Listen "E10 – Unmanned Fighter Drones"
Episode Synopsis
Mike and Tim chat with Andrew “Scar” Van Timmeren from Blue Force Technologies to hear about their experience in the defense tech sector and how they are trying to punch above their weight class—by building an unmanned fighter jet drone.----Links* Sign up for our amazing newsletter https://www.themerge.co* Support us on Patreon https://www.patreon.com/the_merge* Blue Force Technologies https://blueforcetech.com/ * Scar’s LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewvt/----Follow us on...* Instagram https://www.instagram.com/merge_newsletter* Facebook https://www.facebook.com/themergenews* Twitter https://twitter.com/MergeNewsletter* LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/themerge* Website https://www.themerge.co----Show Notes(01:05) intro(03:03) Scar intro(05:52) BFT(13:01) spicy take on digital engineering(15:28) BFT's SBIR experience(24:56) funding gaps(25:47) valley of death(34:47) end user vs. customer are not the same(36:18) Fury(37:35) practice squads(43:27) mission-specific vs multi-role engineering(46:30) autonomy and atrophy(48:28) speed of business vs govt(50:10) the ask – security and over-classification(52:03) Mike's spicy take(52:55) outro
More episodes of the podcast The Merge
E54 – Pryzm: AI to understand the Pentagon
14/12/2025
E52 – Top Secret Offices
25/10/2025
E51 – Red 6 and the Military Metaverse
05/10/2025
E50 – JDAM: the GPS-Guided Bomb
14/09/2025
E49 – Ursa Major Solid Rocket Motors
31/08/2025
E47 – Cumming's Hellhound
27/04/2025
ZARZA We are Zarza, the prestigious firm behind major projects in information technology.