# How the Pentagon Is Buying Runway Time Like an Airline

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-defense-tech-podcast-with-fexingo-government-contracting-aerospace-and-military-tech-7871833/how-the-pentagon-is-buying-runway-time-like-an-airline
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-defense-tech-podcast-with-fexingo-government-contracting-aerospace-and-military-tech-7871833/how-the-pentagon-is-buying-runway-time-like-an-airline.md
Podcast: [The Defense Tech Podcast with Fexingo: Government Contracting, Aerospace, and Military Tech](https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-defense-tech-podcast-with-fexingo-government-contracting-aerospace-and-military-tech-7871833)
Published: 2026-07-10T08:48:15+00:00
Episode link: https://audio.fexingo.com/business/the-defense-tech-podcast/episode-0102.mp3
Audio file: https://audio.fexingo.com/business/the-defense-tech-podcast/episode-0102.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-defense-tech-podcast-with-fexingo-government-contracting-aerospace-and-military-tech-7871833/episodes/how-the-pentagon-is-buying-runway-time-like-an-airline
Duration seconds: 499

## Resource

The U.S. military used to own or lease test ranges for everything from fighter jets to drone swarms, paying for entire facilities year-round even when they sat idle. Now the Pentagon is shifting to a 'test-as-a-service' model, buying runway time, airspace access, and range instrumentation by the hour—like an airline buying gate slots or a cloud customer buying compute. Lucas and Luna break down the economics: how the Defense Innovation Unit brokered a deal with a commercial test range in Nevada, why this matters for small defense startups that couldn't afford their own testing infrastructure, and what the recent dip in Lockheed Martin stock—down more than 5 percent in a week—says about the broader shift toward modular, commercially-sourced defense capabilities. #Pentagon #TestAsAService #DefenseInnovationUnit #DIU #RangeModernization #CommercialTestRange #NevadaRange #LockheedMartin #StartupAccess #ModularDefense #RunwayTime #FighterJets #DroneTesting #Aerospace #MilitaryTech #BusinessAndTechnology #FexingoBusiness #BusinessPodcast Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo

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