Pete Modigliani @PeteModi

The defense acquisition system was built for 20-year timelines in a world that moves in months. When DoD identifies a critical need for a major weapon system, the result is too often a generational wait before it reaches the field at scale. This is a machine engineered layer by layer for a different era with cost-plus deals with primes, locked requirements that demand tech miracles, PPBE cycles that span years, and winner-take-all development contracts that reward stability over speed. It produced legends like the Virginia-class sub, F-22, and Aegis when the threat moved on a similar timescale. Today it delivers systems obsolete on arrival against China's compressed modernization, autonomous swarms, and software-defined warfare. Part 1 of The Acquisition Reckoning breaks down how this 20-Year Machine was engineered and why the old bargain no longer fits. defenseacquisition.substack.com/p/the-20-year-…

they’re not jobs if they’re not valued. they’re not valued if there aren’t customers out there willing to pay them for their great work. needing the government to “create” a job is tantamount to welfare and that level of welfare resolves these individuals to a dependency on the government and lack of economic mobility. and chains our people, collectively, to a more indentured future. you may be well intentioned but you have, and always will, fail to see the destitute folly of government as a job creation engine. i have tried to engage you on this topic, in good faith, with empiricism and reasoning, but you have only dodged my points and pivoted to some populist refrain about the importance of taxation and the evils of productivity-driven success. i can only assume you’re dodging these truths because you and the rest of the politburo leadership have deemed the conversation unsafe speech and put your oligopoly at risk. let’s leave it at that then. perhaps if your ways get their day, we can all bask in the glories of the dark ages ahead.

“We’re always going to support our government. We’re a company of patriots, and we want to make sure our government has access to the leading technology and the best stuff. And I think we provide the best stuff.” 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

Applying @elonmusk Algorithm to DoD open.substack.com/pub/defenseacq…

Cloud, Cyber, and AI Capabilities Navigating the code of future warfare open.substack.com/pub/defenseacq…

The first batch of drones ordered under the Drone Dominance Program have been accepted, and we’re just getting started. Nearly 2,000 additional units have shipped. Many more are ramping up for fulfillment. Next up is the Gauntlet Phase II qualifiers, set to begin at Camp Grayling, Michigan next week. dronedominance.mil/leaderboard.ht… #MayTheBestDroneWin

We put 12 of our favorite people in a room @sama @zoink @bryan_johnson @PalmerLuckey @cyantist @traestephens And made them play the diabolical game of deception, Mafia And filmed it all live with @micsolana as the moderator Good fun :)

As the @HASCRepublicans and @HASCDemocrats mark up the #FY27NDAA today, read our analysis of the acqusition and industry provisions. open.substack.com/pub/defenseacq…

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SVDG & @JPMorgan’s 2026 NatSec100 report is now live! A thread (1/13) This year’s report reflects a defense ecosystem that’s matured from early experimentation to real-world adoption. SVDG believes that too much of the signal still comes from proxies like fundraising, valuation, branding, media attention, etc. While those indicators, in many ways, have helped catalyze the ecosystem, they’re incomplete in a market where adoption can now be observed with greater fidelity. Defense is uniquely difficult to evaluate – sales cycles are long and uneven & there’s no clean equivalent of ARR like most venture categories. There is no silver bullet for evaluating the operational impact of national security companies, and we do not pretend this report solves that challenge. But when outcomes in this sector shape national security, human life, and the preservation of democratic values, improving the signal set is extremely important. For the first time (in partnership with @Pryzm_Dynamics), this year’s NatSec100 incorporates gov contracting data alongside traditional indicators. We also raised the bar for inclusion: eligible companies must have secured at least one US government contract as of December 31, 2025. The goal is not to discount capital or narrative, but to move toward a more rigorous understanding of which companies are actually on a viable path to deployment. Full 2026 NatSec100 report here: natsec100.org Some key findings below:

@MattPerault @espricewright @BentFlyvbjerg curious to hear your thoughts here.

What happens when warfighters join the design process from the very beginning? Instead of waiting until the end of development, the Air Force is bringing operators into prototyping earlier than ever to build capabilities faster and smarter for the battlefield. This shift could change how military technology is built. #AirForce #Airman

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has approved the second round of appointments to the recently established Science, Technology and Innovation Board (STIB), bringing the newly unified advisory body to a total of 33 members. By bringing together top-tier talent that combines scientific and technical rigor with private-sector agility, the STIB serves as a single, unified voice for innovation. This newly integrated board replaces competing recommendations with fast, coherent guidance to support and equip the Joint Force. STIB Members: • Dr. Mark Albrecht, Ph.D. • Dr. Michael R. Anastasio, Ph.D. • Dr. John W. Betz, Ph.D. • Mr. Alec M. Bierbauer • Colonel Gregory L. Bowman, U.S. Army (Ret.) • Dr. Gary D. Butler, Ph.D. • Dr. Victoria Coleman, Ph.D. • Mr. Angus Davis • Dr. Kelvin K. Droegemeier, Ph.D. • Commander James Galambos, U.S. Navy (Ret.), Ph.D. • The Honorable James F. Geurts • The Honorable James P. Gfrerer • Mr. Kellen Giuda • Captain James R. Gosier, U.S. Navy (Ret.) • Mr. John Hering • Dr. Alicia Jackson, Ph.D. • Mr. Alex Jacobson • Colonel Daniel Javorsek, U.S. Air Force (Ret.), Ph.D. • Colonel Bruce D. Jette, U.S. Army (Ret.), Ph.D. • Lieutenant Colonel Robert F. Lehman, U.S. Marine Corps (Ret.) • Mr. Thomas D. Lehrman, J.D. • Mr. Shaun Maguire • The Honorable Christopher C. Miller • Mr. Thomas F. Mooney • Dr. Milan Nikolich, Ph.D. • The Honorable David L. Norquist • Mr. Vayl Oxford • Mr. John D. Robusto • Mr. Joshua Steinman • Lieutenant Colonel Bradford C. Tousley, U.S. Army (Ret.), Ph.D. • Dr. James Trebes, Ph.D. • Dr. Steven H. Walker, Ph.D. • Captain Bryant T. Wysocki, U.S. Air Force (Ret.), Ph.D.

Supersonic. Mach 1.21. Quarterhorse Mk 2.1 is now the world’s first privately developed, unmanned supersonic jet and the fastest unmanned aircraft flying today. This flight makes Hermeus the fastest company in aviation history to go from founding to supersonic flight - exactly 364 days after the maiden flight of our first aircraft. Now, we fly faster. A special thanks to @DIU_x, Director @OwenWest91, Maj. Gen. Joe "Solo" Kunkel, and Deputy Director Kyle Norman.

That water clarity is an engineering decision, and the math behind it is wilder than the video. Roman aqueducts ran on gravity alone. No pumps, no pressure systems. Engineers carved channels with a gradient so shallow it borders on absurd. The Pont du Gard in southern France drops 2.5 centimeters over 275 meters. That's roughly the thickness of a coin over the length of three football fields. They surveyed that accuracy with plumb lines and wooden leveling instruments. The clarity you're seeing is a direct product of flow velocity. Too steep and the water erodes the channel walls, picks up sediment, turns brown. Too flat and it stagnates. Roman engineers targeted a slope of about 20 centimeters per kilometer, which kept the water moving fast enough to stay fresh but slow enough to stay clear. Before the water reached the city, it passed through multi-chamber settling tanks where velocity dropped near zero. Suspended particles sank. Clean water flowed out the top into the next chamber. Repeat three or four times. Pliny specified the minimum slope in writing. Vitruvius published the exact mortar ratio for hydraulic cement: one part lime to two parts volcanic ash for underwater work. The pozzolana from Pozzuoli reacted with water to form a calcium-aluminum-silicate compound that actually gets stronger the longer it sits submerged. Modern concrete degrades in water. Roman concrete bonds with it. Scale the whole system and it gets harder to process. Eleven aqueducts fed Rome at its peak. Combined output: roughly 1 million cubic meters of water per day. That works out to about 250 gallons per person for a city of one million. Modern New York delivers about 125 gallons per person per day. Ancient Rome had access to double the per capita water supply of the largest city in the United States, running entirely on slope and stone. The Trevi Fountain in Rome is still fed by one of them. Two thousand years, same source, same gravity, same water.

Ulises @UlisesDavid__

4 weeks ago

🚨| La claridad de un acueducto del imperio Romano, de hace 2000 años

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Why is Latin America so poor? You can drive from one of America's wealthiest cities into a neighborhood of dirt roads and open sewers in about 20 minutes — separated by nothing but a border fence. It's not because of geography or genetics. Here's what I learned ... Video Chapters: 0:00 - Intro 1:37 - Legacy of Colonization 8:10 - Independence Without Order 13:42 - The Rule of Law

Watch Starship's twelfth flight test

Thanks to President Trump’s historic $1.5 trillion investment in our military, AMERICA IS REBUILDING THE ARSENAL OF FREEDOM — and doing so responsibly.

"It's imperative that we responsibly and effectively convert this increased appropriation into combat capability and warfighting advantage." Chief of Space Operations Gen. Chance Saltzman testifies in front of the Senate Armed Services Committee to explain how the Space Force FY27 budget request will get vital combat systems in the hands of warfighters faster than ever. #SpaceForce #Guardians #SemperSupra #DAFBudget