Dear {{First_Name|Friend}},
Last week, we hosted the latest installment of our dinner salon series — an intimate evening of investors and founders building at the frontier of defense and security technology. These dinners work because of who's in the room: when you gather that much conviction and expertise around one table, the conversation goes places a typical meet up or conference never could.
Our guest speaker, Ray Edwards, anchored the evening with a sharp, clear-eyed perspective on the real state of AI in the U.S. military and the capital flows reshaping the defense industrial base. Two of his recent essays capture the themes that drove our discussion and are essential reading for anyone operating in this space:
AI in the Military: Separating Signal from Noise
In Artificial Intelligence in the U.S. Military: Where the Real Value Is, and Where It Isn't, Ray argues that the near-term military impact of AI isn't autonomous weapons — it's decision speed. The biggest returns are coming from non-kinetic applications: intelligence analysis (Project Maven), predictive maintenance, logistics optimization, and automating the crushing volume of staff work that slows every branch of the military. Meanwhile, defense primes like Lockheed Martin, RTX, Northrop Grumman, and Boeing alongside startups like Shield AI, Epirus, Saronic, and Skydio are embedding AI across sensing, targeting, and decision support — all with humans firmly in the loop.
Read the full essay
Where the Money Is Moving
In Mobilizing Private Capital for Defense: Venture Capital, Private Equity, LPs, and GPs in the New National Security Economy, Ray examines how private capital is flowing into defense at an unprecedented pace. He breaks down how GPs and LPs are navigating the unique dynamics of defense investing — longer timelines, classified customer sets, ITAR constraints — and why aligning public and private capital is critical to scaling innovation and strengthening the industrial base.
Read the full essay
A Category That's Hard to Ignore
Defense and security technology is no longer a niche allocation or a contrarian bet — it's a defining category of this decade. The convergence of geopolitical urgency, AI capability, and record capital deployment has created an ecosystem that demands attention from serious investors and operators alike.
If you're building in defense or security tech, investing in the space, or simply watching it closely — we'd love to hear from you and compare notes. Just reply to this email.
Stay sharp,
Vitaly Golomb
Managing Partner
AI, Robotics, Mobility, Energy
[email protected]
