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The Merge

by The Merge
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Episode releases
#49#85#121#157#193Chart rankOct 15Oct 18Oct 21Oct 24Oct 27#62Episode released Oct 25: E63 – The Merge Origin Story
View as table
DateCombined RankApple PodcastsCastbox
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 min

    It 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 min

    Buying 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 min

    Test 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 min

    How 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 min

    Anduril 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…

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  • E58 – Dcode the Pentagon Buying Machine

    April 26, 2026 · 51 min

    What 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 min

    All 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 min

    This 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 min

    There 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 min

    Mike 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 min

    Chris "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 min

    Chris "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…

Full episode archive on Apple Podcasts →

About the show

Military technology, trends, and national security...presented with unique insights, salt, and wit from combat aviator veterans and industry experts. Fence in for interviews and anecdotes about the ins, outs, and happenings at the intersection of technology, industry, strategy, and policy of aerospace and national defense. Brought to you by The Merge newsletter.