Cost-effective UAS are changing the battlefield - Dan Magy, Firestorm

In Part 2, Adam Hepworth gets onto the technology he finds most interesting. He makes the case that maturing uncrewed systems with emergent behaviour into something genuinely deployable could break the one-to-many problem and deliver an order-of-magnitude jump in both capability and capacity. In conversation with host Josh Bailey, Adam talks about brain-controlled robot dogs and the human-machine interface being the real unsolved problem. He talks about RICO working on exploring what is the next groundbreaking technology, and the workforce challenge underpinning it: how does Army grow the AI operators, maintainers and support skills that the Army will need. The episode closes on responsible AI, drawing on Adam's work with the Global Commission on Responsible AI in the Military and its Responsible by Design report, and his conviction that the entire point of Army's RAS strategy is to protect people first. Key takeaways Swarms as tipping point (28:03 to 29:23) The Oppenheimer of 2030s (29:39 to 30:54) The workforce problem (31:59 to 33:34) Train RAS like driving (33:34 to 35:38) The interface is unsolved (35:38 to 37:35) Brain-controlled robot dog (37:35 to 39:36) Protecting people first (39:36 to 43:57) If you missed Part 1 on Army's innovation engine and uncrewed battle runs, start there.

This week Josh sits down with LTCOL Adam Hepworth, former director of RICO, the Australian Army's Innovation and Experimentation office. Adam walks through the breadth of what RICO covers, from robotics and autonomous systems and AI to quantum sensing and battlefield electrification, and how the office pairs emerging tech with operational concepts and then puts it in soldiers' hands to test. Adam describes RICO's last large-scale autonomy activity - a live-fire armoured squadron battle run with crewed and uncrewed units fighting together. His main point is that the technology is rarely the hard part. The real work is the enabling infrastructure around it, the policy, the legal reviews, the training and the test and evaluation that turn a one-off demonstration into a deployable, sustainable capability. Key takeaways What RICO actually does (00:14 to 03:30) Human Machine Interfaces (05:03 to 08:28) Human Machine Teaming - battle run (09:26 to 12:42) The hard part (12:42 to 14:29) Soldier feedback (15:01 to 17:21) Adams Journey (18:25 to 27:53) Stick around for Part 2 next week!

In Part 2, Emily Hughes returns to talk risk with Josh: specifically, why we hold machines to a higher standard than the humans they replace, even though we know most accidents stem from operator error. It's a sharp lens on the regulatory caution that's slowing down uncrewed systems. In conversation with host Josh Bailey, Emily digs into the case for right-sizing risk appetite, the difference between dropping a five-kilo drone in an empty paddock and putting an aircraft into a crowd, and why small companies are essential precisely because they'll experiment in the grey, riskier spaces that larger organisations tie themselves in knots over. Key takeaways The pufferfish: aircraft or munition, and why layering every regulation is the wrong instinct (19:08 to 21:23) Leveraging Simulation: run it a thousand times, then fly the fifty that matter (21:23 to 23:33) We demand more of machines, despite knowing where the errors come from (23:33 to 24:17) Why small industry is essential in the riskier spaces that the bigger players avoid (24:17 to 26:06) Stitching things together: sovereign players, quantum tech and a venture capital lens (26:06 to 28:07) Can boys engineer too? The remarks that keep us grounded (28:07 to 30:54) Optimism about the Defence Delivery Agency and learning from the past without repeating it (30:54 to 34:14) If you missed Part 1 on human-machine teaming and calming the pufferfish, start there.

This week Emily Hughes joins Josh to talk about the real work of making autonomous systems useful: not the technology itself, but the humans who have to trust it, operate it, and integrate it into how they fight. An aerosystems engineer with around 25 years across air and land programs, Emily has spent two-thirds of her career in autonomy, from a crewed gyrocopter she instrumented back when all of this was still a science experiment. Emily makes the case that UAS is finally becoming business as usual, one tool available to a commander rather than a separate squadron off in the future. She credits the ADF's experimental units for de-risking that shift, and argues the remaining hurdles are less about technology and more about regulation, compliance and a culture she affectionately calls the pufferfish reaction to risk. The conversation also covers her advice to small companies trying to break into defence, why speed is their real advantage, and how to find a way in through established players rather than fighting the process alone. Key takeaways From space-obsessed kid to aerosystems engineer, and why solving problems beats plane-spotting (01:37 to 03:03) Technology for its own sake helps no one: building systems around how the operator actually works (03:03 to 04:59) Harriers, jet fuel and a terribly unsafe gyrocopter: hands-on autonomy nearly 20 years ago (04:59 to 07:31) UAS as business as usual: one tool for the commander, not a separate squadron (07:31 to 10:42) Calming the pufferfish: why the real hurdles are now regulatory, not technical (10:42 to 13:31) Hidden complexity under a simple surface, and why intuitive systems mean the hard work happened in industry (13:31 to 14:53) Breaking into defence: find momentum, partner with established players, let your agility count (14:53 to 19:08) Stick around for Part 2 next week!

In Part 2, Alex Bristol makes the case for getting physically closer to the threat, and he's putting his money where his mouth is, heading to the Baltics and Eastern Europe to learn from the Finns, the Poles and Ukraine, because that's where the ground truth is. In conversation with host Josh Bailey, we get into the gray-zone use of uncrewed systems as a way to test a nation's will without triggering a hard response, the blurring of civil and military lines, and the constraints on counter-UAS in the homeland where kinetic, EW and laser options are largely off the table. Alex frames the geopolitical shift bluntly: power projection is back, and adversaries are probing how far they can push. The episode closes on something more personal: Unit Decode, the veteran-transition platform Alex is building, and his conviction that using AI well, being able to do the job of five to ten people, is the edge that matters coming out of service. Key takeaways Getting closer to the threat: why Alex is heading to the Baltics and Eastern Europe (15:08 to 17:14) Uncrewed systems as a gray-zone probe: testing will without a hard response (17:14 to 18:39) Civil-military blurring, and Chinese vessels fitted with missiles and drones (18:39 to 19:28) Hands tied at home: no kinetics, no EW, no lasers on the civilian front (19:28 to 21:44) Power projection is back, and the fight for firm specs on attritable systems (21:44 to 25:45) Unit Decode: rebuilding veteran transition around voice-based AI coaching (25:45 to 29:48) You can't be afraid of AI: it's a tool, not the Terminator (29:48 to 31:25) If you missed Part 1 on counter-UAS ground truth from Syria and why complexity kills, start there.