Defense Contractor
topic on 10 shows · 13 statements across 11 episodes
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13 statements about Defense Contractor, every show
Michael: US defense contractors consolidated from 50 in 1980s to five
“So, so in the eighties, during the height of the cold war, we had about 50 defense contractors, five zero, and they consolidated down to five.”
Michael: US defense contractors consolidated from 50 in the 1980s to five
“In the eighties, there were 50 defense contractors, and they were, got merged, so there were only about five. Now.”
Musk: Big defense contractors will not advance rocket technology
“If a startup doesn't do something to advance
rocket technology.
It's definitely not coming from the big defense contractors because they just impedance match to the government and the government just wants to do very conventional things.”
Kennedy: Only weapons manufacturers selling to both sides profit from wars
“The only people profiting are the people that make the things that kill both sides, and they sell to both sides, but there's people that need help, and I can't not do it.”
Schimpf: Cost-plus contracts actively disincentivize defense contractors from lowering production costs
“And on top of that, when you get into production, there's no incentive to reduce your costs because that you list literally will make less money if you reduce your costs and they're going to buy a fixed quantity.”
Tom Pierce: I have walked away from military and defense contracting projects
“There is a point at which when you feel like that whatever the person you're trying to help wants to do is something you really can't support, then you back away. And I've done that even in uniform, and I've certainly done that as a defense contractor.”
Tom Pierce: "Just Doing My Job" Is an Invalid Excuse in Tech
“You know, the excuse of I was just doing my job really doesn't fly in any of those roles. You're always making decisions of whether or not to continue to support whatever endeavor you're a part of. And it always takes courage to walk away and say, I'm not goin…”
The US Funds Defense Primes to Maintain Reserve Workforce Capabilities
“We literally fund these companies to keep them alive so that they keep employees trained should we need the employees trained. Which is, like, something that doesn't really exist in other markets.”
Sacks claims retiring Pentagon generals routinely join defense contractor boards
“All these generals, when they retire from the Pentagon, they go right onto the boards of these defense contractors.”
Luckey: Cost-plus contracts incentivize defense contractors to maximize costs and delays
“Most companies in this space are defense contractors. They work on cost plus contracts where they get paid for their time and their materials, and then a fixed percentage of profit up to on top of that. Usually a very small percentage of profit. And so the onl…”
Palmer Luckey argues traditional defense contractors are entirely incompetent at AI.
“The companies that are doing defense work are totally incompetent when it comes to machine learning, AI, computer vision, and the companies that are good at those things refuse to work with DOD.”
Luckey: Time-and-materials contracts force defense primes to discard past work
“In the defense space, because of the way the incentives work, where most contractors are paid kind of on a time and materials basis, they're incentivized to do the same work over and over again. They're basically incentivized to throw away everything they've d…”