Mission Matters Podcast

Language models aren't the only path to intelligence. For physics, the primitive is fields.In this episode of the Mission Matters Podcast, Maggie Gray and Akhil Iyer sit down with Pratap Ranade, CEO & Co-Founder of Arena Physica, to discuss how he and his team are building electromagnetic superintelligence. Pratap breaks down Atlas, an agentic platform that pairs non-deterministic AI agents with deterministic physics and simulation models, and Heaviside, the first foundation model for RF design, trained on electromagnetic fields instead of words.They cover why hardware's software-defined future makes electromagnetism matter more than ever, how Heaviside hit its "GPT-1 moment" with fully autonomous RF design, how Arena generates training data in a field with none publicly available, the pivot that deleted a double-digit-million revenue stream, and Pratap's vision for a new kind of Bell Labs.As always, please let us know what you think. And please reach out if you or anyone you know is building at the intersection of technology and national security. Explore Shield Capital's portfolio and thesis at: https://shieldcap.com/Follow Shield Capital and the Mission Matter Podcast on LinkedIn to catch every episode of Mission Matters: https://www.linkedin.com/company/mission-matters-podcast/ Visit Arena Physica's website: https://www.arenaphysica.com/0:00 – Introduction2:37 – What is electromagnetic superintelligence?5:20 – The current state of design tools8:09 – What "software-defined" actually means12:28 – Pairing non-deterministic agents with deterministic physics18:01 – Building a foundation model for RF22:43 – Where the training data comes from25:06 – From pilot to rollout: patterns across industries30:05 – Winning over the skeptics34:48 – Using Atlas internally: DJI drone teardowns36:59 – The vision: a new Bell Labs40:08 – The hardest moment building Arena43:08 – Closing advice: build stupidly ambitious things

In this Techquisition Edition of The Mission Matters Podcast, Maggie Gray and David Rothzeid break down Secretary Hegseth's new memo establishing a Direct Reporting Portfolio Manager (DRPM) for unmanned and autonomous systems.
David unpacks what a DRPM actually is, how it differs from traditional Portfolio Acquisition Executives and Joint Program Offices, and why this new "czar" reports directly to the Deputy Secretary of Defense with authority to redirect funding and set standards across the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Space Force. They trace the historical precedent back to JIEDDO and the MRAP program, walk through where Replicator, the Defense Autonomous Warfare Group (DAWG), JIATF 401, and Drone Dominance now fit under this new structure, and dig into the budget realities, including the proposed $54 billion request for the DAWG and what a likely continuing resolution means for FY27.
They close with practical guidance for founders and investors: how to navigate a rapidly shifting stakeholder landscape, why engaging with the Defense Innovation Unit matters more than ever, and what to expect as the fiscal year turns over.
Chapters:
00:00 – Intro
01:46 – What is a DRPM, and why create one for unmanned systems (UXS)?
03:26 – DRPM vs. PEO/PAE vs. Joint Program Office (F-35 JPO example)
05:53 – Who controls the budget and contract decisions in the short term
07:39 – Historical precedent: JIEDDO and the MRAP
09:06 – Recent DRPM examples: Golden Dome, submarines, B-21/F-47
10:23 – New DRPM authorities over budgeting and the DAWG's $54B request
11:52 – How the DRPM folds in Replicator, DAWG, Drone Dominance, and JIATF 401
14:11 – Why now: commercial tech has outpaced how the Pentagon employs drones
16:33 – DIU's expanded role as the industry front door
18:15 – Budget breakdown: Replicator, DAWG, JIATF 401 funding history
20:11 – Outlook on Congress passing a budget vs. another continuing resolution
20:46 – Advice for startup founders and investors
23:07 – Closing thoughts and next episode preview

The Magura family of USVs, built by UFORCE, sank 14 Russian warships. UFORCE air systems have flown over 220,000 combat missions and downed two Su-30 fighter jets — all in under three years of operation.

In this episode, CEO Oleg Rogynskyy joins David and Maggie to talk about building Ukraine's first defense tech unicorn from the front lines: how UFORCE manufactures under missile threat, why most Western defense tech fails the "coconut test," and what the US military should be buying right now.
Topics covered: autonomous systems, drone warfare, defense acquisition, Indo-Pacific strategy, Ukraine lessons for the West, and scaling a defense company from warzone to global market.
Timestamps:
(00:00) Introduction(02:14) UFORCE's Platforms and Combat Effects in Ukraine(06:32) Building a Defense Unicorn in Wartime(10:51) Applying Silicon Valley Lessons to Defense(13:33) Hardening Systems for Real Combat(15:12) Autonomy and the Bottom-Up Adoption Model(18:47) Ukraine's Outcomes-Based Acquisition Revolution(23:17) Lessons for Iran, Hormuz, and US Conflicts(26:30) Scaling to the US: Hiring Sean Planke(30:20) What Western Defense Tech Misunderstands(32:44) Manufacturing and Supply Chain Under Fire(36:52) Global Demand Across Four Theaters(40:29) The Future of UFORCE(42:44) If Oleg Were US Secretary of War

AI made writing code cheap. Verifying it is the new bottleneck.
Peter Morales, CEO and co-founder of Code Metal, joins Maggie Gray and Pat O'Reilly to talk about modernizing the legacy code running US national security — and why formal verification is the durable moat in an era of commodity AI code generation.
Founded in 2023, Code Metal has raised ~$200M and signed contracts with the US Air Force, L3Harris, RTX, and Toshiba. Projects that used to take engineering teams months now take minutes.
In this episode:
Why US weapons systems still run on COBOL, Fortran, and Ada
How Code Metal pairs LLMs with formal verification for safety-critical code
Why the verification layer is more valuable than the model itself
Peter's advice for founders building in defense tech

Timestamps:
(00:00) Introduction
(2:10) Why would you want translate code?
(4:11) How does Code Metal accelerate this process?
(5:27) Customer interest in Code Metal
(6:22) Outdated weapons systems programming language
(8:39) Code Metal's formula
(12:14) How does Code Metal choose a model to use
(14:11) Lessons learned from working in international markets
(15:20) Navigating commercial and government customers
(18:03) Getting approval to work with classified customers
(19:46) Customer success stories
(23:06) Building trust with mission-critical customers
(24:10) Why did you decide to start your own company?
(26:22) How do you approach recruitment for working in a startup?
(28:47) Biggest changes in defense space over Peter's career
(30:11) Advice for founders and investors to leverage a board
(32:16) Lessons from Ukraine and Middle East conflicts
(33:10) Subcontracting as a way to gain access to larger contracts
(34:39) What's next for Code Metal?
(35:38) Biggest surprised building Code Metal
(36:19) Advice for founders building in the national security domain

Decoding the President’s Budget Request, POM, and DoD J-Books for Defense Tech Startups.
In this Techquisition Edition episode of The Mission Matters Podcast, Maggie and David explain why the President’s Budget Request, the Pentagon POM process, and the DoD “J-books” are key public roadmaps of priorities and funding signals, while emphasizing the request is not law and Congress controls appropriations. Joined by Matt MacGregor of Creative Defense and the Defense Tech and Acquisition News newsletter, they break down today’s defense spending picture (base budget, reconciliation, and a possible Iran-related supplemental), explain “colors of money” (O&M vs RDT&E vs procurement) and shifts toward procurement, and describe how companies can mine J-books via keywords, major thrusts, and contract follow-through. They discuss notable FY27 signals including AI infrastructure/compute, CDAO changes, Maven, DIU funding dynamics, Golden Dome linkages, service-level priorities (counter-UAS, shipbuilding, EW, hypersonics), Air Force autonomy vs legacy platforms, and what happens next in Congressional markups.

Visit Creative Defense and check out Matt's substack to learn more:  Defense Tech and Acquisition NewsAs always, please let us know what you think. And please reach out if you or anyone you know is building at the intersection of technology and national security.
Timestamps:
00:00 Intro
00:36 Why Budget Docs Matter
01:41 PBR vs Appropriations
02:28 Meet Matt McGregor
05:12 Three Budget Pieces
07:56 Colors of Money
13:15 How to Use J Books
18:40 AI Funding Highlights
23:44 DIU and Golden Dome
33:13 PAEs and Autonomy
35:13 Air Force Tradeoffs
40:08 What Happens Next
44:20 Wrap Up and Next Episode