{"podcast":{"title":"The Defense Tech Podcast with Fexingo: Government Contracting, Aerospace, and Military Tech","slug":"the-defense-tech-podcast-with-fexingo-government-contracting-aerospace-and-military-tech-7871833","podcast_index_feed_id":7871833,"rss_url":"https://feeds.fexingo.com/business/the-defense-tech-podcast.xml","website_url":"https://www.fexingo.com/","image_url":"https://audio.fexingo.com/business/the-defense-tech-podcast/cover.png","author":"Fexingo","episode_count":120,"summary":"Defense contracting isn't just F-35s and carrier groups. Lucas and Luna break down the actual economics of military tech: how aerospace primes like Lockheed, RTX, and Northrop Grumman manage multi-year fixed-price development contracts, what the DoD’s new CMMC cybersecurity rules mean for small subcontractors, and why the Navy’s Columbia-class submarine program is a case study in industrial-base risk. Each episode starts with a real number — a contract award value, a quarterly P&L line from a defense prime, a Pentagon budget line item — and builds a conversation around it. Lucas, a former defense correspondent, brings the policy and accounting; Luna, a tech-market analyst, connects the programs to publicly traded supply chains and venture-backed startups trying to break into classified markets. No classified information, no defense-blog speculation — just the business logic behind the weapons systems you read about in the news. Why does a missile cost $4 million? How does a shipbuilder hedge against steel tariffs? And what happens when a startup wins a Small Business Innovation Research grant for a prototype that the Air Force actually wants to buy? This is the business of nationa…","last_synced_at":"2026-07-19T08:17:05.344517+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-defense-tech-podcast-with-fexingo-government-contracting-aerospace-and-military-tech-7871833"},"episode":{"title":"The Pentagon's Hardened Undersea Cable Repair Strategy","slug":"the-pentagon-s-hardened-undersea-cable-repair-strategy","published_at":"2026-06-19T07:50:15+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-defense-tech-podcast-with-fexingo-government-contracting-aerospace-and-military-tech-7871833/the-pentagon-s-hardened-undersea-cable-repair-strategy","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-defense-tech-podcast-with-fexingo-government-contracting-aerospace-and-military-tech-7871833","url":"https://audio.fexingo.com/business/the-defense-tech-podcast/episode-0060.mp3","audio_url":"https://audio.fexingo.com/business/the-defense-tech-podcast/episode-0060.mp3","summary":"In episode 60 of The Defense Tech Podcast, Lucas and Luna drill into a specific, unglamorous but critical piece of military infrastructure: the Pentagon's plan to build a rapid-response fleet for repairing damaged undersea cables. Drawing on a recent Government Accountability Office report and a $300 million contract vehicle awarded in March 2026 to companies like Subcom and ASN, they explore why the Defense Department is treating cable repair as a strategic vulnerability. The conversation covers the fragility of the 400-plus cable systems that carry 95 percent of intercontinental data, the tension between commercial secrecy and military readiness, and how this playbook echoes Cold War naval logistics. Lucas notes that the ITA defense ETF, down 4 percent year-to-date as of mid-June 2026, reflects broader sector uncertainty — but undersea cable primes like L3Harris and Leidos may be overlooked beneficiaries. No hype, just the nuts and bolts of a quiet, necessary build. #UnderseaCables #MilitaryInfrastructure #Pentagon #DefenseTech #CableRepair #Subcom #ASN #L3Harris #Leidos #GovernmentAccountabilityOffice #GAOreport #NationalSecurity #CyberWarfare #MaritimeOperations #Business #Technology #FexingoBusiness #BusinessPodcast Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo","meta_description":"In episode 60 of The Defense Tech Podcast, Lucas and Luna drill into a specific, unglamorous but critical piece of military infrastructure: the Pentagon's…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":722,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-defense-tech-podcast-with-fexingo-government-contracting-aerospace-and-military-tech-7871833/episodes/the-pentagon-s-hardened-undersea-cable-repair-strategy/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-defense-tech-podcast-with-fexingo-government-contracting-aerospace-and-military-tech-7871833/the-pentagon-s-hardened-undersea-cable-repair-strategy.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}