM-EURPOE’S BORING BUILDING INTO A FULLY REVAMPED STRATEGICALLY BRANDED FACILITY? IT SPENDS TWO AND A HALF MILLION DOLLARS AND HIRES JANSON COMMUNICATIONS.

[JANET CHIHOCKY, FOUNDER/CEO, JANSON COMMUNICATIONS]

“In everything that we do in buildings and environments, it’s about using the canvas of a building. Yes, we’re going to make it more efficient, and we’re going to, you know, add in the lighting and the scenic elements and all these other things. But we’re going to use it to tell their story. And that’s what I think is so significant about this.”

[RYAN ROBERTSON]

JANET CHIHOCKY IS THE FOUNDER AND CEO OF JANSON COMMUNICATIONS. SHE’S BEEN HELPING TRANSFORM D-O-D FACILITIES FOR ABOUT 20 YEARS.

THE REDESIGN OF IMCOM-EUROPE’S HQ IS JANSON’S FIRST OVER-SEAS CONTRACT THOUGH.

IMCOM IS RESPONSIBLE FOR MANAGING ALL THE FACILITIES AND GARRISON’S THE ARMY USES

[JANET CHIHOCKY, FOUNDER/CEO, JANSON COMMUNICATIONS]

“So IMCOM Europe has the European Theater. And so we have been asked to come into their headquarters, which is frankly a brand new building. But It’s bland. It’s got no personality to it. And so what they’re doing is they’re investing in their building by saying, we want our building to communicate our story, our mission, our purpose, our ethos. And that’s what Janssen does.”

[RYAN ROBERTSON]

BUILDINGS DON’T COMMUNICATE AN ORGANIZATION’S ETHOS BY HAPPENSTANCE. IT TAKES A LOT OF RESEARCH AND A MULTI-FACETED APPROACH. FOR THIS JOB, CHIHOCKY SAYS HER TEAM WILL SPEND HOURS LEARNING ABOUT IMCOM EUROPE’S MISSION SETS AND THEATER FOOTPRINT. THEY WILL ALSO SPEND PLENTY OF TIME IN THE BUILDING ITSELF.

[JANET CHIHOCKY, FOUNDER/CEO, JANSON COMMUNICATIONS]

“I’m watching traffic patterns. I’m watching where people are spending time. We’re understanding kind of, you know I hate to say it, but you gotta understand the bones of the building. And that’s what helps us a lot. And so there’s an architectural element to this. There’s an engineering component to this. … At the same time, we’re not looking to be trendy. We’re looking for timeless, stately, mature colors and patterns and styles that will transcend. So when we look to 2030, 2035, it’s still classic. we’re not painting hot orange anywhere. We’re not signing up for that because that would not last.

[RYAN ROBERTSON]

“Yeah, no avocado green then is what you’re saying.”

[JANET CHIHOCKY, FOUNDER/CEO, JANSON COMMUNICATIONS]

“No avocado green exactly.”

[RYAN ROBERTSON]

CHIHOCKY SAYS MOST OF THE TIME THE CLIENT–IN THIS CASE THE US ARMY– OFFERS UP GENERAL DESIGN CONCEPTS– BUT IT’S ULTIMATELY UP TO JANSSON’S TEAM OF ARTISTS TO BRING ANY CONCEPT TO LIFE.

[JANET CHIHOCKY, FOUNDER/CEO, JANSON COMMUNICATIONS]

“We have like a 98 % first-time product acceptance rate. What does that mean? The first time that we’re coming in saying, sir, here ma’am, here general officer, here’s your design concepts, it’s a yes every time. They’re like, my god! You got it, this is exactly what we were hoping for.”

[RYAN ROBERTSON]

WHEN LOOKING THROUGH SOME OF JANSSON’S PAST WORK–EVEN AN INTERIOR DESIGN DELINQUENT LIKE ME CAN SEE THEIR SKILLS ARE TOP NOTCH. WHO WOULDN’T WANT TO WORK AT AN OFFICE THAT LOOKS LIKE THIS?

AND MAKE NO MISTAKE, HOW A WORKER FEELS WHILE AT WORK IS VITAL TO THEIR OUTPUT. IN HIS BOOK ‘HOW THE FUTURE WORKS,’ AUTHOR BRIAN ELLIOT SAYS PEOPLE NEED A SENSE OF PURPOSE IN WHY THEY ARE DOING WHAT THEY ARE DOING. AND IF THAT CAN BE ACHIEVED, IT IS MUCH EASIER TO ALIGN THEM WITH THE ORGANIZATION AND UNLOCK THEIR POTENTIAL.

[JANET CHIHOCKY, FOUNDER/CEO, JANSON COMMUNICATIONS]

“I walked into one building that we had redone and the executive secretary was like, my God, I love this so much. That put probably more joy on my face than hearing that the battalion commander loved it. Because the battalion commander’s gonna rotate out at some point. That lady’s gonna be there for the next several years. And I’m very happy that she loves coming to work now and she loves her space and that’s incredibly rewarding for me and for the entire team.”

[RYAN ROBERTSON]

LIKE WE MENTIONED EARLIER–THE IMCOM-EUROPE CONTRACT IS JANSSON’S FIRST OVERSEAS JOB…BUT CHIHOCKY SAYS HER COMPANY ALREADY LOCKED DOWN IT’S SECOND CONTRACT AND IS WORKING ON ITS THIRD AND FOURTH AS WELL.

[RYAN ROBERTSON]

2024 WAS BUSY FOR AEROVIRONMENT. THE VIRGINIA-BASED DEFENSE CONTRACTOR IS AN INDUSTRY LEADER IN DESIGNING AND PRODUCING UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLES. IN MAY, ITS SWITCHBLADE 600 LOITERING MUNITION SYSTEM WAS SELECTED FOR TRANCHE 1 OF THE DOD’S REPLICATOR INITIATIVE. AND BY JUNE THOSE SYSTEMS WERE ALREADY IN THE FIELD AND IN THE HANDS OF AMERICAN TROOPS.

[RYAN ROBERTSON]

FAST FORWARD TO OCTOBER AND WEAPONS AND WARFARE WAS THERE WHEN AEROVIRONMENT INTRODUCED ITS LATEST U-A-S AT AUSA’S ANNUAL MEETING, THE P-550. AND IT’S OUR WEAPON OF THE WEEK.

TOUTED AS A NEW BENCHMARK FOR ADAPTABILITY IN COMBAT AND OPERATIONAL PREPAREDNESS, THE P-550 EMPLOYS A MODULAR OPEN SYSTEMS APPROACH AND AI-DRIVEN AUTONOMY. IN INDUSTRY JARGON–IT WAS DESIGNED SPECIFICALLY TO ENABLE TROOPS ON THE GROUND TO SWIFTLY ADDRESS CHANGING MISSION NEEDS THROUGH QUICK DEPLOYMENT, SCALABILITY, AND ENHANCED SITUATIONAL AWARENESS.

IN OTHER WORDS… IT’S SORT OF LIKE A SWISS ARMY KNIFE IN THE SKY.

[WAHID NAWABI, CHAIRMAN, PRESIDENT & CEO, AEROVIRONMENT]

“To our knowledge, I can say this very confidently is pound for pound, the best performing solution that’s in the market. When you look at all the sets of requirements and missions that the US Army would like to achieve for the battalion force, that’s ISR missions, lethality missions, electronic warfare missions, comms relay missions, endurance, vertical, takeoff and landing capability, swappability, modularity, most of requirements. The list goes on and on and on. If we put all those things together, what you see is the best in class solution in the entire face of this planet today that we know of, and we’ve done our homework, is the p5 50 system.”

[RYAN ROBERTSON]

AEROVIRONMENT’S CHAIRMAN, PRESIDENT & CEO, WAHID NAWABI SAYS THE P-550 IS THE RESULT OF TWO YEARS WORTH OF WORK AIMED AT DELIVERING THE ARMY A PLATFORM BASED ON THE NEEDS OF ITS FORCE STRUCTURE AND MISSION REQUIREMENTS.

[WAHID NAWABI, CHAIRMAN, PRESIDENT & CEO, AEROVIRONMENT]

“All of those things changes as you talk about the different types of force structures or echelons within the military and the army, they have a specific requirement. It’s a program called LRR, Long Range Reconnaissance. LRR was specifically developed as a set of requirements and objectives for the battalion force. And P550 is directly designed for those set of requirements for the LRR initiative in a program. ”

[RYAN ROBERTSON]

ONE PARTICULAR POINT OF EMPHASIS IN THE P-550’S DESIGN WAS MAKING IT MOSA COMPLIANT. MOSA, OR MODULAR OPEN SYSTEMS APPROACH, IS A TECHNICAL AND BUSINESS STRATEGY FOR DESIGNING AFFORDABLE AND ADAPTABLE SYSTEMS.

[TRACE STEVENSON, SENIOR VP & GM UNCREWED SYSTEMS, AEROVIRONMENT]

“Which really enables this platform to be agnostic to payloads, to be agnostic to radios, to be agnostic to ground control stations. We’re partnered with Parry Labs that helps with their model based systems engineering approach, and really this Mosa approach that allows us to really incorporate all these different technologies into the platform to keep it relevant, not only today tomorrow, but I see for decades to come.”

[RYAN ROBERTSON]

TRACE STEVENSON IS AEROVIRONMENT’S SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT AND GENERAL MANAGER FOR UNCREWED SYSTEMS; HE TELLS US, UNLIKE A SWISS ARMY KNIFE, THE P-550 CAN PERFORM MULTIPLE TASKS SIMULTAINOUSLY.

[TRACE STEVENSON, SENIOR VP & GM UNCREWED SYSTEMS, AEROVIRONMENT]

“So baseline ISR, obviously, which is what we’ve been doing with Pumas and ravens for decades. But then adding communications relay, adding electronic warfare, adding signals intelligence and and also being able to do many of those missions into one payload at one time.”

[RYAN ROBERTSON]

TO GET A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF WHAT THE 550 BRINGS TO THE TABLE, WE ASKED CHRIS CORNELL, AEROVIRONMENT’S SENIOR PRODUCT LINE MANAGER, TO GIVE US A LOOK UNDER THE HOOD.

[CHRIS CORNELL, SENIOR PRODUCT LINE MANAGER]

“So the the nose of the airplane is our is where our payload bay is, and everything on P550 is toolless connection. So no tool is required. Snap together. You know, the entire airplane can go together in minutes. And you know, one of the payload is a prime example of it, right? It’s, you know, pop out and slide on and off. These are all hot swappable. So you know, if an operator wanted us to change from, you know, a basic ISR, and then now they need to go to the munition, they pull this off airplane that can still be on, slide it back on, and you’re off and ready to go. ”

[RYAN ROBERTSON]

SPEAKING OF MUNITIONS, STEVENSON SAYS THE P-550 HAS THAT COVERED TOO

[TRACE STEVENSON, SENIOR VP & GM UNCREWED SYSTEMS, AEROVIRONMENT]

“With the modular, open approach, we’ll be able to incorporate multiple different kinetic type payloads combined with ISR. Ultimately, our goal is also to be able to carry a laser designator on there with a kinetic effect, so that you can laser target and take on a target all within one mission, versus having to call in a switchblade or some other asset to perform a fires mission.”

[RYAN ROBERTSON]

IT ALL ADDS UP TO AN IMPRESSIVE PLATFORM, AND IF YOU WANT SOME FINAL NUMBERS, AEROVIRONMENT SAYS THE P-550 CAN BE RAPIDLY DEPLOYED IN TEN MINUTES OR LESS WITH A FLIGHT TIME OF FIVE HOURS.

[RYAN ROBERTSON]

AT SOF WEEK 2024 IN TAMPA WE MET RYAN GURY, CEO AND CO-FOUNDER OF PERFORMANCE DRONE WORKS. AN ALABAMA COMPANY WHOSE STORY WE FEATURED IN EPISODE 23’S WEAPON OF THE WEEK.

SINCE THEN– SOME BIG THINGS HAPPENED FOR P-D-W. NOTABLY HAVING ITS C-100 DRONE SELECTED FOR THE SECOND TRANCHE OF THE REPLICATOR INITIATIVE.

SO WE THOUGHT IT MIGHT BE A GOOD TIME TO CATCH UP WITH RYAN AND SEE WHAT THIS MEANS FOR PDW IN THIS WEEK’S COMMS CHECK.

[RYAN ROBERTSON]

ALL RIGHT. RYAN GURRY, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR JOINING US TODAY WITH PROFESSIONAL DRONE WORKS. OBVIOUSLY YOUR, YOUR BACKGROUND IN DRONE, ALL THINGS DRONE, IS VERY DIVERSE AND DEEP, BUT YOU’RE YOU’RE HERE TO TALK TODAY ABOUT THE C1 100 BEING PICKED AS PART OF THE REPLICATOR PROGRAM. WHEN THAT NEWS KIND OF CAME THROUGH, WE ALL FOUND OUT ABOUT IT LAST WEEK, BUT I’M SURE YOU KNEW WAY IN ADVANCE, BUT WHEN YOU HEARD THAT THE C1 100 HAD BEEN PICKED FOR THE PROGRAM, WHAT WERE YOUR INITIAL THOUGHTS?

[RYAN GURY, CEO & CO-FOUNDER, PDW]

“Yeah, I mean, beyond excited, right? Like we we’ve been working at PW for about seven years, you know, against the thesis that small drones were going to have an incredible change in doctrine and maneuver warfare, right? So myself and my team, you know, we’ve been working for the Medium Range Reconnaissance contract for probably about a year and a half. So it was a culmination of a lot of work, and we’re beyond excited. Right? Huge opportunity for us,”

[RYAN ROBERTSON]

IT’S, IT’S COOL TO BE PICKED. I MEAN, FOR ONE LIKE, YOUR PRODUCT WAS CHOSEN AS AS GREAT, BUT IT ALSO MEANS THAT, ARE YOU GONNA BE ABLE TO EXPAND YOUR BUSINESS, EMPLOY MORE PEOPLE? I MEAN, BE, YOU KNOW, HIRE MORE PEOPLE AND PUT THEM TO WORK. I MEAN, WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FROM A BUSINESS PERSPECTIVE?

[RYAN GURY, CEO & CO-FOUNDER, PDW]

“That’s a great question, yeah, so I think from a lot of things, you know, it validates the work that we’ve been doing. Because, you know, at the end of the day, we’re making equipment for war fighters, right? And there’s a lot of requirements and design that has to go into it, knowing the operators, ultimately, you know, down selected us against 40 other competitors in the space is astonishing. And I think it validates, you know, the core principle of PDW is we take, you know, special forces, tier one operators, and we marry them with engineers. So Dylan ham our CTO, he came from development group, Chuck, our Chief Revenue Officer, was in the SEAL teams for many deployments. We have Ray deep Baloney, our whole EC, you know, our special sauce is the combination of, you know, elite operators and you know, best in world drone design. So knowing that we could sit together and develop a product and put that into an operator’s hands and have the value come through, I think it’s a shining example of what we’re able to do and execute against and we’re excited to work on more products and expand our team, but ultimately, our first job is to get the equipment into the hands of users, and we’re sending out c1 100 every week. We’re up to, like, you know, we’re making a ton of them. We have a full manufacturing line, and, you know, it really allows us to scale and fine tune, you know, that part of our, you know, our program and our business.”

[RYAN ROBERTSON]

THE C-100. IT’S WHEN I SAW IT. IT’S LIKE A MOTHERSHIP DRONE, RIGHT? LIKE, IT’S VERY MODULAR. THE TOPS, YOU CAN PACK ON DIFFERENT BATTERIES OR DIFFERENT LIKE, YOU KNOW, DIFFERENT KITS, DEPENDING ON WHAT THE MISSION CALLS FOR. BUT IT ALSO THE PAYLOADS ARE ARE DIVERSE. IT COULD DROP, YOU KNOW, SINGLE GRENADES, OR IT COULD DROP GUIDED MUNITIONS OR EVEN SMALLER FPV DRONES, RIGHT?

[RYAN GURY, CEO & CO-FOUNDER, PDW]

“Yeah, it’s generally like the largest quad copter you can carry in a backpack, right? And when we started the design of it, we, you know, we took a soldier rucksack and we designed the propellers, the frame, everything from those dimensions, and then worked backwards to really make sure that the vehicle could, you know, excel at a variety of different missions. So, you know, when we look at small units deploying their own air support, you know, the volume, the swap of that vehicle is really important. And you know, the Medium Range Reconnaissance is generally around that a single soldier deploying, you know, their own vehicle doing that fast and tactically. And then, you know, from the mothership concept, you know, you can work your way down, right? So we kind of look at the group two, it’s still a very man packable tactical, you know, type of operation, and caught ups. And, you know, work our way backwards from what they can carry.”

[RYAN ROBERTSON]

THE FLIGHT PROFILE, RIGHT? WE TALKED ABOUT THAT BEFORE. IF IT’S A SINGLE CAMERA, UP TO 70 SOME ODD MINUTES, YOU KNOW, DEPENDING ON HOW MUCH GEAR AND THE WEATHER CONDITIONS, IT’S AROUND 34 TO 40 MINUTES. MOST TIMES, GIVE OR TAKE, WHAT WHAT WORK IS BEING DONE, TO KIND OF BUILD OFF OF THAT. AND YOU KNOW, BY THE TIME, BY THE TIME THIS THING ACTUALLY GETS INTO THE HANDS OF THE WAR FIGHTER, THAT THAT ENVELOPE MIGHT BE MORE RIGHT, AND THE PAYLOAD MIGHT BE MORE SO WHAT, LIKE THE REPLICATOR PROGRAM IS ABOUT BUILDING THINGS AT SCALE, AT MASS NOW, BUT ALSO IT’S PROBABLY GOING TO ENABLE YOU TO TO FURTHER DEVELOP THE THE DEVICE IN THE INTERIM, RIGHT?

[RYAN GURY, CEO & CO-FOUNDER, PDW]

“Oh. Yeah, absolutely. Being on replicator and Armenian Range Reconnaissance allows us to really push into R and D in new areas, you know, well, outside of c1 100, you know, our, one of our strengths is propulsion and power design. You know, we’ve worked on high speed drones for the DRL for a long time. And when we look at a vehicle, you know, we work backwards from, the volume, the mass and the performance specs, c1 100 can fly in 40 mile an hour. Winds. Can maintain heavy payloads, and there’s a lot of intricacies that go into that. The center of balance, how the aircraft reacts to changing pig control, like when you have different weight along the vehicle. But I think generally, like steam, 100 is just a really high performance propulsion system. We use the latest materials. Use the latest cells, the latest motors field already in control, just a lot of good stuff that modern quadcopters are built with so they can withstand different types of payloads and high winds and fast speeds. In terms of increasing that like, you know, we’ll have to wait and see how cell design and cell density advances over the years. We have some great suppliers that we work with that are American based and do great work. But generally, you know, we’re like pushing against the very limits, as are other industries like EVs, right? So, you know, we can change propulsion by adding motors. We can change, you know, endurance by, you know, larger crops. But ultimately, if you want to come out of your backpack and do direct fires, kinetics and second, that’s the best you know, you know, combination of variances to really get that product working well.”

[RYAN ROBERTSON]

A LOT OF THE WORK THAT NEEDS TO BE DONE AND IS BEING DONE TO FLY THESE THINGS IN CONTESTED ENVIRONMENTS IS TO MAKE SURE THAT THEY CAN HANDLE THE ELECTRONIC WARFARE FROM THE ADVERSARIES, HONESTLY, WITH THE DRL. I MEAN, YOU GUYS HAVE EXPERIENCE WITH MULTIPLE FOLKS ALL YOU KNOW, MULTIPLE PEOPLE OPERATING AT A SINGLE FREQUENCY, REPLICATED LIKE MULTIPLE TIMES, RIGHT? HOW HAS YOUR BACKGROUND HELPED INFORM YOUR ABILITY TO MAKE SURE THAT THE C1 100 IS RESILIENT AND AND HOW DO WE KNOW THAT IT ACTUALLY WILL BE RESILIENT ONCE IT GETS INTO THE BATTLE SPACE?

[RYAN GURY, CEO & CO-FOUNDER, PDW]

“Yeah, great question. So electronic warfare is prevalent in Ukraine and Russia, and typically once with strategic, you know, large jammers are now more tactical, whether on, you know, single units or organic assets, right? So the DRL actually started as a radio engineering team. We built custom radios to allow our drones to fly far away, but also to use different frequencies. In case, you know, there was heavy traffic. We’re currently on our third version of that radio, and in development with SOCOM. And that radio does a lot of, you know, spicy things, to use as much of the spectrum as possible and to punch through data. You know, in areas where, you know, RF is generally contested. In terms of GPS, we use a visual system that matches satellite images to the ground. It’s commonly known as visual navigation. We have our own stack that does that really well. And you know, we work extensively in conditional mission planning so that parts of your mission can be tasked without you being online with a robotic at all times, and we see a lot of that. And, you know, early stages in Ukraine, terminal guidance, automatic target recognition and so forth. I think the future of small robotics is going to be, you know, contested. And the days of having a 10 ADP Battle video feed from the front line probably are starting to, you know, come apart when those days may be over, but you know, it’s great to have support from the DoD so that we can invest into critical items like, you know, wide spectrum radio usage or visual navigation or conditional mission planning, right things that a soldier needs, so that they can be tactical on the edge and know that that asset will come back complete parts of the missions without being in touch with it at all times, you know. And generally it’s terrible as well. But as soon as you come online with a radio on the front lines, you’re found, right? So the days of radios just being on and high power, you know, I think they’re starting to, starting to really transform and change the way that we interface with robotics on the edge.”

[RYAN ROBERTSON]

RYAN, THAT’S ALL THE QUESTIONS I HAD FOR YOU BEFORE I STOP RECORDING. ANYTHING ELSE YOU WANT TO SAY. ANOTHER QUESTION I DIDN’T ASK YOU FEEL LIKE NEEDS TO BE ANSWERED?

[RYAN GURY, CEO & CO-FOUNDER, PDW]

“No, that was great. I have a head cold. I have two small children, so they always get me sick. But you know, other than that, usually don’t sound like this. But thanks for having me, Ryan. It’s great seeing you again.”

[RYAN ROBERTSON]

ALRIGHT FOLKS…THAT’S GOING TO JUST ABOUT DO IT FOR US THIS WEEK ON WEAPONS AND WARFARE. BUT THAT DOESN’T MEAN THERE ISN’T MORE FOR YOU TO SEE.

YOU CAN FIND US AT ALL OF THE SOCIAL MEDIA SITES ON YOUR SCREEN– OR CHECK US OUT ON OUR WEBSITE, SAN.COM

WE’RE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE HOLIDAY SEASON RIGHT NOW. HANNUKKAH, CHRISTMAS AND KWANZAA ARE ALL STARTING SOON–

AND THAT MEANS MANY OF YOU ARE ALSO GOING THROUGH YOUR YEAR END REVIEWS AT WORK.

I ACTUALLY JUST HAD MY REVIEW, RIGHT BEFORE RECORDING THIS SEGMENT,–WHICH IS GOOD BECAUSE IT SPARKED THE IDEA FOR THIS SEGMENT.

REVIEWS CAN BE AWKWARD. THEY CAN BE UNCOMFORTABLE. MAYBE YOU FIND OUT YOU AREN’T QUITE SO STRONG IN YOUR INTERPERSONAL NETWORKING SKILLS AS YOU THOUGHT.

BUT HERE’S THE THING–REVIEWS–ESPECIALLY THE ONES THAT INVOLVE SOME SORT OF SELF-EVALUATION–CAN BE SOME OF THE MOST EDUCATIONAL AND ENLIGHTENING EXPERIENCES YOU HAVE.

ONE OF MY ALL-TIME FAVORITE CHARACTERS IN A SITCOM WAS DR COX ON SCRUBS…AND THERE’S AN EPISODE WHERE HE WANTS J-D, HIS PROTEGE AND THE SHOW’S MAIN CHARACTER– TO DO A SELF-EVALUATION….BECAUSE HE WANTED J-D TO DETERMINE FOR HIMSELF WHAT HE WAS GOOD AT….WHAT HE SUCKED AT.

AND THE GOAL WASN’T SO DR COX WOULD KNOW…BUT SO THAT J-D WOULD KNOW…AND BE ABLE TO COURSE CORRECT IF NECESSARY.

2024 IS ALMOST OVER…BEFORE IT IS….TAKE SOME TIME TO GIVE YOURSELF AN EVALUATION. WHAT ARE YOU GOOD AT. WHAT DO YOU SUCK AT. WHERE DO YOU WANT TO BE THIS TIME NEXT YEAR? HOW DO YOU PLAN TO GET THERE.

ASK THESE QUESTIONS OF YOURSELF SO THAT YOU CAN FIND THE ANSWERS WITHIN YOURSELF.

FOR SENIOR PRODUCER BRETT BAKER, VIDEO EDITOR BRIAN SPENCER AND GRAPHICS ARTIST DAKOTA PITEO. I’M RYAN ROBERTSON, WITH STRAIGHT ARROW NEWS SIGNING OFF.

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