Best Australian Defence Magazine Podcasts (2025)

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KBR’s role in providing sovereign sustainment and engineering solutions 20:09

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8h ago20:09

20:09

In this episode, Grant McHerron talks with two people from KBR's Australia Defence and Security Solutions group: Christine Gillon, Director of People and Culture, and Ben Kelly, Senior Director of Sustainment and Integration. We discuss KBR’s growth in Australia and their role providing Defence with sustainment and engineering solutions. We begin o…

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Improving Army capabilities with HIMARS and locally made Precision Strike Missiles 33:00

7d ago33:00

33:00

In this episode, Grant McHerron talks with James Heading, the Director and General Manager for Missiles and Fire Control at Lockheed Martin Australia, and Wayne Harrison who is responsible for International Business Development at the Missiles and Fire Control team at Lockheed Martin, We'll be talking about the Precision Strike Missile (PrSM) and H…

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ADM 30 Under 30 Awards 12:54

9d ago12:54

12:54

In this episode, Grant McHerron and Kirra Davey talk with Sophee Clark, Babcock International Group's Australian Production Manager for Marine projects, about her experiences as a 30 Under 30 Award winner and working at Babcock. We begin our conversation by getting an overview of the ADM 30 Under 30 award program, the challenges of recruitment for …

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DASA - Keeping Defence aviation safe from the sky to the stars 34:37

14d ago34:37

34:37

In this episode, Grant McHerron talks with Air Commodore James Badgery, Director General of the Defence Aviation Safety Authority, about DASA and their engagement with the Australian Space Agency, and space in general. We begin our discussion by getting a general overview of James’ career, how DASA operates, and how Defence has adopted European mil…

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Anduril awarded AU$1.7bn to produce Ghost Shark XL-AUVs for the Royal Australian Navy 19:40

20d ago19:40

19:40

Grant McHerron talks with David Goodrich OAM, Executive Chairman and CEO of Anduril Australia, about the big news from Wednesday morning regarding Anduril being awarded $1.7bn for the Ghost Shark Program of Record. We start with an overview of the contract, then move on to Ghost Shark's pedigree from the Dive LD and Dive XL AUVs, and how much Austr…

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EOS & Leidos for Land 156, Type 26 for Norway, Hunter media coverage & other maritime news 17:44

23d ago17:44

17:44

In this News Review episode, Grant McHerron, Ewen Levick and Kirra Davey review and discuss some of the news of interest that's occurred recently in the world of Defence. We start with a look at Land 156 with plenty of releases lately, including the announcement that the EOS Slinger cannon will be included and that Leidos has been selected as the s…

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MHI at the Hunter, closer ties with South Korea, & Kongsberg's exporting more NSM launchers 19:59

1M ago19:59

19:59

In this News Review episode, Grant McHerron and Kirra Davey review and discuss some of the recent news of interest that's occurred recently in the world of Defence. We open the episode with Kirra's comments on the Hunter Defence Conference that she attended, including reference to Mitsubishi Heavy Industries being present, which leads to a discussi…

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EW lessons and realities from Ukraine and the Middle East 34:06

2M ago34:06

34:06

In this episode, Grant McHerron talks with Phil Guy, Managing Director of Alkath and Darrel Madden Manager for Testing and Training at Mellori Solutions QLD, regarding updates in the world of electronic warfare over the past year. We begin our discussion by getting an overview of Darrel’s career and time in the army, then review the major lessons l…

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Mogami for Sea 3000, Peregrine gets an upgrade and it's 30 Under 30 time 16:23

2M ago16:23

16:23

In this News Review episode, Grant McHerron, Ewen Levick and Nigel Pittaway review and discuss some of the recent news of interest that's occurred recently in the world of Defence. The big news item that has captured a lot of attention has been the announcement that Japan's upgraded Mogami-class frigate has been selected for Project Sea 3000. We di…

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Integrating AI and sovereign capability for Defence 33:52

2M ago33:52

33:52

In this episode, Grant McHerron and Steve Visscher talk with Christian Gutierrez, Vice President Hive Mind Solutions, and Mark Palmer, Vice President of Vision Systems, at Shield AI. The discussion covers Shield AI's presence in Australia and the work they are performing here that is in use around the world. We start our discussion by getting an ov…

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Australian SME’s preparing to meet nuclear standards for AUKUS 38:56

2M ago38:56

38:56

In this episode, Grant McHerron talks with Mark Schneider, UBH Group’s Chief Nuclear Officer, about aligning the Defence industry with the AUKUS supply chain apparatus. We kick off our discussion by getting an overview of Mark’s career and UBH’s history starting in 2020 providing IT and security services, and we review the role that the Naval Nucle…

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First Land 156 announcements, TS25 launches a PrSM at Christmas Island, & Tethered UAS units 20:44

2M ago20:44

20:44

In this News Review episode, Grant McHerron, Ewen Levick and Kirra Davey review and discuss some of the recent news of interest that's occurred recently in the world of Defence. We kick off with the news that the government has announced a first block of contracts worth about $19 million under the Land 156 program. A number of companies are include…

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Vertically integrating SME’s into the Global Supply Chain Program 37:33

2M ago37:33

37:33

In this episode, Grant McHerron talks with Joshua Stewart, a director at Luminact, about changes and challenges with Defence's engagement with industry, the Global Supply Chain Program, and exporting beyond the Australian market. We begin our discussion with a summary of Josh's career to date, and review Luminact’s project services throughout Defen…

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Reassessing combat helicopters, JP 9102 was cut due funding, and the importance of space 27:21

3M ago27:21

27:21

In this News Review episode, Grant McHerron, Ewen Levick and Kirra Davey review and discuss some of the recent news of interest that's occurred recently in the world of Defence. We start with the news that the first Black Hawks have moved to South East Queensland and that the Romeo fleet has reached 50,000 total flying hours. This leads into a disc…

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Shield AI's autonomy for ISR drones and partnering with local industry 22:33

3M ago22:33

22:33

In this episode, Grant McHerron catches up with Christian Gutierrez, Vice President of Hivemind Engineering at Shield AI, while they were both at Avalon, to discuss the company's presence at the show. We start with a quick review of Christian's career plus the history and overview of Shield AI, before we talk about their Hivemind modular framework …

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Will bombing Iran achieve strategic goals, FPV drones aren't great, & CIVMEC buying Luerssen 26:27

3M ago26:27

26:27

In this News Review episode, Grant McHerron and Ewen Levick review and discuss some of the recent news of interest that's occurred recently in the world of Defence. We start off with the big topic of the USA bombing Iran with the deception of B-2s going West, Israel's air superiority reducing the assets required, and the first combat use of the GBU…

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ADM Women in Defence and National Security Breakfast hosted by Dassault Systemes 1:22:49

3M ago1:22:49

1:22:49

In this episode, we include the audio from ADM's inaugural Women in Defence Network breakfast in Melbourne held on 3rd June 2025. This was the first in a national series spotlighting leadership, innovation, and inclusion in the defence sector. Kylie Leonard, founder of the Network, opened the morning and welcomed attendees to the new national initi…

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The evolution and changes in managing Defence real estate 24:34

3M ago24:34

24:34

In this episode, Grant McHerron talks with Geoff Camp, JLL's Defence Lead for Australia, about the changing shape of Defence and industry in estate operations. We get an overview of JLL’s role as a real estate firm and beyond, particularly their involvement with the ADF, as well as the career that led Geoff to his current role and his history in De…

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TKMS & SEA3000, USA's AUKUS review, and deep-striking drones 31:48

4M ago31:48

31:48

In this News Review episode, Grant McHerron, Ewen Levick and Kirra Davey review and discuss some of the recent news of interest that's occurred recently in the world of Defence. We start with Grant's recent trip to Germany as a guest of TKMS where he and three journalists from Australia toured ship yards, a steel fabrication plant and a German Navy…

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Delivering health services across Australia for the ADF 24:36

4M ago24:36

24:36

In this episode, Grant McHerron talks with Maureen Taylor, the National Manager for Corporate Health at Healthcare Australia (HCA) and Dr Michael Bonning, Defence Medical Advisor at HCA, The topic is regarding Defence’s transition to a patient-centric care approach rather than one that is cost control based, which is part of Defence’s improvements …

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Palantir’s Vantage using AI and live data to assess Force Readiness 34:47

4M ago34:47

34:47

In this episode, Grant McHerron talks with Mike Kerrigan, Head of Defence, Australia, with Palantir Technologies, about assessing Force Readiness with Palantir's Vantage system. We start our discussion by getting a brief history of Palantir’s formation, Mark’s background in the Army and his current role with Palantir. Mike gives us an overview of f…

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The current state of Test & Evaluation with Nova Systems 30:42

4M ago30:42

30:42

In this episode, Grant McHerron talks with Dean Rosenfeld, CEO of Nova Systems, and Tim Grabert, Nova's Test & Evaluation Capability Lead, about Test & Evaluation (T&E) with the Australian Defence Force. We start with an overview on the how the industry is aligning with recent strategies, priorities and reviews. We then discuss the need for a susta…

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Honewell resilient communications sytems and 10 years of RAAF's Plan Jericho 24:20

4M ago24:20

24:20

In this latest episode with content from Avalon 2025, Steve Visscher steps out from the edit suite to fly on Honeywell Aerospace's Boeing 757 test bed then afterwards caught up with Tim Roberts, Director of Connected Defense Solutions at Honeywell Aerospace. Meanwhile, Grant McHerron discussed the learnings from ten years of Jericho with GPCAPT Jes…

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Linking F-35 Simulators, AUKUS Innovations, & Lawful By Design 18:06

5M ago18:06

18:06

In this News Review episode, Grant McHerron, Nigel Pittaway and Kirra Davey review and discuss some of the recent news of interest that's occurred recently in the world of Defence. We start by looking at Lockheed Martin's recent press release stating that Australia is the first international F-35 customer to connect our simulators via the Distribut…

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Avalon Update with BAE Systems and Leidos 43:37

5M ago43:37

43:37

In the next of our Avalon 2025 episodes, Grant McHerron talks initially with Mat Jones, Head of Future Business at BAE Systems, and then with Ed Kearny, Business Development Manager, Leidos. Mat walks us around the BAE Systems stand which featured a large collection of products from their global operation and partners. We start with the MBDA's Mete…

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Avalon Update with Sikorsky Australia & Lockheed Martin Space 43:03

5M ago43:03

43:03

In the next of our Avalon 2025 episodes, Grant McHerron talks initially with Cliff Kyle, General Manager of Sikorsky Australia, and then he catches up with Rod Drury, Vice President International with Lockheed Martin Space. Cliff steps us through his career with Navy and then industry, before discussing Sikorsky Australia's work to sustain the curr…

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Northern Australia Defence Summit, low funds for AUKUS Innovation, & our industry grows the economy 17:42

5M ago17:42

17:42

In this News Review episode, Grant McHerron, Nigel Pittaway and Kirra Davey review and discuss some of the recent news of interest that's occurred recently in the world of Defence. We start with an update on the common themes running through the Northern Australia Defence Summit that was recently held in Darwin then move on to discuss the AUKUS Mar…

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Avalon Update with Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace 28:39

5M ago28:39

28:39

In the first of our Avalon 2025 episodes, Grant McHerron talks initially with Oyvind Kolset, Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace’s Executive Vice President of their Missiles division, after which he also catches up once again with John Fry, Managing Director of Kongsberg Defence Australia. Oyvind discusses the state of their operation in the United State…

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6th Gen Combat Aircraft, AUKUS risks and HEO Space working with Space Machines Company 24:19

6M ago24:19

24:19

In this News Review episode, Grant McHerron, Ewen Levick and Nigel Pittaway review and discuss some of the recent news of interest that's occurred recently in the world of Defence. Having recovered from Avalon, we start our discussion by looking at the UK's Global Air Combat Program (GCAP) and Future Combat Air System (FCAS), Australia's interest i…

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Avalon Airshow Day 3 has Counter UAS, 6th gen capability, and more AI 11:04

6M ago11:04

11:04

In this News Review episode, Grant McHerron, Ewen Levick, Nigel Pittaway and Ben Felton are joined by Julian Kerr and our producer, Steve Visscher. It's the end of the trade days and there has been plenty of Counter UAS information thanks to Land 156, and the news that Boeing are planning to conduct the launch of a missile from Ghost Bat. We also h…

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Avalon Airshow Day 2 reveals a potential new platform for RAAF and Ghost Bat updates 12:45

6M ago12:45

12:45

In this News Review episode, Grant McHerron, Ewen Levick, Nigel Pittaway and Ben Felton are joined by Julian Kerr to review their experiences from Day 2 of the Avalon Airshow. We note that there are more people here today, especially now that the budget has been released, then give quick summaries of our experiences today. From there, we discuss th…

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Avalon Airshow Day 1 and we're getting good news from Defence! 14:02

6M ago14:02

14:02

In this News Review episode, Grant McHerron, Ewen Levick, Nigel Pittaway and Ben Felton review their experiences from Day 1 of the Avalon Airshow. There's been a flood of releases and a number of briefings during the day, plus a few items that were released yesterday, including the big news about Boeing being selected for the F-47 Next Gen Air Domi…

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Canadian JORN, Hanwha trying to buy more of Austal, and whither Collins LOTE? 26:51

6M ago26:51

26:51

In this News Review episode, Grant McHerron, Ewen Levick and Ben Felton review and discuss some of the recent news of interest that's occurred in the world of Defence over the past two weeks. We start with the news that Canada's PM has announced that they've shortlisted BAE Systems' Jindalee Over the horizon Radar Network (JORN) technology. It's no…

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Australia's ability to survive in a rapidly changing world, with the Grumpy Strategists 57:57

7M ago57:57

57:57

In this episode, Grant McHerron, Ewen Levick, Nigel Pittaway and Ben Felton join with Marcus Hellyer and Michael Shoebridge (aka The Grumpy Strategists) to discuss recent developments, both local and global, and the need for Australia to quickly adapt to the new geopolitical environment. We start with Sea 3000 and the statements at Senate Estimates…

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ADM Congress, AUKUS Pillar 2 Conference and the Space Summit. Wow! 19:06

7M ago19:06

19:06

In this News Review episode, Grant McHerron, Nigel Pittaway and Ben Felton review and discuss the highlights from the ADM Congress, AUKUS Pillar 2 Conference and Space Summit that were held on the same day this week in the same venue. You could tell that it's an election year as both Pat Conroy (minister for Defence Industry) and Andrew Hastie (sha…

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Ethics and the Militarisation of Space 34:33

8M ago34:33

34:33

In this episode, Grant McHerron talks with the Reverend Doctor Nikki Coleman about ethics and the militarisation of space. The discussion starts off with getting a background of Dr Coleman’s previous roles and experience as a chaplain, congregation minister and professor, as well as how their work calling out ADF’s problems surrounding sexual haras…

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First Arafura in Defence trials, 2nd & 3rd Tritons this year, & a lack of Defence information 26:46

8M ago26:46

26:46

In this News Review episode, Grant McHerron, Ewen Levick, Nigel Pittaway and Ben Felton review and discuss some of the recent news of interest that's occurred in the world of Defence over the past two weeks. We start with the news that the first Arafura class Offshore Patrol Vessel has been accepted by Defence for sea trials, three years after it w…

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The role of Women in Leadership in delivering Defence Capability 25:26

8M ago25:26

25:26

In this episode, Grant McHerron talks with Sarah Baker, Partner for Program Design & Delivery, and Sheena Ireland, Executive Director for Program Design & Delivery, from Synergy Group about the role of women in leadership in delivering Defence capability. We start the discussion by getting an overview of the importance that diversity in leadership …

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Elections, New Zealand defence developments, and last minute reviews 26:07

8M ago26:07

26:07

In this News Review episode, Grant McHerron, Nigel Pittaway and Ben Felton review and discuss some of the recent news of interest that's occurred in the world of Defence since early December. We start off noting that the government has shifted into election mode with plenty of announcements with almost every quote in the announcement stating that t…

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Are the SEA 3000 designs still on paper? Meanwhile, LCH goes sole-source and other news 19:21

10M ago19:21

19:21

In this News Review episode, Grant McHerron, Nigel Pittaway and Ben Felton review and discuss some of the recent news of interest published on the ADM site. We start off looking at the recent agreement for RAAF KC-30As to refuel Indian P-8Is at any time, not just in exercises, and how this will likely expand to cover their other aircraft. We also t…

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Securing communication networks in an insecure world 25:44

11M ago25:44

25:44

In this episode, Grant McHerron and Ben Felton talk with David Wiseman, Vice President for Secure Communications at BlackBerry, about ensuring mobile communications can remain secure. We start the discussion by getting an overview of David’s talk ‘Spying on mobile’ at the Military Communications and Information Systems (MilCIS) Conference, which hi…

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JP9102 defunded, GWEO announcements, Black Hawks, Ukraine donations and other news 19:02

11M ago19:02

19:02

In this News Review episode, Grant McHerron, Nigel Pittaway and Ben Felton review and discuss some of the recent news of interest published on the ADM site. We open the discussion by looking at the big news from Defence that JP9102 for a Geostationary communications satellite capability is no longer going ahead as originally intended (aka it's pret…

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The path towards Australia’s nuclear submarine capability 36:12

11M ago36:12

36:12

In this episode, Grant McHerron and Ben Felton talk with Giles Evans who is the Director of Nuclear Consulting at ADCG and Co-Founding CTO of Australian Nuclear Power. We discuss the steps that need to be taken for Australia to acquire nuclear capable submarines. We start by getting an overview of Giles’ extensive naval career, then move into discu…

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Henderson gets a study, Missiles ahoy, Korean connections and other news 28:56

11M ago28:56

28:56

In this News Review episode, Grant McHerron, Ewen Levick and Ben Felton review and discuss some of the recent news of interest published on the ADM site. We start with a discussion about the big announcement of the Henderson consolidation which was reported as involving billions but actually only committed a relatively small amount for breakwater e…

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The flexibility and scalability of Non-Intrusive Flight Test Instrumentation Systems (NIFTI) 31:01

11M ago31:01

31:01

In this episode, Grant McHerron talks with Pieter Penhall, Defence Systems Engineering Specialist, and Sam Mancarella, Systems Engineering Director, from MEMKO about their Non-Intrusive Flight Test Instrumentation (NIFTI) system. We start the discussion by getting an overview of how MEMKO was founded, the engineering and digital aerospace ecosystem…

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The use of LEO SatComs in the military, for humanitarian aid and as a tool for diplomacy 32:20

12M ago32:20

32:20

In this episode, Grant McHerron and Ben Felton talk with Dr Matthew Ilich, National Solutions Specialist for Defence at Vocus, about Low Earth Orbit Satellite Communications as a tool for diplomacy and humanitarian aid. We kick off the discussion by getting a background of Mathew’s path into communications and his experiences in the Army. We review…

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More AARGM-ERs, Stingrays on P-8As, STRIX updates, and Lasers 16:11

12M ago16:11

16:11

In this News Review episode, Grant McHerron, Nigel Pittaway and Ben Felton review and discuss some of the recent news of interest published on the ADM site. We start by discussing the United States approving another 100 AGM-88G AARGM-ER missiles for sale to Australia, noting that it's in addition to the 63 approved last year and that exact numbers …

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Land Forces 2024: Kongsberg missiles update & BlackBerry for secure comms 29:51

12M ago29:51

29:51

In this episode, we present the last of the interviews we recorded at Land Forces 2024. John Fry, Managing Director of Kongsberg Defence Australia: John updates us on the delivery of Kongsberg Defence Australia's components of the NASAMS Air Defence system to Army, the StrikeMaster launcher for the Naval Strike Missile Coastal Defence System that e…

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Land Forces 2024: T&E for long range fires, AIDN, SYPAQ, & Ascent AeroSystems' coaxial drone 38:20

1y ago38:20

38:20

In this episode, we present four of the interviews we recorded at Land Forces 2024. The first is with Cathy O'Carroll, Campaign Director, and Graeme Bick, Chief Solution Architect, Global Test and Evaluation Campaign from QinetiQ: We discuss QinetiQ's background in both Australia and the UK, then get an insight into the lifecycle of developing, tes…

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Land Forces 2024: The increased pace of Electronic Warfare and a New Water Recycling System 36:27

1y ago36:27

36:27

In this episode, we present two of the interviews we recorded at Land Forces 2024. The first interview is with Phil Guy, Executive Director, and David Devine, GM, at Mellori Solutions: They give us an update on Mellori’s work over the last year and their views on the increased pace of innovation seen in the Ukraine and Middle East conflicts. We als…