Podcast summary and Notes on " procurement"

Inside the Department of Defense and its Vision for the Future

From air-defining radar and electronic systems that helped the Allies win World War II, the origins of Silicon Valley are deeply rooted in government and defense.

In today's episode, we get the chance to revisit that relationship with the United States Deputy Secretary of Defense, Kathleen Hicks.

Deputy Secretary Hicks has spent decades of her career focused on defense policy and in her keynote address from a16z's second annual American Dynamism Summit in Washington, D.C., you'll get an inside look into the priorities of the DoD and how it views its past, present, and future.

In the second half of the episode, you’ll hear highlights from Deputy Secretary Hicks' fireside chat with Wall Street Journal’s National Security Editor, Sharon Weinberger, where they dive into the numerous issues facing our country today, from Ukraine to the use of AI on the battlefield.

Resources:

Find Deputy Secretary Hicks on Twitter: https://twitter.com/depsecdef

Find Sharon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/weinbergersa

To learn more about the American Dynamism Summit: www.a16z.com/ad-summit

Visit the full playlist of American Dynamism Summit videos on YouTube: https://bit.ly/3IqWn1W

Stay Updated:

Find a16z on Twitter: https://twitter.com/a16z

Find a16z on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/a16z

Subscribe on your favorite podcast app: https://a16z.simplecast.com/

Follow our host: https://twitter.com/stephsmithio

Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. a16z and its affiliates may maintain investments in the companies discussed. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.

a16z Podcast

enApril 10, 2024

artificial intelligence

llms

large language models

From Silicon Valley to the Pentagon: The Future of Defense Innovation

The last few decades have been a period of transition for defense. An increasing number of startups have begun to rival large defense primes, the industry has gradually become a calculus of both hardware and software, and exponential technologies have forced the DoD to rethink how it has traditionally done business.

These changing conditions were some of the inputs to resulting in the DIU – Defense Innovation Unit – starting in 2015 within the Department of Defense, focused on accelerating the adoption of technology.

In this episode recorded at a16z’s American Dynamism Summit in January, a16z General Partner Katherine Boyle is joined by the Director of the DIU, Doug Beck, plus two critical founders ushering in this new era of defense: Brian Schimpf, cofounder and CEO of Anduril and Brandon Tseng, cofounder of Shield AI.

So what does the next wave of defense innovation really look like? Let’s find out.

00:00 - The Future of Defense Innovation

03:30 - The Defense Innovation Unit (DIU)

05:45 - Adoption of Startup tech by the DoD

07:42 - Acquisition, Budgeting, and Contracting

13:17 - Traditional Primes vs Startups

14:25 - Cost-Plus Fixed Fee Contracts

20:11 - The Replicator Program

22:26 - The New Threat Environment

27:11 - Scale and Readiness for Modern Warfare

32:15 - Procurement Reform and Feasibility

39:30 - Success Metrics for Defense