# Military Tech INSIDER: The U.S. Is WAY Behind the Drone Warfare Race

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/change-agents-with-andy-stumpf-6206375/military-tech-insider-the-u-s-is-way-behind-the-drone-warfare-race
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/change-agents-with-andy-stumpf-6206375/military-tech-insider-the-u-s-is-way-behind-the-drone-warfare-race.md
Podcast: [Change Agents with Andy Stumpf](https://stenobird.com/podcast/change-agents-with-andy-stumpf-6206375)
Published: 2026-07-22T14:33:00+00:00
Episode link: https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/pdst.fm/e/clrtpod.com/m/pscrb.fm/rss/p/mgln.ai/e/1184/traffic.megaphone.fm/IRD2376047447.mp3
Audio file: https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/pdst.fm/e/clrtpod.com/m/pscrb.fm/rss/p/mgln.ai/e/1184/traffic.megaphone.fm/IRD2376047447.mp3
Processing state: not_requested
JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/change-agents-with-andy-stumpf-6206375/episodes/military-tech-insider-the-u-s-is-way-behind-the-drone-warfare-race
Duration seconds: 3599

## Resource

On today's episode of Change Agents, Andy is joined by Brian Streem, the founder and CEO of Vermeer, a defense tech company with forward operations in Ukraine. He went from using drone technology and Hollywood projects ranging from Steven Spielberg movies, The Fast and the Furious films, and Beyonce music videos to the frontlines of war. This technology lets drones navigate when GPS is jammed, spoofed or gone entirely. Brian pivoted his company into Vermeer in 2018, after the Department of Defense showed strong interest in his team's XR technology, building AR command controlled and visualization tools for unmanned swarms in GPS denied environments. Video Chapters: (00:39) – Meet Brian Streem: Hollywood to the Frontlines (09:39) – The Pivot: From Film Sets to Defense Tech (10:19) – Landing DoD Funding & Moving Vermeer to Ukraine (21:06) – GPS Jamming & Spoofing Explained (25:33) – Fiber Optic vs FPV vs Starlink Drones (31:41) – The Outsider Advantage: Why Being in Kyiv Matters (35:10) – Drone Swarms, Autonomy & Kill-Authority Ethics (42:50) – Pentagon's $150M Drone Dominance Program (47:13) – Russia's Drone Tech: Speed, ATR & What's Next (50:14) – Pilot Psychology, War Outlook & Final Thoughts Sponsors: Firecracker Farm Use code IRONCLAD to get 15% off your first order at https://firecracker.farm/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

## Actions

- request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/change-agents-with-andy-stumpf-6206375/episodes/military-tech-insider-the-u-s-is-way-behind-the-drone-warfare-race/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode.
- read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/change-agents-with-andy-stumpf-6206375/military-tech-insider-the-u-s-is-way-behind-the-drone-warfare-race.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource.

A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed.

## Transcript

Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.