military-technology
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Colby Adcock Is Moving AI From the Deal Room to the Dirt
After fourteen years in finance, the Scout AI co-founder is betting that the next important interface will not live on a screen. It will connect a commander's intent to machines working at the tactical edge.
Perseus Defense
Perseus Defense is a YC S25 aerospace and defense startup building low-cost, man-portable guided micro-missiles to shoot down small drones. Its Harpe interceptor targets Group 1 and Group 2 drones at a claimed cost of under $10,000 per shot - roughly a 20x reduction versus existing systems - closing the cost gap where a $500 drone can threaten multi-million-dollar assets. Founded by ex-NASA aerospace engineer Jason Cornelius and ex-Boeing autonomy lead Steve Messinger, the company is building an affordable, mass-producible 'Iron Dome for drones' for U.S. defense and homeland security customers.
Distributed Spectrum
Distributed Spectrum builds AI-powered radio-frequency sensors and software that automatically detect, classify, and locate signals - drones, jammers, tactical radios, GPS spoofers - in real time. Founded by three Harvard engineers, the company packs commercial hardware and edge AI into sub-one-pound sensors that give soldiers and analysts persistent spectrum awareness without specialist RF expertise. It raised a $25M Series A in March 2025 and has fielded systems with US military branches and partners in Ukraine.
Aurelius Systems
Aurelius Systems is a San Francisco defense-technology startup building Archimedes, an autonomous, high-powered laser turret that detects, tracks and neutralizes drones in seconds for roughly the cost of electricity. Founded in 2024 by photonics veterans Michael LaFramboise and John Marmaduke, the company fuses commercial off-the-shelf hardware, advanced optics and AI-guided targeting into a compact, low-cost counter-UAS platform aimed at protecting soldiers and critical infrastructure from cheap, swarming aerial threats.
Garrett Smith
Garrett Smith is the founder and CEO of Reveal Technology, a Bozeman, Montana defense-tech company that turns drone video into offline 3D maps and runs mobile biometrics on a phone at the tactical edge. A former U.S. Marine Corps infantry and intelligence officer who still serves in the reserves, Smith built the company he wished he had in combat, where he was making high-stakes decisions off pen-and-paper maps in a digital war. Reveal's Farsight and Identifi platforms are used by U.S. Special Operations, the Army, the Marines, and allied forces in Ukraine, the UK, and Israel. In July 2025 the company closed a $30 million Series B led by Ballistic Ventures.
CX2
CX2 (CX2 Industries) is an El Segundo, California defense-technology startup building AI-enabled hardware and software for the electromagnetic spectrum. Its systems detect, classify, geolocate, and disrupt hostile RF emitters in jammed and GPS-denied environments, aiming to give allied forces an edge in electronic warfare at a fraction of the cost of legacy systems. Founded in 2024 by a team including Nathan Mintz, Porter Smith, Lee Thompson, and Mark Trefgarne, CX2 has raised about $46M, led by a $31M Series A from Point72 Ventures, and launched its Wraith airborne EW platform in December 2025.
Andy Markoff
Andy Markoff is the co-founder and CEO of Smack Technologies, an El Segundo defense startup he calls the first frontier AI lab built for national security. A former Marine Raider who served as an operations officer during the Battle of Mosul and later worked on Palantir's strategy team, Markoff is building AI products - Omega for the command center and Alpha for the edge - aimed at compressing military planning from days into minutes. In March 2026 the company announced $32 million in combined Seed and Series A funding led by Geodesic Capital and Costanoa Ventures, behind a thesis Markoff sums up bluntly: 'Decision Dominance will be the deciding factor in preventing WWIII because it's the only goal achievable before 2027.'
Tim Jenks
Tim Jenks is the Interim CEO of PowerLight Technologies, a Kent, Washington-based company pioneering laser-based wireless power beaming for drones, defense systems, and space infrastructure. A U.S. Naval Academy graduate with a nuclear engineering master's from MIT and an MBA from Stanford, Jenks spent over two decades building NeoPhotonics from a venture-backed startup into a NYSE-listed company before selling it to Lumentum Holdings for approximately $918 million in 2022. Now he's steering PowerLight through a pivotal moment: in April 2026, the company achieved the world's first wireless power beaming to a fielded military drone in flight, delivering kilowatt-class laser energy to a Kraus Hamdani Aerospace K1000ULE at 5,000 feet altitude - a breakthrough that could redefine how unmanned aircraft operate in contested environments.