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Pentagon woos Silicon Valley to join ranks of arms makers

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Re: Pentagon woos Silicon Valley to join ranks of arms makers

#21

Post by throwaway6734 »

photochemsyn wrote: post #15

The latest estimates of the military budgets of the USA and China are 768 billion and 270 billion, respectively - yet China seems to be equalling if not outpacing the United States on speed of technological innovation as well as on international trade arrangements. Calling on private capital to make risky investments in new technologies that only have one likely customer - the US government (well, maybe some Third Wo…

>China seems to be equalling if not outpacing the United States on speed of technological innovation as well as on international trade arrangements.

What is this based on?

Re: Pentagon woos Silicon Valley to join ranks of arms makers

#22

Post by ekam »

photochemsyn wrote: post #15

The latest estimates of the military budgets of the USA and China are 768 billion and 270 billion, respectively - yet China seems to be equalling if not outpacing the United States on speed of technological innovation as well as on international trade arrangements. Calling on private capital to make risky investments in new technologies that only have one likely customer - the US government (well, maybe some Third Wo…

China pays personnel way less and a huge chunk of that budget is personnel costs

Re: Pentagon woos Silicon Valley to join ranks of arms makers

#23

Post by abudabi123 »

mwattsun wrote: post #7

The Navy is looking for "builders" for it's next generation of submarines U.S. NAVY | UNITED STATES MARINES | COMMERCIAL | BUILDSUBMARINES.COM | NAVY'S 'NEXT-GEN' SUBMARINES https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RVDcwOYKi4

The big picture will be at work in the U.S. Space Force.

Re: Pentagon woos Silicon Valley to join ranks of arms makers

#24

Post by stametseater »

kevin_thibedeau wrote: post #18
tobylane wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does the amount of foreign founders and funders make a difference here? I imagine it’s grown.

They let a South African keep his security clearance after breaking federal law so no big deal if there isn't Chinese entanglement.

Said "South African" is a naturalized American citizen, which should be 'American enough' for anybody.

His business dealings with the communist Chinese are a bit more concerning.

Edit for response:

> why did you put quotes around american enough

Because in my view you're either an American citizen or you're not. I think it's offensive to speak of being American being a matter of degree. Insinuating that Elon Musk is less of an American than anybody else with an American citizenship is simply offensive.

Re: Pentagon woos Silicon Valley to join ranks of arms makers

#25

Post by bell-cot »

The U.S. DoD needs to have more in-house capacity to produce weapons, equipment, and ammunition - as it did, very successfully, from ~1780 to ~1980. Outsourcing to a few far-too-consolidated and far-too-greedy defense contractors (and their well-paid-off friends in Congress) is just plain idiotic.

Re: Pentagon woos Silicon Valley to join ranks of arms makers

#26

Post by gobengo »

stametseater wrote: post #24
kevin_thibedeau wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They let a South African keep his security clearance after breaking federal law so no big deal if there isn't Chinese entanglement.

Said "South African" is a naturalized American citizen, which should be 'American enough' for anybody. His business dealings with the communist Chinese are a bit more concerning. Edit for response: > why did you put quotes around american enough Because in my view you're either an American citizen or you're not. I think it's offensive to speak of being American being a matter of degree. Insinuating that Elon Musk is…

why did you put quotes around american enough

Re: Pentagon woos Silicon Valley to join ranks of arms makers

#27

Post by stametseater »

ekam wrote: post #22
photochemsyn wrote: post #15

The latest estimates of the military budgets of the USA and China are 768 billion and 270 billion, respectively - yet China seems to be equalling if not outpacing the United States on speed of technological innovation as well as on international trade arrangements. Calling on private capital to make risky investments in new technologies that only have one likely customer - the US government (well, maybe some Third Wo…

China pays personnel way less and a huge chunk of that budget is personnel costs

In addition to lower personnel costs, their manufacturing industry is generally more efficient. The result is they get a lot more "bang for their buck" and you can't compare military spending just by looking at capital expenditure and currency conversion rates.

They also have different goals. America spends to maintain global hegemony, which means a huge fleet of aircraft carriers meant to operate around the world. China isn't (yet) spending in that way, they're a lot more focused on regional objectives.

Re: Pentagon woos Silicon Valley to join ranks of arms makers

#28

Post by kilroy123 »

bell-cot wrote: post #25

The U.S. DoD needs to have more in-house capacity to produce weapons, equipment, and ammunition - as it did, very successfully, from ~1780 to ~1980. Outsourcing to a few far-too-consolidated and far-too-greedy defense contractors (and their well-paid-off friends in Congress) is just plain idiotic.

I just watched this the other day, and it was very eye-opening. They came to the same conclusion.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEe_dJZtF1E

Re: Pentagon woos Silicon Valley to join ranks of arms makers

#29

Post by lnsru »

I am really interested in smart munitions be it drone shaped or rather classical rounds for howitzers. Super cool topic combining miniaturized electronics, optics and control systems. But at the end… limited buyers, crazy difficult testing and super low success chance. Not really good starting conditions for startup for average engineer.

Re: Pentagon woos Silicon Valley to join ranks of arms makers

#30

Post by b_mc2 »

There's a few resources out there for smaller companies to try to get into defense, mainly networks and incubators. [1]

But you'll also see SBIR/STTR funding topics (program run by the Small Business Administration) [2]

You can also try checking out some of the bigger Defense contractors, some have incubator programs and are looking to expand their small business ecosystem for subcontracts, part of that includes funding. (Disclaimer, I work here) [3]

[1] https://defensewerx.org/

[2] https://www.sbir.gov/node/2214225

[3] https://www.boozallen.com/expertise/innovation/ventures.html

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