America’s capital markets are an underrated strategic weapon. Anduril CEO Brian Schimpf on turning that edge into a tool for national priorities: "The US capital market structure is, it's not like it's 10% better than anyone else, it's like several thousand times better than anyone else. Like it is just wildly better." "If you're leaning into that and saying, 'Hey, we actually have great capital allocators that know how to underwrite companies and lean in on these things.' Great, let's just use the capital stack in a way that is aligned with national priorities around certain industries, certain capabilities, things like that." "Where else could you finance $200 billion of data center investments with like basically no real revenue to show for it? Like it's crazy." @SchimpfBrian @eriktorenberg

The Dept of War released its new Manufacturing Technology Strategy for 2026-2031 earlier this week. Developing the world's best tech doesn't mean much if we can't actually manufacture at the speed, scale & cost required. My top 5 takeaways for private industry: 1. Manufacturing capacity is a national security priority. Developing weapons & tech is important, but just as important is whether the U.S. can actually manufacture them, quickly scale production, replenish, and sustain that production. 2. Commercial industry is needed, badly. More and more, there's a recognition that the traditional defense industrial base cannot alone solve this. Partnerships with private industry, academia, and the Manufacturing Innovation Institutes must bring manufacturing tech into defense production. This opens a critical lane for companies that may not think of themselves as defense companies. 3. Defense manufacturing isn't just weapons. Advanced materials, robotics, additive manufacturing, automation, AI, castings & forgings, batteries, biomanufacturing, supply chain tech, workforce development -- if a capability helps manufacture faster, cheaper, more reliably, or at greater scale, there very well may be a defense application. 4. Big emphasis to bridge the gap between innovation and scaled production. Focus is on tackling manufacturing problems that have long been too risky or expensive for industry to solve alone, with opportunities for govt to help de-risk the capability needed to get promising tech to scale. The question now is can industry come to the table. 5. Manufacturing Innovation Institutes are a major doorway. The institutes connect govt, manufacturers, startups, universities, and other industry partners to run projects, provide access to equipment and expertise, and help transition commercial tech into defense applications. The biggest misconception right now is that companies across America don't have to manufacture missiles, drones, subs, ammunition, etc to play a role in the defense industrial base. Those building the tech, equipment, materials, software, and processes that can help America manufacture better and faster are needed more than ever in the federal market.

Today, at Secretary Hegseth's direction, the Department of War is starting the creation of the Autonomous Warfare Command. This will be a new 4-star combatant command—with service-like authorities—built to scale autonomous and robotic capabilities across the Joint Force in the fastest peacetime shift in modern military history.