EP 65 — Scientific Systems' Kunal Mehra on Affordable Mass Revolution скачать в хорошем качестве

EP 65 — Scientific Systems' Kunal Mehra on Affordable Mass Revolution

The US military faces a fundamental capability gap: we don't have enough weapons for a major Pacific conflict, and our current acquisition system can't produce them fast enough or cheaply enough. Kunal Mehra, President of Scientific Systems, explains how AI-powered autonomy software is transforming affordable commercial platforms into effective military systems. Kunal shares his company's journey developing collaborative mission autonomy, a software architecture that enables swarms of drones, satellites, and vessels to operate autonomously in contested environments. From underwater tripwires to collaborative combat aircraft, Scientific Systems has demonstrated capabilities that could reshape modern warfare. This conversation covers the shift from hardware-defined to software-defined military capabilities, how the acquisition system is evolving to support innovation, and why the defense industrial base needs billion-dollar software companies with developers in the field. Chapters: 0:00 Introduction 1:45 Family history and founding story of Scientific Systems 5:16 Kunal's journey from McKinsey to defense technology 8:11 McKinsey lessons for defense technology leadership 10:59 Scientific Systems and the affordable mass challenge 15:09 CMA software architecture: Navigate, Collaborate, Orchestrate 18:14 Acquisition challenges and tech adoption problems 19:55 Crossing the valley of death in defense contracting 22:23 Contested environments and CMA's underwater origins 25:25 Collaborative Combat Aircraft and Project Replicator 30:11 Capital allocation and venture backing in defense 32:16 Bootstrap approach vs venture capital funding 35:42 Dual-use applications and commercial markets 38:22 Future of autonomy in defense technology 39:46 Scientific Systems vision for 5-10 years