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Hey, everybody. Hey everybody, it's Anna Palmer from The Daily Punch.

Welcome to our fourth and final edition of our special edition podcast as part of our future of defense aviation project.

This month, we've been laying out the state of play, the legislative landscape, talking to key players, and more as we dive deeper into the future of defense aviation.

A big thank you to RTX for making this podcast and product possible.

You can check out the full project at Punchbowl. News.

Today, I'm going to be joined by Max Cohn, a congressional reporter at Punch Bowl News, who is going to discuss the ecosystem of players from Capitol Hill, think tanks, and beyond, who play a crucial role in shaping the country's air defense policies and spending.

With billions of dollars at stake and pricey technological, logistical, and research needs, the sector requires several forces to work together. Max, thanks so much for joining me. Thanks for having me, Anna. Always

happy to be on the show. All right. Well, over the past month, we have looked at, as I mentioned,

the state of play, the legislative landscape. You had an interview with Representative

Austin Scott, key force in defense policy.

This week, you're looking at the entire ecosystem.

Talk about that from a hundred thousand foot level.

Sure, I think obviously we have the key legislators in the Hill who are influential in drafting

policies such as the NDAA, the National Defense Authorization Act, and the appropriations

bills. That's where the

majority of the key congressional players sit either on appropriations committees or arms services

committees. Of course, you have think tanks and nonprofits where a lot of the Hill leaders go

...