The Merge
Today: #62 in Government on our combined chart.
Today: #153 in Government, United Kingdom on our combined chart.
Today: #147 in Government, Canada on our combined chart.
Today: #87 in Government, Australia on our combined chart.
Today: #106 in Government, Germany on our combined chart.
Today: #155 in Government, New Zealand on our combined chart.
Today: #107 in Government, Japan on our combined chart.
Chart positions today · United States
Not on the Brazil charts we track today.
Not on the Mexico charts we track today.
Not on the Ireland charts we track today.
Not on the India charts we track today.
Not on the Philippines charts we track today.
Not on the South Africa charts we track today.
If you like The Merge, try…
Ranking history · United States
Latest daily rankings: Oct 27. New rankings will appear after the next update.
Position on the Government combined chart over the last 14 days. Toggle platforms to compare their positions. Lower rank numbers are better.
View as table
| Date | Combined Rank | Apple Podcasts | Castbox |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 27 | #62 | #62 | #56 |
| Oct 26 | #59 | #57 | — |
| Oct 25 | #106 | #103 | — |
| Oct 24 | #110 | #106 | — |
| Oct 23 | #151 | #151 | — |
| Oct 22 | #150 | #147 | — |
| Oct 21 | #149 | #150 | — |
| Oct 19 | #120 | #121 | — |
| Oct 17 | #111 | #112 | — |
| Oct 16 | #148 | #149 | — |
| Oct 15 | #183 | #186 | — |
| Oct 14 | #132 | #132 | — |
Latest episodes
-
E63 – The Merge Origin Story
October 25, 2026 · 18 minIt started with an email to 300 fighter pilots. Joey Arora turns the tables on Mike "Pako" Benitez to get the full origin story of The Merge. Mike spent 25 years on active duty between the Marine Corps and Air Force, flew the F-15E…
-
E62 – Rethinking Aircraft Maintenance with Perfect Point EDM
October 4, 2026 · 27 minBuying a fighter jet is the cheap part. Mike sits down with Jim Becker, President and CEO of Perfect Point EDM, to talk about the biggest line in any defense program: keeping the fleet flying. Perfect Point builds the E-Drill, which uses…
-
E61 – Rebuilding the Test Playbook with Nominal
August 30, 2026 · 37 minTest is where new military hardware goes to wait. Mike sits down with Jenn Wilson, Head of Federal at Nominal, to talk about test and evaluation, the least glamorous gate between a program and the warfighter. Nominal builds test data…
-
E60 – GPS-Free Navigation
July 12, 2026 · 44 minHow do systems operate when GPS disappears? Mike sits down with Kara Kramer, Vice President ofRaptor Sales at Vantor (formerly Maxar Intelligence), to discuss one of the most important challenges facing modern autonomous systems: operating…
-
E59 – Business Breakdown: Anduril
June 4, 2026 · 43 minAnduril Industries raised $5 billion at a reported $61billion valuation—putting a nine-year-old defense tech company in the same conversation as legacy primes that have been building weapons for generations. How did they do it, what is…
Show 7 more episodesShow fewer episodes
-
E58 – Dcode the Pentagon Buying Machine
April 26, 2026 · 51 minWhat does it actually take to get new technology into thehands of warfighters—and why is it still so hard? In this episode, Mike sits down with the co-founders ofDcode, Meagan Metzger and Meg Vorland, to unpack the reality behind defense…
-
E57 – The War on Bad Software (Defense Unicorns)
March 28, 2026 · 42 minAll modern hardware depends on good software, but in theU.S. military, most software sucks. Rob Slaughter, co-founder and CEO of Defense Unicorns, joins the show to unpack why this is happening and what they are doing to fix it. We dive…
-
E56 – The Fury Origin Story
February 1, 2026 · 54 minThis is the untold origin story of the Fury CollaborativeCombat Aircraft (CCA), as told by those who lived it. Scott Bledsoe and Joe Murray join Mike to talk about Fury’s very beginning—way back to 2016. Now known as Anduril’s YFQ-44…
-
E55 – Christine Fox: the REAL Charlie
January 18, 2026 · 42 minThere is a strange set of organizations that live betweenindustry and government called Federally Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDCs) and University Affiliated Research Centers (UARCs). They play an important—but largely…
-
E54 – Pryzm: AI to understand the Pentagon
December 14, 2025 · 56 minMike sits down with Matt Hawkins and Nick LaRovere,co-founders of Pryzm. Pryzm is building an Operating System for defense innovation—software that uses AI to generate capture intel to make sense of Pentagon budgets, Congressional…
-
E53 – The Fighter Pilot Spirit
December 10, 2025 · 58 minChris "Snooze" Kurek, Rob “Trip” Raymond, and Erik“EZ” Brine chat with Mike “Pako” Benitez on all things fighter pilot culture—toast, roast, and lore. Better known as Dos Gringos, Snooze, and Trip put out 4albums of fighter pilot songs…
-
E53 – The Fighter Pilot Spirit
November 25, 2025 · 57 minChris "Snooze" Kurek, Rob “Trip” Raymond, and Erik“EZ” Brine chat with Mike “Pako” Benitez on all things fighter pilot culture—toast, roast, and lore. Better known as Dos Gringos, Snooze and Trip put out 4 albums of fighter pilot songs…

Australia
Brazil
Canada
Germany
India
Ireland
Japan
Mexico
New Zealand
Philippines
South Africa
United Kingdom