It's been a real wake-up call to everybody that the old weapons platforms can no longer work in the way they were originally designed to work, that there is a whole new hybrid way of fighting war, and that we need to master it quickly if we're going to

have military as dominant as as we had before the conflict kicked off.

I'm Mary Long and that's Chris Kirkoff.

He's an expert on emerging technologies who, along with venture capitalist Raj Shah, launched

and led the Pentagon's Defense Innovation Unit.

Also called Unit X, this group piloted the use of flying cars and microsatellites for

military missions.

Shaw and Kirkoff's new book is called Unit X, how the

Pentagon and Silicon Valley are transforming the future of war. It tells the story of

how that elite unit came to be and takes a look at the cutting edge technology that's shaping modern warfare.

Sean Kirkoff joined my colleague Ricky Mulvey for a conversation about what happens

when the Pentagon and Silicon Valley come together to develop defense technology.

They also discuss bringing a VC mindset to Washington, D.C.

why the military is interested in evodals and how to distinguish statistical techniques from genuine artificial intelligence.

Let's set the table because for those who are not in this world they may think oh there is an

innovation unit within the government in defense and it's called DARPA where

they're creating all of these really cool technologies for the military to use.

How is Unit X different from that?

Well, Ricky DARPA is an incredible part of the government that has been, of course, a part of some of the

most story developments in technology

not only in inventing the internet and global position in systems but also importantly

for warfare stealth.

...