cover of episode Raj M. Shah & Christopher Kirchhoff (on the military-industrial complex)

Raj M. Shah & Christopher Kirchhoff (on the military-industrial complex)

2024/8/15
logo of podcast Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard

Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard

Chapters

Raj M. Shah, a technology entrepreneur and venture capitalist, shares his journey from growing up fascinated by airplanes in rural Georgia to becoming a pilot and eventually the director of the Pentagon's Defense Innovation Unit. His experience flying F-16s in combat exposed him to the technological discrepancies between military and private sector technology.
  • Raj grew up near an Air Force base and was inspired by air shows and movies like Top Gun.
  • He pursued engineering and pre-med before deciding to join the military after 9/11.
  • Raj flew F-16s in combat deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan.
  • He realized the military's technology lagged behind consumer products, sparking his interest in innovation.

Shownotes Transcript

Raj M. Shah is a technology entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and former director of the Pentagon’s Defense Innovation Unit. Christopher Kirchhoff is an expert in emerging technology and founder of the Pentagon’s Silicon Valley office. Raj and Christopher join the Armchair Expert to discuss how to reduce the risk of great power wars, the discrepancy between the private sector and military technologies, and how investing in military technology helps to maintain peace. Raj and Christopher talk about the resistance to changing defense policy, how drones are influencing military strategy, and what checks and balances exist in most military contracts. Raj and Christopher explain how US military technology is at risk of falling behind other countries’ innovations, what government bureaucratic roadblocks exist in developing new tech, and the optimism around young engineers solving the problems in military defense.

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