Defense Manufacturing

The $500B Opportunity in Europe’s Defense Buildout

Sep 30, 2026 · 21:51

Molly O'Shea interviews Aistis Šimaitis (Co-Founder & CEO of Onodrim), George Hadjiminas (Chief Strategy Officer at Theon International), and Bruno Wejchert (Partner at Strike Capital) on why Europe's €800B defense buildout depends on manufacturing scale, not just new technology. Aistis argues 'volume wins'—systems must be produced in tens of thousands to millions, forcing prices like a $30,000 radio far lower for autonomous warfare. George warns 'prototypes don't fight wars,' claiming Europe's tech capabilities rival America's despite too many protected national champions. Bruno, citing component lead times of years and primes taking 4–5 years to deliver contracts, predicts a half-trillion-dollar European defense company founded in the last five years could emerge within the next decade.

Saronic's 4 Co-Founders on Building a $9.25B Shipbuilder | Part III

Sep 10, 2026 · 59:52

Saronic's co-founders Doug Lambert, Rob Lehman, and Vibhav Altekar join Molly O'Shea to argue autonomous mass production, not exquisite manned ships, decides naval power as China outbuilds the U.S. 230 to 1—1,000+ commercial ships in 2024 to America's 5. COO Doug Lambert details the $3B Port Alpha shipyard, aluminum welding with Path Robotics, Palantir Foundry for manufacturing, and why casting, forging, and wire harnessing must return to the U.S. Rob Lehman says only 1% of the Department of War's ~$1T budget goes to autonomy, wants AI tooling so contracting officers can say yes, and aims to thank two Apache pilots Saronic tech helped. CTO Vibhav Altekar explains hardware-software co-design for 20-G impacts, redundant comms against jamming, the Nvidia partnership, and open-source AI.

Dino Mavrookas: America Needs to Build Ships Again

Sep 8, 2026 · 29:56

Dino Mavrookas, Co-Founder & CEO of Saronic, argues America's shipbuilding gap—China outbuilds the U.S. 230 to 1, having built over 1,000 commercial ships last year against 5—is a national security crisis only autonomy and private capital can fix. He notes the Navy's 290 ships fall short of Congress's 355 minimum and the revised 381-ship need, and explains how Saronic's Corsair, Marauder and $3 billion Port Alpha shipyard—10,000 jobs and $160 billion of impact in Brownsville—answer that. He predicts 5 to 10 new defense primes in a decade and describes a Castellan partnership to launch a hypersonic missile off an autonomous ship before the Navy can from a manned one. He also recounts founding Saronic in 2022 after leaving private equity, his wife naming it after the Battle of Salamis.

Inside Saronic’s $9.25B Autonomous Boat Factory | CEO Dino Mavrookas

Sep 7, 2026 · 33:01

Saronic co-founder and CEO Dino Mavrookas tours Molly O'Shea through the company's 420,000 sqft autonomous boat factory in Austin, Texas, arguing vertical integration of hardware and software took the 2022 startup to a $9.25B valuation. He shows the Corsair line, which can build 2,000 boats per year, and credits its linear flow with exposing bottlenecks. He boards Mirage, a 52-foot vessel with 2,500 nautical miles of range and 3,500 lbs of payload, and points to Marauder, a 180-foot ship. Port Alpha, the Brownsville shipyard on 800 acres, will add 150,000 gross tons — 1.5X U.S. capacity — and 10,000 jobs vs. China's 230-to-1 lead. He traces the $800 Amazon-raft origins, the $392 million Navy contract, and Corsair combat use in the Strait of Hormuz, including an autonomous rescue.