The Drone Ultimatum
The preeminent podcast for all things drones, defense tech, defense policy, and modern warfare. Featured guests include industry leaders, policy experts, military warfighters, business titans, and many more. Hosted by Steve Simoni, Co-founder & President of Allen Control Systems
Recent Episodes
Jan. 9, 2026
Modern War’s Cost Problem and America’s Response | Rep. Pat Harrigan (NC-10)
Congressman Pat Harrigan (NC-10), former Army Special Forces officer and defense manufacturer, joins the show to talk about why he ran for office after the fall of Afghanistan and what that moment signaled to adversaries. We ...
Jan. 2, 2026
Labs vs Startups, GR vs PEO, and Selling Into DoD Without Losing Your Mind | Scott Sanders
Scott Sanders is the Chief Growth Officer at Forterra . Scott joins us to talk about counter-UAS, unmanned systems, and why scaling hardware is fundamentally different from software. We cover USVs and UGVs, recent fundraising...
Dec. 19, 2025
Understanding Modern China, From AI to Taiwan | Shannon Vaughn
Shannon Vaughn breaks down how modern China actually works, why the CCP’s primary objective is regime survival, and how that shapes everything from AI policy to military strategy. In this episode, we’re joined by Shannon Vaug...
Dec. 16, 2025
Scaling Edge AI and Robotics in the Real World | Hunter Dunbar (Audio Only)
Defense tech, robotics, and edge AI are moving fast, but scaling them in the real world is hard. Hunter Dunbar, Chief Product Officer at Luxonis, joins the show to break down embedded computer vision, AI hardware, and percept...
Dec. 12, 2025
Building Low-Cost Deep Strike Weapons for Modern War | Mike Weigand
Mike Weigand, Founder and CEO of Aventra Defense Systems, joins the show to unpack a radically different approach to long-range strike and mass precision. Aventra Defense Systems Mike Weigand on LinkedIn Aventra is building l...
Nov. 28, 2025
The Rare Earths Problem: Inside America’s Supply Chain Fight | Drew Horne
Drew Horne, founder and CEO of GreenMet, joins the show to break down the rare earth crisis and what the United States needs to do to remain competitive. He previously led critical minerals policy work inside the White House,...
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